Want to be preapproved but all I see is 'Apply' ?

[Anonymous]

hi everybody,

found a house that I love.  Not preapproved yet... So today I start looking around for various places to get preapproved and I notice that none of them (local credit union, local mortgage lender, and online mortgage lenders) say anything about preapproval -- they all simply talk of "Applying". 

Do I just need to talk to an officer at each location and say I'm only interested in being preapproved?  Or am I misunderstanding the process?  Thanks

[Jess21]

you need to apply in order to be pre appoved, they cannot pre approved you without pulling ur credit report 

[Anonymous]

OK, so the idea of being 'preapproved' is kind of a misnomer?  You really just need to apply to a bunch of places and stall them all until you're ready? 

[Jess21]

hmm not really, i wouldnt apply to a bunch of places., they will all pull your credit.  I do not know a lot of this but in my opinion, the first time is know your finances, where you stand, learn about the different programs and go from there.  If you want you can just go to your bank or credit union in person and they should have a loan officer that can guide you and give you advise and talk to you about how it works and some options based on your info.  They are able to tell you more once they look at you credit report but I am sure that someone with experience in that field can at last give you some idea base on the information you tell them.

[dangcredit]

   The other option I have seen people get adviced here on these boards is to purchase your morgage scores from this site and take them in to a bank/LO see what they can offer you. That way you dont have a hard pull on your report. Getting the scores here is a soft pull that does not affect your reports.

   Also, I might be wrong but if you go to several places and apply in a period of 30days, it only affects your reports as if 1 hard pull was made, so long as its all morgage based and I think also works the same for Auto loans applications. If am wrong am sure someone will give the correct advice.

[Anonymous]

I agree that pulls from mortgage lenders will not impact your score if it's within a 30day rolling window.  So, I do think I will apply to multiple places now.  I already pay for my scores here at MyFICO so I feel good about them -- I just think it's a little strange that everyone is encouraged to get pre-approved quite specifically, but nowhere is that ever listed.  It's just confusing, but I think I've got it now. 

[Anonymous]

When speaking with a realtor, they can recommend a lender to you or you can pick your own.  Go down and tell them what you want to do and then fill out an app and they will let you know what you can afford with your down payment.   The realtor will call them and show you homes in that price range.  Or if thinking of building new, most go through the builder.  You seem to fair out a bit better when you do.  We got more items thrown in that way.  We did have our own funding but decided to use the builder's lender for that reason.  Not sure if that would still apply since home sales have been improving rather well these days.  Realtor's normally don't show you any homes until you have that done. 

[DallasLoanGuy]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

OK, so the idea of being 'preapproved' is kind of a misnomer? 

apply for loan

loan officer pulls credit and looks at income/assets/job history, ect and runs file thru automated underwriting system to see if you can get approved.

it is calle PREapproved because it is just a desk check by the loan officer and there is no property yet

some lenders will send the file to underwriter and get an approval that way(considered a stronger PREapproval)..... but it still isnt the golden ticket to closing.... the property must appraise and you have to submit any expiring documents as the process goes along.....

You really just need to apply to a bunch of places and stall them all until you're ready?  why would you do that? not sure what you are trying to accomplish

---

[ezdriver]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

OK, so the idea of being 'preapproved' is kind of a misnomer?  You really just need to apply to a bunch of places and stall them all until you're ready? 

---

Based on that statement, I highly recommend that you find yourself a very experienced Realtor to guide you though the process. This forum is great but it is no substitue for some professional guidance from a Realtor.

[Revelate]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

I agree that pulls from mortgage lenders will not impact your score if it's within a 30day rolling window.  So, I do think I will apply to multiple places now.  I already pay for my scores here at MyFICO so I feel good about them -- I just think it's a little strange that everyone is encouraged to get pre-approved quite specifically, but nowhere is that ever listed.  It's just confusing, but I think I've got it now. 

---

Actually mortgage inquiries have a 30 day grace period, they won't count against you at all for 30 days even on the single inquiry rollup.

The rollup period is 14-45 days depending on model; however, since EX '98 is part of the mortgage trifecta and that's still on the 14 day rollup, it behooves you to cluster your apps.  You can't really rate shop until you're under contract (since you can't lock without it), get the pre-approval from one make offer, and go.  Pre-approval is usually pretty quick though weekend is a bit of a challenge, but it does take a bit of time so go get it done as soon as you can.

You can make an offer without a pre-approval, but it's pretty much going to get rejected in this day and age unless it's all cash transaction (in which case, bank statements are your pre-approval haha), and if you're in a competitive marketplace you want that letter in addition to supporting documentation most likely.