The Importance of a Mortgage Pre-Approval Letter
A mortgage pre-approval letter is critical in order to purchase in today’s real estate market. Here in Ocala, most offers will not even be considered without a pre-approval letter from a qualified lender. Because of this, many realtors require you get a pre-approval before they show homes to ensure that they are not wasting your time or theirs. If your realtor didn’t talk to you about a pre-approval, they are probably fairly new to real estate. Ultimately, most sellers will require proof of funds (cash) or a pre-approval letter before they will sign a purchase agreement. So you see, you won’t get very far in the purchase process without a mortgage pre-approval from a respected lender here in Ocala.
Structuring the Pre-Approval
In addition to just knowing what you can purchase, it can be very advantageous to meet with a Landmark Mortgage Planner before negotiating your purchase to discuss strategy. Our Ocala market is quickly moving to a seller’s market, and in many price brackets is already there. This simply means that there are more buyers than sellers, and as a result sellers have the advantage. Many buyers have limited funds, and need the seller to help them with closings costs. As a result, there is confusion surrounding how to insure the seller will pay your closing costs, even though it is a seller’s market. Structuring an offer strategically can create a much better deal for you, the buyer. This is an area that our mortgage planners have a great deal of experience, where other professionals including some Realtors do not. Getting pre-approved online or meeting with a Landmark Mortgage Planners can help insure you get the best possible scenario for your mortgage profile.
Locally Owned and Operated
Many buyers think they can get a “deal” by going with their existing bank or an online lender. First and foremost, Landmark Mortgage Planners is competitively priced and can often offer the same or better rates and terms as banks and online lenders. Unlike big banks, we make income for our families in one way – closing mortgage loans – so that is our only priority. Often, bank employees have diverse responsibilities not limited to mortgage lending, and are salaried employees. As a result, banks tend to employ loan officers with less mortgage experience. We have highly skilled professionals who know the mortgage industry inside and out, who answer their phones and return calls, and who don’t close up shop and go home at 4:00. In addition, Landmark Mortgage Planners is locally owned and operated. Because we are local, our reputation in our local community is everything. We can’t tell you one thing to get your business and then change at application. Unlike online lenders, we also have to face you if there are problems or delays along the way, and we know other real estate professionals (title companies, surveyors, engineers, inspectors, insurance agents, escrow and closing agents) in our area to help get the job done right. Don’t trust one of your largest purchases to a person with limited experience, or someone who you will never meet. Contact Landmark Mortgage Planners.
Other Benefits of a Mortgage Pre-Approval
A mortgage pre-approval also gives you the buyer some valuable information. Our Landmark Mortgage Planners will help you determine the following at your mortgage pre-approval appointment:
- Evaluate Credit. We will run a mortgage credit report, which is different from credit reports run for other purposes. We will review your credit for accuracy, identifying areas where you can improve your score. Even if you have spotless credit there are things you can do to keep your score at the highest it can be.
- Discuss Down Payment. In your mortgage pre-approval, we will talk about the money you have available for a down payment and closing costs, and acceptable sources for funds including gifts, bonuses, sale of real estate or personal property, and other sources. We will arm you with the information needed to properly document these sources to avoid problems in underwriting.
- Determine the Best Program. Based on your down payment and credit, we will discuss the different programs that may be available to you. We will let you know about any restrictions and documentation that these programs impose, so that we can discover any difficulties upfront and get a head start gathering items for the mortgage.
- Discuss Interest Rates. We will discuss interest rates, how they change, the difference between a fixed rate or an ARM, when you can lock your rate, how points affect your rate, and more at your mortgage pre-approval appointment.
- Determine the Payment and Loan Amount. We use lender allowed debt ratios to determine the payment amount for which you can be approved, considering your current gross income and all of your current debts. Then we also consider the payment that is comfortable for your budget. Together, we determine the mortgage pre-approval loan amount that you can be approved for and will be comfortable in your budget.
- Provide a List of Items Needed. You will leave your mortgage pre-approval appointment with a complete list of items we will need to submit your loan to the underwriter. Gathering these in advance can significantly reduce the time required to close your loan once you find a home.
- Mortgage Pre-Approval Letter. We will provide you with a mortgage pre-approval letter that you can use to prove to realtors, sellers and banks that you are qualified to buy.
Your mortgage pre-approval will allow you to shop for that dream home with confidence. When you find the right home, you won’t have any concern regarding whether you can afford it, or how long it will take, what kind of mortgage you should get, or if your loan will be approved. At Landmark Mortgage Planners we will answer all of these questions at your mortgage pre-approval appointment.
You can either set a mortgage pre-approval appointment or you can make application on line and one of our mortgage planners will contact you to discuss your application and email you the mortgage pre-approval letter.
“We have positioned Landmark Mortgage Planners to deliver the very best customer service and to be leaders in our industry by building a strong reputation of providing prompt and reliable service. At Landmark we have a strong team and we also enjoy the flexibility of not being limited to just one set of mortgage origination guidelines.”