Are you ready to make an offer today?
For many years, it has been my personal and office policy to not show homes to prospective buyers who have not been to a lender and been pre-approved for a loan. Not only is it a waste of time for the buyer and the Realtor, but it is often quite frustrating for the potential buyer if they later find they can’t qualify for as much as they thought they could. And if you’re looking at houses without seeing a lender first, then there is a question as to whether or not you are motivated to buy a house now.
If you view houses worth $250,000 and then find you can only afford a home for $225,000, the difference in the available homes in your new price category is usually sub-par to what you’ve been looking at, and nothing is as good as what you saw in the higher price bracket. Trust me on this one, get pre-approved.
But let’s say you’re pre-approved and you want to look at homes. Before you get too excited, ask yourself one question to determine your true motivation status: If we find your perfect house today, are you ready to make an offer? If you can honestly answer that question with a resounding “yes,” then you’re well on the way to being a new homeowner.
Getting pre-approved so you know how much you can afford before you start looking would be helpful. If you know how much you might be able to afford, you won’t end up disappointing yourself with something out of reach. It may also help you get an idea of what you need to prepare for, if you need to save more money before buying a home or not.
I’ve been wondering if I’m ready to buy a house, lately. I know I want to but I haven’t seen a lender to see what my range is. I think I’ll have to do that and then start taking serious steps to finding the house I want.
Just sent you an email. I would highly recommend Rich Jorgenson with A Plus Financial Services. His email address is rich@aplusfinancialservices.com, and his phone number is (719) 572-5155. There is no cost or obligation to talk to him and find out about your particular situation. Best of luck.
My wife and I have been thinking about getting into a new home, and I think that getting the help of real estate agents could be helpful. You mentioned how its important that you get pre-approved for the loan before home shopping, so that you don’t waste your time as well as that of the agent. I’m going to have to see if we can find a good real estate agent who can refer us to a lender so that we can get pre-approved! Thank you!