If you’re looking to purchase a house, you’ll need to look into what it takes to get a mortgage and what loans make the most sense for you. In our prior posts, we discussed how you need to start by making sure you have a high enough credit score and a low enough amount of debt to be on your way to get approved for a loan. Then you’ll want to research the right types of loans that make the most sense for you and your financial state. From there, you can get pre-qualified to see whether or not you’ll qualify for the type of loan you want or not, and then you can get pre-approved for a loan. Pre-approval is a lot more stringent, but neither guarantees that you’re going to actually get a loan still.

  1. Research, research, research. After you get pre-approved, you’ll want to compare mortgages and lenders. You’ll want to do research to determine where you’ll want to get your mortgage from, such as: banks, credit unions, mortgage lenders, mortgage brokers, or an online mortgage company. Your mortgage lender will be able to provide information about where to go, but you should also do your own research.
  2. Apply for a mortgage lender. Once you have your offer approved on a house, you will officially apply for your mortgage loan. You can apply through a lender that pre-approved you, but you don’t need to go with them just because you worked on the pre-approval process with them. You’ll want to really shop around during this process because a small change in interest rates can mean the difference of saving thousands over the course of years of paying off your mortgage. Banks, credit unions, and mortgage lenders might have better service, but they won’t always have the best rates for mortgages. Mortgage brokers help you find the best mortgage for you, but you’ll have to pay them a fee on top of that. Online mortgage companies lack the customer service experience you get through a bank, but they’ll offer you the best rates you can typically find.Once you’re ready, gather all your documents ahead of time because it could take awhile to compile them all. Often it will be what you submitted during the pre-approval process, but it will be the most updated versions. If you’re delayed getting your paperwork together, you could unfortunately delay the home buying experience, unfortunately.