Pre-approval timing

iheartwings · ‎09-02-2015

Greetings,

I tried looking this up via the search feature, so please forgive me if I missed this.

I am working on letting my accounts age, paying my student loan debt down, and saving up for a down payment (that won't destroy my emergency fund). I estimate that I won't be able to purchase a home until 2017 or 2018.

That said, assuming that the housing bubble continues in the Pacific NW, I realize that it may take me some time to find the house I'll end up purchasing for the price I'm willing to pay. I know I need to get pre-approval before I start looking, but I was wondering how long a pre-approval will last? I have read that rates can be locked for 30-60 days. Does that mean that a pre-approval is only valid for the length of a rate lock? Is it common to get pre-approved multiple times before an actual purchase occurs?

I really would like to start planning my timeline so that I can try to figure out when I can start looking at homes.

Thanks in advance.

Anonymous · ‎09-03-2015

Most pre-approvals will last 30-90 days. You don't want to get too many spaced out preapprovals or you will end up dinging your credit score.

iheartwings · ‎09-03-2015

@kokenwa wrote:
Most pre-approvals will last 30-90 days. You don't want to get too many spaced out preapprovals or you will end up dinging your credit score.

That's what I was thinking, and you're right - I don't want to ding my score too badly, especially since I'm working to get most of my inquiries to be well aged or gone by the time I apply.

I read that some real estate brokerages require pre-approval at the outset (others, for example, Redfin, require preapproval after the third home tour in most markets). I suppose if I'm to the point that I'm actually viewing homes, then I should probably plan to have a preapproval in hand and be ready to make an offer. I have this fear that I'll get into home shopping and won't find a place that will satisfy me enough to want to buy it.

Maybe the right thing to do is to contact a realtor to help me with my timeline when I'm ready to step out into the adult world of buying a home.

Or, maybe I'll just stay a perpetual renter. *smirk*

DallasLoanGuy · ‎09-03-2015

you dont lock until you have a property(under contract)

Retired Lender