We'll be buying a home in the Raleigh, NC area outskirts, and we won't be there until beg. of November. IT'S JUST AN ILLUSION THIS LOOKS LIKE A LONG POST, IT READS SUPER FAST---REALLY! PLEASE READ 
Our info:
Income: $1635 a month(gross b4 deduction for medicare) for my disability,NOT TAXABLE. My husband was on workers comp, so he has no income for past 2 yrs.
Downpayment $60,000 (sixty thousand); Credit History: Over 20 years, no late payments, no defaults, no foreclosures;
Credit scores: 840 for myself; 820 for my husband, according to 2 credit card companies that supply scores;
No credit card debt, we pay full amount each month. I have about 5 credit cards, my husband has 3;
Student loan: I have $10k balance and pay $129/month; Other debt: none, cars are paid off.
NOTE: We want to borrow $60,000, maybe $65,000.
Two lenders said we'd qualify for $75k to $90k at rates they quoted of 4.125%, 4.25%, and 4.5%. When I crunch the numbers myself, using several online tools, I keep seeing $65k to 75k based on a rate of 4%. The online calculators seem to use the 28%/36% rule. The lender who said we'd approve for arond $90k uses the x?%/45% rule, and he's the one who gave 2 rates, the 4.125% and 4.24%--that was weird to get 2 rates.
Question 1) What's the difference between sending a lender our docs and getting a pre-approval letter, and actually formally applying for a mortgage loan and getting pre-approved for a loan "up to $xxxxxx"? I'm getting the vibe there is a difference? We've never applied for a mortgage until we found a home, and all our prior mortgages were no docs, so I'm in alien territory now. Also, I read in here someone telling someone else to go look for a house while they are getting their pre-approval done. So confusing.
I have no idea what to do at this point. One lender demands I fill out a loan application before quoting us any fees. The other says he's confident in giving us a "pre-approval" letter if we fill out their quasi-loan application online and send in our docs.
Question 2) THEN, there's a credit union we belong to that has much lower rates, but we don't know: do credit unions takes longer to get a sale closed than standard bank or broker lenders? We'll be living in a hotel, don't want to stay for 90 days--too expensive. I'm so confused.
A R.E. agent in a different forum said she'd never show a house to a client unless they were fully pre-approved for a loan (not the quasi-'pre-approval').
Question 3) Our real estate agent never said we need to be pre-'anything.' That kind of gets me nervous... should it?
Question 4) Do underwriters now approve people for mortgages even if there isn't a house found yet? Is that what we should do?
We want the best leverage we can get when we make an offer. But right now I have no idea who to believe, or what to do. Any guidance will be so appreciated!
Thanks for reading
I will tackle #4.
There are mortgage bankers that will do this. you have to find them. My mortgage banker does they will collect everything and put you fully thru underwritting so that any offer you make has the power of a cash offer. Not all lenders will do this. My mortgage banker does not service north carolina so their info would not help you. But I have seen others post that they are able to get the same thing. IT is a special product offered. In my case they call it silverton secure. In my case since it was 6 month between my secure approval and completion of my house (new build) I am actually back in underwritting again but they are just making sure I didn't do anything stupid like open a new card or run up cc bill or buy a new car or something.
Basically what you have is a file that is fully approved and the only conditions that remain are tied to the address that you put the offer in on. In the secure product that my mortgage banker has once the secure approval is tied to an address if it falls thru for some reason (apprasial fail, inspection fail, seller backs out, etc) you have to bee approved again thru secure before you put in another offer.
Because I didn't want any surprizes I went this route. I would rather have known up front i wouldn't qualify then be surprized in the last weeks before closing.
Although now that im 3 weeks out Im still stressing until i sign on the dotted line and have the keys in my hand.
