NWR: Pre-Qualification vs. Pre-Approval
Clearly wisdom teeth weren't meant to kill me, but house hunting may do me in.
We possibly found an agent that is not only local, but also knows my father, so really no harm, no foul. Spoke to him earlier in the week, just to kinda introduce ourselves, and he said that we needed to get pre-approved, and then once we were, he would sit with us, and start showing us properties.
So I said this to FH, who of course had to go online and research, and now he does not want to get pre-approved because it involves a credit check, thus lowering your score.
This all was discussed prior to me finding out that I was taking a paycut, so may be all up in the air anyways.
So I called up the bank we were thinking of using, to ask what the difference between a pre-qual and a pre-approval is. Basically was told that pre-qual doesn't involve a credit check, is more an estimation based on your income vs. debts, and doesn't really hold a candle, and doesn't usually suffice for the purpose of a real estate agent. Said pre-approval is good for 90 days, involves a check, but since so much shopping going on now for rates, they have changed the rules so that if u apply to multiple banks within a 2 week span, your score will only be lowered by a few points total, not a drastic amount for each check.
So which route did the homebuyers here take? Pre-qualification initially, or pre-approval?
We most likely will not be purchasing until end of summer, if at all, so that does have some bearing for the 90 days bit. I also don't know if it's more advantageous to do it now at my current rate of pay, or as of June 1 at the new rate.
We possibly found an agent that is not only local, but also knows my father, so really no harm, no foul. Spoke to him earlier in the week, just to kinda introduce ourselves, and he said that we needed to get pre-approved, and then once we were, he would sit with us, and start showing us properties.
So I said this to FH, who of course had to go online and research, and now he does not want to get pre-approved because it involves a credit check, thus lowering your score.
This all was discussed prior to me finding out that I was taking a paycut, so may be all up in the air anyways.
So I called up the bank we were thinking of using, to ask what the difference between a pre-qual and a pre-approval is. Basically was told that pre-qual doesn't involve a credit check, is more an estimation based on your income vs. debts, and doesn't really hold a candle, and doesn't usually suffice for the purpose of a real estate agent. Said pre-approval is good for 90 days, involves a check, but since so much shopping going on now for rates, they have changed the rules so that if u apply to multiple banks within a 2 week span, your score will only be lowered by a few points total, not a drastic amount for each check.
So which route did the homebuyers here take? Pre-qualification initially, or pre-approval?
We most likely will not be purchasing until end of summer, if at all, so that does have some bearing for the 90 days bit. I also don't know if it's more advantageous to do it now at my current rate of pay, or as of June 1 at the new rate.
