Get A Pre Qualification Letter Before You House Hunt

A pre-qualification letter is not only the first process of gaining a loan, but for buying a house as well.  This letter states the amount you are qualified to borrow at a current interest rate and is issued by the lender. Based on the information you had provided your loan officer concerning your income, assets and credit profile, your pre-qualification letter states you are pre qualified to be loaned amount.

Having a pre-qualification letter while you house hunt, demonstrates that you are a serious buyer and that you are able to put a bid down on a home. While a pre-qualification letter shows you have made the effort to find out how much you can spend on a home, it is not a real mortgage approval and holds no real value. For this reason a pre-qualification should be updated every 60 days. (Make sure you are not being charged fees for updating the pre-qualification and that your lender is not running a credit report each time you update.)

Along with the pre-qualification letter, you will receive a Document Checklist. This check list will help you organized all the paperwork needed to provide for the actual loan application. Keep this checklist with all your important paperwork and make sure you update each item needed as you go through the loan process.