Preapproval Letters

In order to be taken seriously by a seller, buyers need preapproval letters to show their ability to buy a house. The process is easy and painless.

I suggest starting with the banking institution that you currently do business with. They can easily access all your financial information.Make an appointment to sit down with a loan officer but find out ahead of time what information they will want you to bring. Often they want a recent pay check and your most recent tax return in addition to three months of bank statements. You will need to give permission for the loan officer to run credit, so they will need your social security number.

There are many great lenders in the area. We are happy to give you names of companies we have worked with. You also might want to ask a friend who recently purchased a home and liked working with his or her mortgage company. Referrals are a great way to find a good loan officer.

Some lenders will do a preapproval over the phone, taking your information about your salary verbally. They still will need to run a credit check and will verify your salary and banking information later.

The best thing for you to do is to get preapproved before you start looking for new homes. That way you know what you can afford, are comfortable with the monthly payment and you won't look for houses that are out of your price range. Doing that will be disappointing to you and a waste of many people's time, including your own.

So, get preapproved, call us and we'll sit down with you and find out what you are looking for. We'll ask you for your "wish list" and "must haves" and then we'll go out to look at houses or condos. Getting preapproved is a good example of doing "first things first."