Waxhaw, NC · Member since 2014 · 8 posts · 0 votes
Hi all,
Newbie question. I am actively looking for a rental property and would like to know if I should get the mortgate pre-approved or find the right property and get the loan. Looks like some of the sellers are interested only if the buyer has a pre-approved loan.
Locking the loan for 2 or 3 months has a downside if I am not able to buy any properties in that time period. If I keep applying for pre-approvals every 60 or 90 days, it may ding my credit score. So, I am wondering what is a good way to handle this situation?
Investor · Pittsburgh, PA · Member since 2011 · 117 posts · 78 votes
12y
Step 1: Work with a good mortgage company that will take all of your personal financial information and compute a price range that you can afford. Make sure that they do this without pulling your credit report. They will be able to give you a ballpark on interest rates and fees but you won't know for sure until they actually pull your credit.
Step 2: Shop around for properties and find the one that you want to make an offer on. If you are in a competitive market I suggest that you get the pre-approval letter from the bank so that you can present it with your offer. This way you could potentially beat out a similar offer without a pre-approval letter. If they ding your credit and it goes from 750 to 745 it's not really a big deal, just consider it a "cost of doing business". If you are in a slow market don't worry about the pre-approval letter at all. If the seller comes back and says they want one, only then provide it to them.
If it takes you longer than 180 days to find a deal you're probably in the wrong market! So I wouldn't sweat that detail too much! :-)