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Local Voices

The Mortgage Preapproval Process

The very first step in the home buying process is to get preapproved for a mortgage. Sometimes though, people begin home shopping before they consult with a mortgage professional. There are some good reasons for doing this first:

  • The amount you can borrow will determine the price range you should be looking in.

  • When you make an offer on a property, the seller is more likely to accept if you have already been preapproved for your mortgage.

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  • You will be able to close more quickly if you have already been preapproved.

  • There is some confusion between the terms "preapproved" and "prequalified". Sometimes these terms are used interchangeably. If a loan officer runs a few calculations and tells you how much you can borrow, that is not at all the same as being preapproved. There is a definite process that you must go through to become preapproved.  Your loan officer will ask you for certain information as follows:

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    • Names, Dates of birth, SSN and contact information for all borrowers and co-borrowers.

    • If an employee, most recent tax return (complete with all attachments) and most recent two pay stubs.

  • If self employed, most recent two years tax returns (complete with all attachments) plus year to date profit and loss statement.

  • Complete bank statements, 401K statements etc. showing the source of all down payment money. Internet printouts or partial statements are unacceptable - must be complete statements showing name of financial institution.

  • Written permission to perform a credit check - email is acceptable.

  • The biggest cause of delays in the preapproval process is insufficient documentation of down payment assets so take the time to provide all appropriate statements in your initial response to your loan officer.

    Once the loan officer has all of the above information, he/she will submit it to the company underwriters. If all is in order a preapproval letter will be generated and forwarded to the borrower. At Northeast Financial, we can generate a preapproval letter within a day as long as the above documentation is complete.

    I am a licensed loan officer and real estate agent so contact me by phone, text or email with all your mortgage and real estate questions: Dale Athanas, Loan Officer, NMLS# 1065087, Northeast Financial Mortgage, 860-876-0466 (cell), dale@daleathanas.com.


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