In today's hot seller's market, sellers can pick which buyer will get the property. In addition to the offering price, sellers consider the buyer's financial qualifications.

Pre-approved buyers are generally safer bets than those who do not have a financing commitment. Sellers want to ensure that if they accept an offer and take their property off the market, there will be a good chance that the buyer's loan application will be approved and the deal with close.

Buyers can get pre-qualified or pre-approved. Some lenders make no distinction between the two terms, but in many cases pre-approval is the preferred commitment to get.

Loan pre-qualification 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 pre-qualified amount is based solely on the information you provide. In most markets, pre-qualified buyers usually hold little clout compared to pre-approved buyers due to the fact that the information given during the pre-qualification process is not thoroughly investigated and therefore may be unreliable. Where a pre-approved buyer is actually approved for a loan of a certain amount, a pre-qualified 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 pre-approved 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 pre-approved would be more attractive to a seller than just being pre-qualified.

We can refer you to qualified lenders who can provide the pre-approval letter necessary to get many home purchase offers accepted. Once you have a pre-approval in hand, we will find you properties to view that meet your needs and desires.

When we find the right property for you to make an offer on, there will be no questions in the seller's mind about your qualifications, because we'll include a copy of the pre-approval letter with your offer