Timeline When Purchasing Home and Borrowing Money

[Karan Manglani]

Hi everyone,

While there is a plethora of great information on BP, there seems to be one question that I can't fully understand.

My plan is to work with hard money lenders but I'm getting lost in the process. Below are my questions.

1. Do I secure a pre-approval letter prior to putting in an offer on a house?

2. How do I obtain a pre-approval with accurate numbers (purchase price and rehab costs) if the listing agent won't proceed to showing the property without proof of funds on short-sales or foreclosures?

3. Should I obtain the pre-approval for the purchase price then continue with a property inspection and follow up with the lender for the rehab costs?

Looking forward to some expert advice here!

[Mike Hanneman]

Get a pre-approval letter for whatever your budget is, but don't send the seller your letter with your max budget number listed, this way the seller doesn't know what you can or can not afford. Your agent should be helping you through this unless you don't have an agent, then in that case go find an agent! They are free to the buyer and will help you out a lot.