Do you need a pre-approval before searching for a new home? The quick answer is ‘yes', and in today's video/blog I will tell you why.

In a real estate market that’s moving as quickly as it is right now, you want a pre-approval letter from a local lender on hand when viewing a property. If you’re serious about buying a home within the next 90 days or so, luckily a pre-approval letter will last about three months.

If you’re ready to make offers on homes, you want to have a pre-approval conversation with your lender to ensure everything’s in order, such as your debt-to-income ratio and credit score. The last thing you want is to see a house, fall in love with it, then find out you won’t be approved for it.

A pre-approval also boosts the quality of your offer because it shows the seller that you have everything prepared and will be able to make it through the transaction.

A couple of months ago, and against my own better judgment, a client and I went to see a property before she connected with a lender because she wanted to see it before someone else scooped it up. She fell in love with the home and felt it was the best thing on the market for her, but after speaking to her lender, she found out that debt from years ago that she barely remembered made it impossible for her to buy the house at that time.

Sometimes things come up that you have never thought about, so a pre-approval is crucial. A pre-approval should be done before searching for properties because it’ll help solidify what you can afford and whether financing will go through.

It tells you what you can afford, and it shows sellers that you're serious about the process and able to follow through on the offer you'll make.

Most of all, in a market like the one we're in, where buyers hold extraordinarily little - and really zero - leverage initially when making offers, a serious seller and a well-established listing agent won't even consider an offer from a buyer without the offer also having their preapproval letter submitted along with it. So any attempt to find and buy a house without one is really a waste of time.

If you have any questions about pre-approvals or real estate in general, call or text me. I look forward to hearing from you.