The outcome of your pre-approval will be a letter that states Your Big Number -- your maximum purchase price. You should make sure you are clear on what your monthly payment will be at Your Big Number, and on what sort of mortgage program (rate and terms) that monthly payment is based. That number will drive your house hunt and subsequent decision making, so make sure you understand the underlying details -- you don't want to find a home priced at Your Big Number, and then realize that the payment you were quoted was the minimum payment on an Option ARM with a five-year prepayment penalty, and not an interest-only payment on a hybrid 7/1 ARM with no prepay penalty.
What gives you clout, enables you to shop for homes within your price range, and helps you flex your homebuying muscles when you're ready to make an offer?
It's a mortgage pre-approval letter from your lender, of course!
So what is a mortgage pre-approval? In a nutshell, it's a letter from a lender saying that it's tentatively willing to lend you a certain amount for a property. To get pre-approved, you will need to submit your financial documents to the lender who will then evaluate your income, your debt, and your credit score to determine if you qualify for a mortgage.
Get the Guide for First Time Home Buyers, and learn more about the process of becoming a homeowner.
Sellers and Realtors® love buyers with a mortgage pre-approval letter. This shows them that you're a serious, qualified buyer who has the financial backing of a lender and that you mean business. After all, unless you're paying cash, it's hard to make an offer if you don't know whether you qualify for a loan.
4 Reasons Not to Make an Offer on a House without Mortgage Pre-Approval
- Embarrassment. Making an offer, only to find out you can't secure the financing is an embarrassing situation. Going to your real estate agent and the seller to tell them you can't actually afford the house is not a fun conversation.
- Frustration. House hunting with no idea on how much house you can afford is a recipe for disaster. You could find all kinds of homes you love in perfect communities, but if they're out of your price range then all that searching is done in vain.
- Focus. Talking to a mortgage consultant along with your real estate agent will help you narrow your focus to neighborhoods right for you and your budget. From property taxes and homeowners insurance to the schools and crime rates, focusing on the best areas for you makes the process run more smoothly.
- Credit scores. Credit scores vary depending on who's pulling the report. Your score will differ if you pull it versus if a store pulls it, or when a car dealer looks at it during a loan consultation. Each of the three main credit bureaus report a little differently as well, so the number you get from one will likely be different from the others. So pulling your own credit, or having it pulled recently for a car loan does not ensure that you're in the clear to buy a house. Mortgage pre-approval will help make sure your credit score is mortgage-ready.
What do I have to do to get pre-approved for a mortgage loan?
Common documents for pre-approval include recent pay stubs showing your income, your credit report (your mortgage consultant will handle that), W-2 forms, 1099 forms if you own your own business, and banks statements. The more detailed your pre-approval process is, the more quickly final approval can happen.
Rocket Mortgage offers a few levels of approval designed to give you a clearer picture of what you can afford:
Prequalified Approval
With a Prequalified Approval, we’ll pull your credit and ask you some questions about your income and assets. Then, we’ll estimate what you can afford. By checking your credit score, our Prequalified Approval can be more accurate than a standard prequalification that doesn’t involve this step.
If you’re eligible for a mortgage, we’ll issue you a Prequalified Approval Letter.
Verified Approval
After you’ve been Prequalified Approved, you can level up to a Verified Approval. 1 You’ll speak to a Home Loan Expert and provide some documentation so we can verify your income and assets.
Because we’re verifying your income and assets along with your credit history, a Verified Approval is a more accurate estimate of what you can afford. It also carries more weight with a real estate agent and the seller, because they’ll know we verified that you can afford the home you wish to buy.
Once you get Verified Approval, we’ll give you a Verified Approval Letter. You can show this to your real estate agent and the sellers as proof that you can obtain a large enough mortgage to purchase the home.
Remember, both Prequalified Approval and Verified Approval℠ are estimates to help guide your home search. After you make an offer on a house, your full mortgage approval will depend on the home being appraised by a third party and passing any required inspections.