Homebuyers should get pre-qualified with multiple lenders

It appears like the buyers who call us on a daily basis understand more and more that they must get pre-qualified to get a mortgage prior to getting started with the homebuying process. Most also understand or know that shopping for quite possibly the most competitive rates and fees among different lenders is vital – there is however a minimum of one other reason a good buyer’s agent should encourage clients to get pre-qualified with at least one additional lender (or even two).

Last month, we spent some time working with a first-time home buyer who went online to a major national bank’s site to get pre-qualified to get a mortgage. Within a few minutes, the web based system spat out a pre-qualification letter saying he was pre-approved for a $165,000 loan for a home purchase. Ready to go jump in your car and look at houses, right?

We spoke with him further about what he does for a living and asked questions regarding how he is paid and whether his income is salaried (versus commission or overtime earnings). Our buyer then went to another lender and spoke to an actual person this time around. He called us with news that the pre-qualification letter “is probably going to be reduced to the $140,000 range.”After he officially heard back from the lender, he left us a voice mail that they thrown out his overtime compensation and could not count his commission pay, and he was therefore maxed out at $125,,000 for his new loan pre-qualification. We come across this story many times, so we finally got him to call a trusted lender of ours. He emailed us to say, “He is maxed out at $125,,000 due to education loans which are keeping his ratios way too high.”So in between the web based pre-qualification by an important and well-known bank and two additional lenders, our showing schedule took a remarkable turn. We had to cancel everything we’d arranged to view and modify gears quickly, and what a difference 24 hours can make! We are dealing with a 40 percent decline in the maximum home mortgage he was first (and incorrectly) pre-qualified for online to the amount that he knows he is really qualified to receive!

We always encourage buyers to take the time to shop around more with regards to a home loan – this isn’t just about fees and rates; your need to know what loans you are eligible for prior to house hunting. Remember we are always just a call to 813-300-7116 or click here we work with several lenders that will not let this happen to you.