Buying a home in Maine, are you prequalified or have a pre approval letter to show you can get a house loan?
What is the difference between prequalified or pre approval for a Maine home loan? Like many real estate terms, there is confusion out in the home buying audience. Buying a home is not something most of us do on a regular basis.
This blog post tackles the topic of a prequalified or pre approval letter from a bank making the potential loan on a Maine home.
As the buyer, you don’t want surprises. As the real estate professional or home seller, you need to know this buyer is legit. Especially during the COVID19 pandemic, making sure a buyer that needs bank financing is good to go is vital. It saves everyone time and assures a happy ending to home buying story.
Buyers, sellers, renters and real estate agents are all extra cautious due to the COVID19 pandemic home showings.
Where to start as the first time buyer. Or someone who had owned a Maine home but it’s been a while. Unless we are talking a cash sale for a Maine home, financing needs to be nailed down. Sooner rather than later. Before the wheels turn and lots of folks get involved in the home buying situation. Is the home buyer in Maine all checked out to purchase before they enter any homes physically or virtually.
It is fun to browse and see what’s for sale on the current Maine home real estate market.
Everybody does it and window shopping is fine. Until taking it to the next step and pretending or assuming you can buy as a potential customer. Here is what the difference is between prequalified and pre approved for a Maine home loan,
Prequalified to buy a Maine home, the real estate home buying journey starts with finding out what you can afford, what a bank would lend you.
This is all based on what information you provide about you income, major bills, how you spend or save your monthly flow of salary. When you prequalify for a home loan, you’re getting an estimate of what you might be able to borrow. It’s all based on information you the home buyer provide about your finances, as well as a credit check. This stage of home buying helps you get an idea of the bank mortgage loan lending products.
The loan arranger helps guide you to the best mortgage product out there to match the potential home you are toying with buying. Everyone wants to buy a home in Maine. It’s the getting ready part that eats up prep time before a serious house search begins though.
Preapproved for a mortgage loan is a deeper step taken buying a home in Maine.
Things are getting more serious. More involved because instead of the numbers and information you provided during pre-qualifying for a Maine home loan, everything gets checked out more fully. Like pricking your finger to scratch the surface compared to finding a vein and taking more out of you. Or a simple quick test compared to put your under exploratory surgery.
When you get preapproval for a home loan, a credit check is done, a complete mortgage application to buy a home taken and information verified.
The Maine home buyer gets a preapproval letter and a dollar amount is offered for lending you a certain amount of funding good for 90 days. Preapproval is much more beyond the paper it is printed on. Prequalified status is simply saying you might get a home if a slew of items with asterisks next to the condition lists are met.
Getting pre approval carries more clout in buying a Maine home than prequalified.
I find when a local banker in my area of Maine makes the written judgment on financial credibility, it means less chance of surprises. Making sure a real estate buyer is able to buy a Maine home before beginning the process of house showings and purchase and sale agreements saves heartache.
The home seller takes any offers relayed to them more seriously when a pre approval bank lending letter is attached to the offer paperwork.
The real estate buyer has more confidence in the home buying process knowing his financials chances are known.
He, she, they have brought in the lender upfront as a home buying partner early on.
The Maine bank mortgage lender has house buying advice that helps the home purchaser.
What happens when a home buyer goes house shopping without the pre approval, prequalified letters from the mortgage loan lender?
Time is wasted on showings, offers, purchase and sale contracts. Then when a bank performs the full, hard copy check of the buyer’s ability to buy and obtain a mortgage, oh oh.
Items showing up on the credit check need attention. Things the buyer had no idea or just forgot about when caught up in the American home purchasing dream.
It’s embarrassing for the home buyer who has told everyone in the family look at the new house I plan to move into soon.
Then the word gets around the same buyer is not qualified to buy a place and the bank turned him down.
Seller has property off market with an unqualified buyer and missed chances from other potential home buyers who were qualified, approved to buy.
When the home goes pending, under contract and then a few weeks or months later comes back up for sale, the real estate audience gets nervous.
Wondering what’s wrong with the Maine house. The listing gets blamed for what it did not sell when often it’s the home buyer in such a hurry that forgot the important step to get preapproved, prequalified for the mortgage loan.
The wannabe buyer does not help matters either when things go sideways and derails the home sale. Telling anyone and everyone he changed his mind or the house was a lemon or seller pulled the plug rather than discuss private credit problems.
Banks, mortgage lenders want, need to make home loans.
But the buyer has to be up to snuff. Those dings and dents on his credit history, employment record, spending debt ratios and delingquent accounts were in the background all the time. Waiting to surface and dealt with too late in the house buying game.
It takes time to get your credit squared away and is not a snap your fingers quick exercise. Paying off this, sending letters, explaining playing phone tag with past and current creditors. The quick shift to owner financing a home in Maine can happen but usually that occurs more often with land sales.
Waiting for the bad credit items to disappear from your financial record is not an over night fix.
Someone with the same first and last name, middle initial too has hurt your credit. Often there are legitimate mistakes on the credit report. But getting them removed takes precious time the home seller is not going to wait around to see if you can get financially ship shape.
The seller thought you already were good to go before setting foot in the place and tying up his property.
The one that still needs a bonafide buyer. And the longer the days on market the house sits under contract parked or for sale on the open real estate market, the value suffers.
Buying a house, why it is so important to get preapproved, prequalified to know you can. To show everyone involved in the process when a home mortgage is needed to pull off the house purchase that you are ready to buy. The home loan programs are many in number to consider for the best fit.
Every house has its own issues that could keep you from getting a Maine home loan too.
Fitting the lending program, finding the best home within your price range and with the features you want. It takes study, questions asked and some trial and error to get to a successful real estate closing.
Think of the mechanic that you trust who you call on the phone. To ask about what’s wrong with your car, what could it be? He asks questions, you provide answers but that dialogue starts the process of what needs repair. But nothing is better than putting the sick car up on the garage hoist and looking under the hood. To hands on tackle the issues to see what is wrong with the car.
The prequalified is like the phone conversation with the mechanic who quickly sizes up what he thinks you may need. The preapproved for a loan is like the mechanic after a closer look down at his shop using diagnostic tools knows for sure what ails the car. Get in touch with an on the ball local bank lender to get preapproved for a Maine home loan to avoid wasting time or any surprises.
Owner financed homes in Maine are not so common.
The sellers often need to replace the house or can’t wait around with a fifteen, twenty or thirty year owner financing mortgage to wrap up way down the road. But even when Maine land is owner financed, the seller wants to know is this buyer qualified to buy. Check their credit, make sure before we find out that this was a big mistake and legal fees to foreclose are needed to correct the mistake.
There is a lot more beyond the bank approval paperwork in buying and selling a Maine home.
Does the buyer have extra funds to do repairs the bank appraiser lists on the valuation report? Also, I always advise a home buyer to not change jobs, don’t get divorced, forget buying a new car or lots of furniture for the house.
Stay squeaky clean and everything the same when buying a home in Maine.
Don’t make any financial moves that you think help. Because it could lead to the bank loan officer telling you otherwise after you do the wrong thing thinking it would help. Another thing, a laundry list of contingencies in a purchase and sale agreement that you hope a seller will sign.
If there are too many demands and it’s all one way, the seller will keep looking. Or accept another offer from a buyer that keeps it simple. Only wants
contingent on bank financing, clear title assurance.
Even for a lower offer, this buyer frees up the seller from too much nickel and dime involvement in a home sale he wants to keep “as is where is”.
Put on your big boy or girl pants and suck it up Buttercup. Think what would you do if you were the Maine home seller being asked to do too much in the real estate sale?
In these times of COVID19 pandemic, getting prequalified or pre approval letters are more critical than ever.
Running the roads to go in and out of homes even with gloves, face mask, protective booties is costly and puts folks at risk.
If a buyer is not able to get financing, none of the showing, all of the purchase and sale paperwork and trust account deposits are for nothing. It starts and ends with who is making this loan and provides their green light thumbs up or rejection approval.
Just because the home buyer wants to buy your place, the timing could be off without his knowledge of can he swing the real estate purchase?
The guy or gal with the combination to the big heavy door time lock on the bank safe or someone in mortgage underwriting knows for sure.
Spill the beans and provide them everything about your credit history, all your accounts, every recurring monthly charge to know for sure.
Buying a home in Maine is way way different than just sign here and get the keys to your new car.
That’s because a tow truck can retrieve the car if you don’t make payments. A home with tenants or the owner in it takes longer to evict. Getting the keys back to the place is more costly when foreclosure wheels start turning.
Should you be tramping in and out of Maine homes that you can not buy but don’t even know it yet?
Of if you are able to buy, you know that with a bank preapproval letter in your pocket from day one. Knowing no time is being wasted as you browse new house listings.
Confident that you can have this house or that home if you like it. All based on how it hits you or not coming in the front door showing experience.
Bank financed home sales, the buyer is going to end up at a financial institution lobby or reach out to a mortgage lender before the house sale can happen.
So getting the financial figured out and your ducks in order going in is the only way to fly. Buying, trading, selling any type of Maine real estate, MOOERS REALTY is here to help!
Reach out, let’s connect and discuss the buying and selling process. Hope this blog post on buying a home in Maine, prequalified or pre approval letter which works best was helpful.
I’m Maine REALTOR Andrew Mooers, ME Broker
207.532.6573 | info@mooersrealty.com |
MOOERS REALTY 69 North ST Houlton ME 04730 USA
