Getting pre-approved is a surefire way to know how much home you can afford. Many borrowers look to the pre-approval as a guidepost to begin their home search. While that is a great start, we have a few additional tips for using a pre-approval to your advantage in a competitive purchase market. 

Guide Your Search 

If this is your first home, you may not know where to begin. You can work with a lender to find out how much money you qualify to borrow. Having a loan amount in mind will better guide your search, filtering out what is outside of your price range. 

Get Pre-Approved on Your Dream Home 

Once you’ve found a home you want to make a serious offer on, you can get pre-approved for that specific property. This is crucial if the home costs more than your original pre-approval amount, but it is still within budget. Since pre-approvals are quick, we strongly recommend seeking out an additional pre-approval once you find a specific property. 

Use Your Time Wisely 

Our pre-approvals are valid for up to 60 days. You can use that time to shop around if you haven’t found your dream location yet, or you can prepare your offer for a home you love. After the 60 days are up, if you still haven’t had any offers accepted, you will want to get pre-approved again. 

Try Again 

It is not uncommon for borrowers to get pre-approved on multiple properties. In a competitive purchase market, you may make many offers before you finally strike a deal.  If your offer falls through, you can come back for another pre-approval on a different property to get back out there.  

Summary 

Looking for a home is an involved process. Pre-approvals are your best friend when it comes to staying on top of your finances and being able to make the best offer possible. To learn more about pre-approvals, check out our other blog here. You can also start your own pre-approval process at our homepage or via the application link.