Get a Pre Approval Letter Before You Search For a Home
Question: Do you know of any sample letter or have any advice on how to make an offer to the seller?
Answer:
Sample Letter: I believe the letter you are asking for is a pre-approval letter. You can get a pre-approval letter from your mortgage company or loan officer after they have pulled your credit, and received and analyzed your income and asset documentation. There is no standard way that this letter should look. The basics of the letter should say that you have been pre-approved for a mortgage based on the mortgage lender having looked at your credit, income and asset information and everything looks good. This is as far as many companies will go.
Am I Really Approved To Buy A Home?
Unfortunately, this also how so many potential homebuyers get into trouble while buying a home. A real pre approval letter means something only if your loan officer actually took your credit, income, assets, and loan application and had them reviewed and approved - subject to a signed sales contract and acceptable appraisal - by an underwriter. At the very least, the loan officer should have had your file ran through automated underwriting to show any abnormalities to your file that might get in the way of getting your loan approved.
Make Sure You Tell Your Loan Officer Everything
It is this stage where I have seen many relationships between loan officers and real estate agents and their clients go bad, unfortunately myself included. During the loan approval stage, the underwriter will look at everything that the loan officer turns in for a loan approval. Underwriters are trained to look very closely at all of your documents to make sure that you qualify for the loan.
The underwriter is the mortgage lender's approving eye, so they want to make sure that they are lending money to someone who qualifies for it. If the Loan Officer does not get your loan approved up front and just eyeballed it you could be in trouble if an underwriter finds it. Depending on what it is, like miss calculated income, or a problem on a credit report you might not get your loan.
Get Pre-Approval Letter - The Real One
But if the Loan Officer does their homework up front and gets you approved with an underwriter before they give you the pre approval letter, then the chances of something going haywire because of your loan qualifications decrease dramatically. If something is wrong with the sales contract, or the appraisal this is not your fault nor is it likely to be the fault of your Loan Officer.
There are problems with a properties from time to time, like the value doesn't match the sales price - the value is lower. These kinds of things have a tendency to work themselves out, you just have to hang in there, be patient and let your real estate agent work it out. It is amazing to me, but they always seem to work it. They want you to get your home too - this is how they get paid.
Advice On How To Make An Offer
Sub-question answer:
As far as advise about how to make an offer to an owner with a home for sale: we cannot this kind of assistance since we are not a real estate company. We can make suggestions about bidding high or low as a way to get a lower payment, or ask for seller closing cost assistance as a way to buy a home with less money out of your pocket, but we can advise you on how to make an offer, nor can we give you a sample sales contract to use.
Call A Local Agent And Get Assistance
I suggest that you call a local real estate agent in your area and ask them to assist you. Offer to pay them for their time. I'm very sure that you will find someone to assist you if you do a little snooping around in your area.
Bonus Information:
What Does a Pre Approval Letter Do For Me
A pre-approval letter tells everyone that you are ready to buy a home. It lets the seller of the home that you have made an offer to buy that you are serious and that you have the financial and credit qualifications to get the mortgage for the home. If you are in a competitive market, and you do not have a pre-approval letter, then all I can say is good luck. A seller will be hard pressed to take your sales contract offer with no pre-approval letter when they have other offers to consider that have pre-approval letters attached.
Furthermore, no good real estate agent should even show you homes until they know that you have been pre-approved up to a certain price range of homes. If they get in a car with you to show properties to you and you haven't gotten pre-approved then shame on them.
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