When the number of buyers in the housing market outnumbers the number of homes for sale, it’s called a “seller’s market.” The advantage tips toward the seller as low inventory heats up the competition among those searching for a place to call their own. This can create multiple offer scenarios and bidding wars, making it tough for buyers to land their dream homes – unless they stand out from the crowd. Getting Pre-Approval not just pre-qualified – gives you a great advantage to other buyers!
Real estate goes in cycles and when we lean towards a seller’s market you need to have an advantage. When you are looking for a new home, we put you in our MLS program that sends out all new listings or price adjustments on homes that meet your needs. Once a house hits the market that meets your criteria you need to be ready to move on that house. Usually during a seller’s market when you see a new listing that you like we can take a look at it, and give you feedback, that says, yes, you need to see it right away or no, this one has more work than you have said you want to do. Agents are much more agreeable to us previewing a home when they know we have a pre-approved buyer. We also know if you get pre-approved that you are also a serious buyer and we do not mind previewing these homes for you.
There is a lot of difference between pre-qualified and pre-approved. Mortgage pre-qualification is an evaluation by a lender that determines if you would qualify for a home loan. It also shows how much the lender would be willing to lend you. Getting pre-qualified is the first step towards getting a mortgage, but it does not guarantee a loan.
A mortgage preapproval is a letter from a lender indicating the amount of loan you can qualify for. … With a preapproval, you complete a full application with supporting documentation, the lender pulls your credit report and score and puts an offer in writing to give you a loan at a given interest rate.
Even when we are not in a seller’s market, the preapproval letter can make the difference in your negotiating a fair sales price. When it is a buyer’s market, we tend to see houses overpriced and this is one reason there are so many on the market. In this type of market, we can do a competitive market analysis for you and present our price with documentation along with your preapproval letter and this will show we have done our homework and are ready to buy a house.
We have several lenders we work with and can put you in touch with them to get you preapproved. You will find they are some of the best professionals around and will go out of their way to help you. If you do not qualify, they will help you work through what needs to be taken care of to make owning a home a “Dream to come true” for you! Give us a Call – we are here to help!
