In today’s market, meeting with a lender before looking for a home is an absolute MUST. Deals happen fast these days and sellers may have several offers to choose from. Many sellers won’t settle (because they don’t have to) for an offer with less than stellar financing support and verification. In many cases, a pre-approval or pre-qualification is simply not enough for sellers to feel confident that a buyer can financially make it to closing.
Make Your Offer Shine with Pre-Underwriting
A newer financial tool I am using with my clients, both first-time home buyers and secondary buyers, to present a polished purchase offer that stands out is called “pre-underwriting”. Pre-underwriting takes the support of a lender’s pre-approval a step further by processing a buyer’s documents and financials through the underwriting process BEFORE any purchase offer is made. Ideally this is done before you start viewing potential homes. The underwriting process with a pre-qualification or a pre-approval generally happens after an offer is accepted and can potentially lead to unforeseen delays in closing.
Why Get Pre-Underwritten?
In the pre-underwriting process, financial experts in the underwriting department (aka “the underwriters”) will take a VERY detailed look at the buyer’s documents and overall financials to determine how much a buyer qualifies for and with what terms. With pre-underwriting a buyer has already jumped through most, if not all, the financial hoops before the offer stage. A seller can feel even more confident that financing issues won’t cause a slow down or prevent a closing from moving forward.
Your Lender Should Be Helping You Have Every Advantage Available
In competitive markets, all buyers should be pre-underwritten to compete with other offers. This is one of those buyer advantages that takes a bit of time upfront, but may help your offer get noticed and accepted over others. If you need help being pre-underwritten to put your best foot forward when making an offer, please get in touch by message here or by calling/texting me at 916-628-1864.
David Banks, Senior Mortgage Lender
Serving Northern California
Call or Text: 916-628-1864
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