We encourage potential homebuyers to be pre-approved. A pre-approval involves a more official step in the mortgage process. We verify your income and financial history to make sure we are as accurate as possible when issuing you a pre-approval. Through our online portal, we ask you submit pay stubs and bank statements, so we can verify them to give you the most complete picture of how much you can afford. To acquire a pre-approval, we also pull your credit to check your financial history and current loans or debts you may have. All of this is to give you the most accurate information on how much you can afford because a mortgage lender will review the exact same documents to give you a mortgage.
A pre-approval is also stronger when you go to make an offer on a house because it says that we have verified income, assets, and credit. This can make your offer more attractive to sellers since it demonstrates you can actually afford a mortgage. No matter what type of approval or qualification you get, it is not a guarantee you will close on a loan. There are circumstances and situations beyond our control that sometimes disqualify borrowers. Overall, a pre-approval is a very accurate and strong way to make an offer on a home.
