Mary Beth:         Hi, this is Mary Beth Harrison with Dallas Native Voice. And today, I want to talk about buyers getting pre-qualified to purchase a home.

Mary Beth:         Before you even start looking for a home, the first thing you need to do is contact a reliable mortgage company, talk to a lender, and find out: one, what you can afford. What you’re comfortable affording.

Mary Beth:         It doesn’t matter if he tells you, “You can afford this much,” when in fact, what you’re comfortable with is this much. It’s all about payments for most of us. I don’t think any of us really care what the final price is, as long as the payments are what we want them to be.

Mary Beth:         So that’s what’s important to find out and focus on, before you ever start looking for a house. We don’t want you to fall in love with something, that you can’t have.

Mary Beth:         So, we start with not just a pre-qualification letter, because pre=qualification just means that you called a lender, or you filled out a form online. And they know that you have a Social Security number, and somewhere down the line, there’s, you could qualify, based on your credit score.

Mary Beth:         What’s really important is to take the next step and get a pre-approval. And what that means is not only have you applied for the loan, and they’ve checked your credit, but they have also you’ve given them all of the information that they need to qualify you to purchase a home at this price. Right?

Mary Beth:         So that would be at a minimum, two years’ tax returns, two months of bank statements, and two pay stubs. If you have rental property, or you have other income coming in, or or 401ks or whatever else, that also goes into the pot. Anything that has to do with your financials. Your lender needs to know that. And that helps them and their underwriters make an informed decision as to whether they want to loan you the money to buy this house.

Mary Beth:         And then of course, there’s the house that has to fit into the appraisal. And does it meet their criteria too? But first and foremost, it’s you meeting their criteria.

Mary Beth:         Because when you find that house of your dreams, you then can hand the letter to the seller, saying, “I am pre-approved to buy this house, and can close quickly, or take my time. Whatever’s best for you.”

Mary Beth:         It makes you a really qualified, good buyer for that seller. Far more, far better than someone coming along that has not even talked to a lender. Which one do you think the seller’s going to look at? Your contract, or theirs?

Mary Beth:         And our goal is to find you the house that you want. And get it for you.

Mary Beth:         So, thanks for listening. You can find us on all social media at http://www.dallasnative.com, and thanks for listening.