10 months away from applying. Too soon to find a lender?

[Ravensfan2001]

I wanted to speak with a mortgage lender now to see if he could help me figure out what exactly needs to be done to get approved for a mortgage. I was planning to show copies of my credit reports and get advice. Is it too soon? Would someone even talk to me about it?

[kimmiller112]

If you have a lot of questions about the whole process, I don't think that it hurts to contact a lender this soon, especially if you are considering short sales or foreclosures.  I started talking to my real estate agent about 3 months ago and a loan officer last month.  The inventory where I live is going down very fast, so I am going to build a house and I submitted the application today with a different loan officer. It will take me 6 months to build.  The worse that will happen to you is that you will be told to wait a little longer.

[bfranklin825]

I don't think that it is too soon to talk to a lender and try to figure out what you may need to get a loan, but when I went to get pre-approved with USAA for a loan, the pre-approval only lasted 30, 60 or 90 days (can't remember which). So I wouldn't try to get approved until you are ready to actually look and buy or build.

[tammyjk]

Not too soon at all.  I went to my bank a year out to find out what I needed to improve, how much cash and so on.  Before I left her office, I was approved with my current situation.  You never know.  I did end up waiting a bit but not a year.