Get Pre-Approved Before You Fall in Love With a House
Most buyers do this backwards. They find the house first, then scramble to figure out if they can buy it. By then someone else already has an accepted offer.
A pre-approval takes a conversation and some documents. Do it first and the rest of the process stops being stressful, because you already know your number before you walk through a door.
A prequalification and a pre-approval are not the same thing
This trips people up constantly, and it costs them houses.
A prequalification is an estimate. You tell a lender what you make, what you owe, and roughly what your credit looks like. Nobody verifies anything. You get a letter. It took four minutes and it's worth about that much.
A pre-approval means we pulled your credit, reviewed your actual income documents, ran your file through underwriting, and issued a letter based on verified information. It's a commitment to lend, subject to the property and a few final conditions.
Here's why the difference matters. When a listing agent gets two offers at the same price and one has a prequal letter and one has a real pre-approval, they tell their seller to take the pre-approval. Every time. Your offer is only as strong as the letter behind it.
What we need from you
Nothing exotic. For most buyers it's this:
Last two years of W-2s, or two years of tax returns if you're self-employed
Your most recent 30 days of pay stubs
Last two months of bank statements, all pages, including the blank ones
Photo ID
If you own other property, the mortgage statement, tax bill and insurance declaration on it
If you're self-employed and your tax returns don't reflect what your business actually brings in, that's a solvable problem and we should talk about it.
What actually happens after you send them
This is the part most lenders skip, and it's the part that matters.
Once we have your loan structured up, we'll jump on a call and I'll go over every penny. Not a letter with a number on it. The actual breakdown: what you'd be putting down, what your payment looks like broken into principal, interest, taxes, insurance and mortgage insurance if you have it, and what you'd need at the closing table.
That way when you go see that house, you'll know what the numbers are to that place as you walk through it. You're not guessing, and you're not finding out three weeks later that the taxes in that school district changed the payment more than you expected.
Common questions
How long does it take?
If you get me your documents, most files turn around same day or next day. The delay is almost never on our end.
Does it hurt my credit?
A mortgage credit pull is a hard inquiry, so it can move your score slightly. Multiple mortgage pulls inside a short shopping window get treated as one inquiry by the scoring models, so shopping lenders doesn't stack up against you the way people fear.
How long is my pre-approval good for?
Typically 90 days, because credit reports and income documents age out. If you're still looking after that, we refresh it. That's a quick fix, not a restart.
What if I get denied?
Then we find out why while you still have time to fix it, instead of finding out after you've written an offer and put earnest money at risk. A no in September that turns into a yes in January is a good outcome. That happens a lot.
Should I get pre-approved if I'm not buying for six months?
Yes, and that's honestly the best time to do it. If something needs to be cleaned up on your credit or your down payment plan, six months is enough runway to actually do it.
Who you'd be working with
I'm Pete Schlegel, a mortgage loan officer with Union Home Mortgage, licensed in Ohio, Michigan and Florida. I grew up in Toledo and Maumee, graduated from Maumee High School, live in Waterville, and coach the Maumee High wrestling team. My wife Ashley is a Realtor at LPG Realty and the two of us own rental property in this area ourselves.
That's not biography for its own sake. It's why I can tell you what the tax bill actually looks like on a house in Sylvania versus one in Perrysburg before you tour it, instead of after you've fallen for it.
I've closed loans all over Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan, from Toledo and Maumee out to Perrysburg, Sylvania and Bowling Green, and across the state line in Monroe and Lenawee Counties. Licensed anywhere in Ohio, Michigan and Florida.
My direct line is always open. I pick up.
Let's get you a number
I'd rather have a fifteen minute conversation now than watch you lose a house later.
If you're ready to get moving, the link below starts your application securely and I'll take it from there. If you'd rather talk it through first, call or text me and we'll start there instead. Either way works and neither one obligates you to anything.
Let's create a game plan so that you know exactly what everything looks like.
Call or text me anytime. I work at all times, so do not hesitate to reach out. My direct line is always open, and I pick up.
Not ready for that yet? Call or text me instead. (419) 913-8234