The FOCUS on NoVA Real Estate team goes through the importance of why you should get pre-approved for a mortgage prior and how it will help you be ready to go with an offer once you find your dream home.
One of the main reasons that you want to get pre-approved by a lender prior to looking at homes is you want to find out not only what you’re able to afford but most importantly what you’re comfortable paying on a monthly basis.
When you work with the lender they’re going to be going through your finances looking at what your income is and what debts you have to pay on a monthly basis, but some of the things that they’re not going to factor in are maybe if you go out to eat once a week, or if you go to the movies once a month, or if you go to the theater once a quarter. You want to have an idea as to what you’re comfortable paying on a monthly basis and then backtracking from there to then figure out what how much home you would be able to afford.
A note when it comes to the monthly payments is knowing what the homeowners association or the condo fees are. In Northern Virginia, a lot of the homes are going to have these fees attached to them and that is going to be a separate monthly, or sometimes quarterly, payment.
The second reason that you want to get pre-approved for a home is when you do go out and start looking for a place you want to know what your budget is; you don’t want to start looking at a seven hundred and fifty thousand dollar home when in actuality you’re only approved for a six hundred thousand dollar home. While homes are fantastic in both price ranges, as soon as you go up or down on the scale what you’re going to get is going to be different. You want to be prepared and aware as to what your budget is prior to searching.
The last reason that you definitely want to get pre-approved for a home is when you do find the one you want to be able to move on it quickly, especially as inventory is low in the Northern Virginia area. By having all of that paperwork ready, if you go into a home with your Realtor and you fall in love with it you’re ready to write and you have all of that information with you and ready to go in your offer package.
If you have any questions about Northern Virginia real estate, reach out as we are happy to help.
