By Erin LaBuda

As a buyer's agent in a buyer's market, something that I hear all of the time from prospective home purchasers is, "Why do I need to get pre-approval before we look at homes?  I know my credit is good and what I can afford so why get pre-approved now?"

Although I can see buyer's point of not wanting to go through the process of getting a pre-approval before finding a home that they are interested in, the fact of the matter is that 99% of you who are looking for a home have the intention of buying one.  It may not be today or tomorrow but you have the desire to be a home owner or move from your current home sometime in the future.  So, why get pre-approved now?

The first reason is monthly payment.  The purpose of getting your pre-approval is rarely just what you can afford but actually what you are comfortable spending.  Speaking with a reputable lender means that you are going to get an actual monthly number of what you can expect to pay if you buy a house for such and such a price, neighborhood, tax district, insurability, etc. as opposed to running numbers on a basic on-line mortgage calculator.

The second reason is real time interest rates.  You can plug in any interest rate you want on-line, however, only a loan officer is going to be able to provide you with a real, up to the minute rate that has a direct impact on that monthly payment.

The last reason is so you look at the right properties.  If you think you can spend $200,000.00 based on an on-line mortgage calculator you may be disappointed to find out that you really are comfortable at a payment at $175,000 OR EVEN $225,000.  Looking at homes that are more expensive than you are comfortable spending often results in disappointment when you discover that homes listed for less are more appropriate.  Same thing goes when you look at homes that are lower than the price as you can actually afford...the result here is the disappointment in the inventory so why keep looking for that "dream house" when it isn't seeming to fall in to your on-line financial criteria.

The bottom line here is this: An over the phone pre-approval takes less than 10 minutes and by doing so you are going to greatly reduce the stress involved with guessing payments, potential disappointment in housing inventory and hopefully discovering that you can stay within your monthly payment comfort zone and buy more house than you anticipated.

If you are interested in being connected with a reputable mortgage lender please feel free to call our team at 614-431-9111 and we'd be happy to point you in the right direction!  (Don't worry, there is no obligation!)