Yes, there will be a hard inquiry on your credit. However, it will only drop your credit a few points and only once, no matter how many applications you make in a 2-week period (i.e., applying to 1 lender = 1 hard hit; shopping 2+ lenders = still only 1 hard hit). Ask about our lender shopping worksheet and process!

2-3 months but are extended with “soft pulls”. The typical Seattle home buyer takes many months or even years to find and win a home. So when your preapproval expires, your lender will only have to conduct a "soft pull" on your credit to see if there are any changes before you write an offer - This will not decrease your credit score.

In our area, there is no chance you'll have an offer accepted without a preapproval. Even prequalifications make a weak offer. The source of that information you found is probably not from someone in our market and also anyone can write a blog, news article, or some other form of "advice", even ghostwriters from other countries and an increasing number of articles written with AI. In other areas of the country, the time to close can be as long as 60 days and it's common to have longer contingencies. In our area, the average time to close is 25-28 days and we have a lot of strong offers that can close in 10-20 days, even with jumbo or portfolio loans. These offers can more easily beat other offers even if "lowballing" but would require that you have already not only been preapproved, but already working with a lender in obtaining "preapproval through underwriting" and only if that particular lender provides such a preapproval.

No. An automated home evaluation tool like Zestimate, Redfin estimate, or the hundreds of others out there is rarely accurate in our Seattle or PNW market. Our market is too diverse and our communities are too mixed in zoning, styles, sizes, and price points. For our buyers, we will run a comp report as part of the research we do when considering a home or when preparing an offer.