Pre-approved what next?

[Anonymous]

Thanks to this forum for all the advises and got pre-approved for $ 180k, but still confused. When should I get a GFE?. what is the difference between a broker and a realtor?. Loan company referred me to Better homes and the person I spoke to is a broker manager. What should I be asking, since she already send me a list of properties to look at. It is too fast and I feel confused still. I need your expertise. When I received the pre-approval it only says how much I am preapproved for but the interest rate is defends upon the market until I lock up. When should I lock up, please HELP!!!

[Anonymous]

hi anyone, Shane/Dallas, I really your help... very confused!!

[Anonymous]

Hi -

I'm a first-time home buyer, so I've had to pick up a lot of this on the way as well as frantically calling my dad when we were writing up an offer! Here are my best answers to your questions, and someone else can clarify. 

So you are pre-approved, which only means that a lender gave your info a cursory look and said he would most likely loan you the money. Sellers like to see this, because it's better than nothing. None of this really matters (at least as far as my situation goes) until you find a house you put an offer on. After the offer is accepted, you have a certain period of time to find financing. This is when you would call around to different lenders (including the one you were preapproved by, if you want) and get good faith estimates. Obviously, you want to find the one who will cost you the least amount in stupid fees/closing costs, as well as lower interest rate. As far as I'm aware, you can't lock up an interest rate until you actually apply for the loan. At that point, if you have a nice lender, sometimes they will hang on to your app and when rates hit what they think is the "low" for the next little while, they will lock you in then. Rate locks usually last like 45 days, I think. Probably depends on the lender. Again, none of this really matters until you have a specific loan amount/found a house. 

A broker is a real estate agent who through qualifying exams/money/etc., was able to open his/her own real estate agency (brokerage). 

Hope this helps!

[Anonymous]

thanks so much icinva, this really helps a lot, another question is do I have a commitment to work with this agent , since the houses she gave me to check are not so promising (though I guessed with amount I have been pre-approved is most likely low on the location we wanted). Anyway, with self driving we found some properties that we are interested to look at but it's on other agent's listing, what is the next thing to do? Do I have to ask my agent to set up an appointment with them to look at the property?. I really do appreciate all your responses. Thanks!

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

You should get a GFE within 3 days of your application taken & credit run - so if you are pre-approved then that "clock" has definitely started ticking.  Has it been more than 3 days?  If so then you should have a GFE already, but since you apparently do not have one your loan officer should be able to email/fax you a GFE on Monday for whatever the current rates are.  Some lenders will let you lock in an interest rate on a "floating property" meaning you don't have to have an address in mind, but would have to have one within a certain amount of time... but the majority of lenders will require you have a property address, and in the event of a purchase, many will want you to have a fully signed purchase contract.

For the properties you found on your own, contact your real estate agent and ask for further info on the home (they can send you details from the MLS listing) and to set up an appointment to view it - it's as simple as that.