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Now that you have your list of features you want in
your new home, you are ready to start looking! Well, not just yet. You
are going to need to know in what price range to look. There are two
ways to go about this. You can get prequalified or preapproved for a
mortgage.
Either way, you will need to contact a mortgage
company. There are some key differences between prequalification and
preapproval for a loan that you need to be aware of. Loan
prequalification is a simple process. It takes into account very basic
information regarding your financial status and gives you an amount for
which you may qualify. This can be done strictly on a verbal level or
electronically over the Internet. The prequalified amount is based
solely on the information you provide. In most markets, prequalified
buyers usually hold little clout compared to preapproved buyers due to
the fact that the information given during the prequalification process
is not thoroughly investigated and therefore may be unreliable. Where a
preapproved buyer is actually approved for a loan of a certain amount,
a prequalified buyer is only told that they might be approved for a
certain amount.
Pre-approval is a much more involved process. The
lender will take all pertinent information regarding your finances and
perform an extensive check on your current financial status. This will
ultimately give you the exact amount that you will be eligible for
(depending on what type of loan you decide to go with). Being
preapproved lets the seller know that you have gone through an
extensive financial background check and there should be no unexpected
obstacles to buying the home. You can see how being preapproved would
be more attractive to a seller than just being prequalified.
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