Steps after prequalification

[Anonymous]

Absolutely, taxes play a big part on where you purchase and what you can afford. Often tax info, millage rates as well as property assessments can be found online, check the county websites.

To further confuse things often areas will have higher tax rates but lower property assessments or lower assessments and higher tax rates.

[Revelate]

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@Anonymous wrote:
No Realtor considers a pre qual the same as a pre approval and with as many problems as people have had closing the deals lately a simple prequal is not worth much. Perhaps the next step would be to research the difference between the two.

If your in a competitive market the realtor is going to take the preapproved offer over a prequal any day.

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Tell that to the legion of Chase mortgage customers in S. Cali who are absolutely winning in a competitive market with pre-qualification letters.

I had the same opinion you did prior to going through my mortgage process a year ago, and it's held many places online so I know where the confusion comes from; however, the fact is there's effectively no difference: any offer should have supporting documentation, and the seller's agent if they're any good will call the LO and ask on how strong the buyer's file is.  Pre-approval vs. pre-qualification are just terms, what counts is how much verification the LO did in vetting the buyer.

Any seller's agent that ignores an otherwise quality offer because it's labelled pre-qualification isn't doing their customer right, especially in a competitive market.  It takes 5 minutes to verify it with the lender, well worth the realtor's time to do so.

[Anonymous]

Have you read all of the preapproved loans having near closing issues on this board? A prequalification is the weakest approval of all. Why take a even greater chance of being left at the alter. I guess if one doesn't mind a bigger chance of it all falling through then a weak prequal is okay.

As for California- I am native Californian, left at 18 because it is a rat race there. It has its own set of rules.

[Anonymous]

Your right that they are just terms, however they are not the same and to bandy the terms around as if they are the same with the same vetting being done does a disservice to excited consumers who just listed some things on the phone and walked away with a prequal letter for a amount that will never qualify based on true DTI.

[Anonymous]

For the tax rates - you can look at the county tax assessor for the address in question, or you can have your realtor check, but they will do the same thing.