Why We Get Pre-Approved Right Away

• READINESS
  It takes 2-3 business days to get a pre-approval or in many cases even over a week. If you wait until you come across a home you like, it is highly likely we won’t be able to make an offer in time. In the Seattle market, we do not write offers without the “tailored” pre-approval letter of the lender you promise the seller you will be using as who we use may be a factor in the seller’s decision. It takes only hours to renew a pre-approval with only a “soft pull” if our pre-approval has expired. Also, if it takes us 6 months to come across that amazing home, expect it to be another 6 months before we see something like that again, and most likely at a higher price.

• UNDERWRITTEN PREAPPROVAL
  After you’ve selected a lender to work with and after a full preapproval, we can ask them if they can send our file to their underwriters when we think we are 1-2 months out from making offers. This allows us to compete against cash offers as we can close in 10-21 days instead of the typical 25-45 days. We are also more competitive against higher offers because of our “better than cash stance” on top of the faster close. Having a pre-approval conditionally approved by underwriting takes 1-4 weeks AFTER a regular pre-approval and is free, however, not all institutions provide this service and not all loan officers submit this even if their institution allows.

• SEARCH
  We will actually know how much we can afford after a full preapproval where we can calculate in our actual interest rate and all other monthly housing costs. An online calculator does not consider many things that the underwriter or an experienced loan officer will. Plus it’s typical for an online calculator to estimate under by a considerable amount as they are too simple by design.

• HOME TOURS
  Especially in the higher priced or owner-occupied homes, we may see sellers and their agents require proof of funds or pre-approval to see the home. No preapproval may simply mean no tour.

• OFF-MARKET LISTINGS
  With a pre-approval and agency disclosure, I can also introduce you to off-market listings. Off-market sellers will require that the buyer’s and seller’s agent verify proof of funds or pre-approval before sharing photos of the off-market home or even learning of the address.

• BEST RATES
  The lender will be able to advise you on how to better your credit in the coming weeks, months, or years before buying a home. This is not some general checklist you can find online, but a plan tailored specifically for you. They may find out that one of the 3 credit reporting bureaus has inaccurate account balances that need to be cleared before you purchase a home - This can take weeks or even months and will affect your interest rates as home lenders look at all 3 reporting bureaus. Also, if you have any credit utilization they may advise how to pay off the least amount but strategically between certain cards, especially if you are close to any credit utilization thresholds.

• KNOWING LOAN PRODUCTS

  Each lender will have hundreds of loan products and programs. A lender will not be able to best advise you of what products would best fit your needs until you have submitted a full application. A quality lender will also continually look for better products for you during the months of your search. Each time a home comes onto our radar, the lender may advise that a different product may be better for that specific property. Also, during our tour, I need to know if you may be using a government-backed loan such as VA, FHA, or specialty programs such as Physician or First Time Homebuyer loans as I will help look for reasons why the lender may not approve of the house under such a loan. These can deal with the home’s condition or certain traits of the community.

Lenders

We will be working with three departments of a lending institution: Underwriting, processing, and the loan officer. The underwriter is the actual person who approves of the loan, the processer processes the loan application after we get our offer accepted, and the loan officer is who will help us prepare, preapprove, search for the best loan product, and apply to underwriting - The loan officer is also the ONLY person who we will be allowed to talk to for this reason, it is important to not only find a reputable lending institution but also an extraordinary loan officer who will be helping us throughout this process from preparation to search, and from contract to close.

Loan Officer

In multiple ways, the success of our home search, offer acceptance, and getting the best deal depends on our reputable, competent, and highly communicative loan officer. They must also work for a reputable lending institution who performs “fully underwritten pre-approvals”, aka “pre-underwritten”. The list of lenders provided are heavily vetted and perform nearly all of the loans for my clients who seek guidance and the best rates. If you are looking for other lenders, please consider rates, but once when you have lenders who are around the same APR, the decision should be based on the following: