Cary Real Estate Reports: Important Home Buying Step….Pre-Qualification
What is Pre – Qualification?
The pre-qualification process is a conversation between the potential buyer (or as known to the lender ‘applicant/borrower’) and the lender. You provide the lender with key information regarding your income/assets/debt/credit rating. Based on that information, the lender provides you with potential loan scenarios. At this point, the lender does not verify the information you provide, so the possible loan scenarios are not guarantees but rather an “if the information you provide is accurate/verifiable/doesn’t change then most likely we (lender) will provide you a loan with these terms and conditions”.
Why Pre-Qualify?
Understanding what your loan options are and finding your comfort zone with home purchase price is CRITICAL. It’s a necessary and logical step in the home buying process – and it’s best to complete this step BEFORE going out and looking at homes. Completing this step protects you from wasting time looking at the wrong price range, or worse, entering a sales contract to purchase a home that isn’t in your comfort zone.
What Info Do I Provide the lender?
Having the following information available before you speak with the lender will ensure a smooth and productive phone call:
- Social Security #’s and date of birth for all applicants/borrowers (lender needs to pull our credits core files)
- Gross Monthly Income for all applicants/borrowers (your income BEFORE taxes)
- List of all bank checking /savings / cd accounts and estimated balances
- Any other cash based assets like stocks / bonds / mutual funds / retirement accounts and estimated value/balance
- Debt: Loan balance and monthly payment for all re-occurring installment debt (car payment / student loans / credit cards)
How Can I Compare Loan Options?
The lender will provide you with a spreadsheet (called a “Good Faith Estimate”) for each potential loan program. This is a KEY document in your decision process. The GFE will show you all numbers related to the loan: how much money you will need to bring to closing (down payment plus closing cost plus ‘pre-paids’) and what your monthly payment will be (PITI). Based on federal requirements, all lenders will use the same format for the GFE’s making it easy to compare loan programs.
Who does CaryRealEstate.com recommend you contact?
Hands down, no question about it, Kevin Martini is the BEST! With over 15 years in the local Cary Real Estate business, no one compares to the service level, knowledge and professionalism of Kevin!
Kevin Martini 919-274-3700 Kevin@KevinMartini.com