| Many home buyers go about the process of buying a | | | | inexperienced real estate agent who chauffeured the |
| home the wrong way. That is; they spend weeks, | | | | buyer around for all those months without asking the |
| months and sometimes even years, searching real | | | | one important question - "have you been preapproved |
| estate listings, driving neighborhoods and visiting open | | | | for a home loan, or are you paying cash?" |
| houses looking for the perfect home to buy. Surely, | | | | If you require finance to purchase a property - always |
| that is the logical thing to do? Isn't it? After all, the buyer | | | | get preapproved for home loan finance, BEFORE |
| gets to know what houses are available and which | | | | searching for the home. |
| properties are for sale at a fair market price. Yes, that | | | | The savvy home buyer is the one who shops around |
| it right to an extent. Unfortunately, that is not usually the | | | | for the loan finance first. That way, he or she knows |
| best way to go about buying a property. | | | | exactly how much he or she can (or can not) afford. |
| Once the buyer has found the home of their dreams, | | | | The home buyer can then confidently seek out only |
| they place an offer to purchase the property subject | | | | properties that are within his or her prequalified loan |
| to obtaining a suitable home loan. That is where things | | | | price range. |
| can come horribly unstuck. | | | | The only sure way of knowing how much you can |
| It is often only at this point, the home seeker begins to | | | | borrow is to go through the home loan prequalification |
| shop for a home loan. All too frequently; the bank, or | | | | process. Home loan prequalification is not difficult, and if |
| lending institution, declines the home loan application. For | | | | you are not a cash buyer, it is an essential part of the |
| one reason, or another, the property falls outside the | | | | whole home buying process. |
| lending criteria and is deemed to cost more than the | | | | Home loan prequalification sets the wheels in motion |
| buyer can afford. | | | | and is the first step in formally applying for a loan. It lets |
| In these circumstances the buyer loses the chance to | | | | the home buyer know what is and is not possible. |
| buy the dream home they searched so hard to find. | | | | The other big advantage in prequalifying for a loan is |
| The deal falls through simply because the buyer could | | | | that it puts the buyer in a much stronger negotiating |
| not obtain a loan and finance the purchase. The buyer | | | | position with the vendor. The fewer conditions of sale |
| is frustrated, the seller is frustrated and so is the | | | | that are included in the contract the better. |