what is the process of getting pre-approved for a home loan. i assume you get a better rate after you get your credit score and a letter stating your qualified. do you then go out and shop for rates or do you do this first. does it hurt your score to get credit check often when shopping home loan rates.

3/23/2006 10:26:36 PM

Quote :

"does it hurt your score to get credit check often when shopping home loan rates."

generally not, common thought about credit scores says that multiple checks in a small time frame for mortgages or even car loans tend to get lumped together. no one knows exactly how scores are calculated but this tends to be pretty universally understood.

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pre-qualified generally means jack shit, its basically a lender saying, "yeah we could do that assuming the scores are good and everything checks out

pre-approved means you have x amount to spend and your bank or lender has already said that you can get that much. just call a bank and ask how to get pre-approved. most home sellers much prefer pre-approval because it means:
a) you're serious (you will have to get your credit pulled for pre-approval)
b) your offer won't be contingent on getting approved for a loan (though in reality it still will be, since you haven't gotten acceptable financing yet) but it offers the seller peace of mind and they would rather deal with pre-approved over pre-qualified or nothing at all

oh yeah, good luck, buying a house is fun yet overwhelming so do lots of research, the internet is great

[Edited on March 23, 2006 at 11:29 PM. Reason : .]

3/23/2006 11:23:10 PM

Just bought my first house in October...

The lending agent told me that pulling a credit report may make your score drop like 10 points but that its back up after a set period (wanna say 30 days). Lenders know your score is going to be down a few points the more you've had your credit pulled. SOme lenders will tell you the score they pull and some won't. If one will then you can use that as a good-faith estimate in pre-qualification talks. Once you have your house price, a credit score, and such you can run through a list of lenders and say, "First time home buyer with X for income, Y for a down payment and closing, and a house price of Z. I would like an 80/20 (0 cash down) with a 30 year fixed and have an offer to do 6.0% on the 80 and a variable on the 20 that starts at 5%... can you beat that?" This is what I did once I found a solid offer and usually I got,"I might be able to do that" or "No way I could match that. Stick with the other lender."

New Star Mortgage is who I ended up going with simply because no one could touch their rates at the time. DNJ Mortgage came close and it was pretty spiffy having Austin Herbert for a potential lending agent but New Star was the only one that could gaurantee the shorter time frame too.


I'm telling you now... read your ass off. It is so easy to screw yourself thoroughly by not being prepared or getting over your head. Oh and get at least 1 pre-qual check done simply so you have an idea on what they will lend to you. I knew I could afford something much more expensive because of circumstances that I couldn't show on paper but they go strictly by the numbers so we had to reduce our target range.

And if you don't have a a buyer's agent yet, I HIGHLY recommend http://www.beckyharper.com

[Edited on March 23, 2006 at 11:41 PM. Reason : .]

3/23/2006 11:39:37 PM

they don't need to pull a score to pre-qual you

Quote :

"credit report may make your score drop like 10 points but that its back up after a set period (wanna say 30 days)"

this is only for excessive inquiries

Quote :

"SOme lenders will tell you the score they pull and some won't."

just FYI they aren't supposed to - the moment they do they become a credit eporting agency and become subject to the regulations that go with it, but it's not like the equifax police are going to arrest them

being the resident expert on the local market, i have pmed you some more info

[Edited on March 24, 2006 at 12:57 AM. Reason : dfgsdfg]

3/24/2006 12:46:29 AM