May23 Written by:mikewest
5/23/2008 6:19 PM
I’ve discussed prequaling a lot in the past few weeks because I think it’s an important process. It saves the REALTOR® time, the client, the lender…EVERYONE! I was speaking with a loan officer a few weeks back and he told me “These agents who aren’t prequaling people are really frustrating me, because they are expecting us to work some kind of miracle when the people can’t afford the homes they’ve been showing them!” How true…Buyer’s have told me “I was prequaled for 250k and I was told by Agent John Doe that I could buy up to 400k.” So with these completely wrong actions practices and ideas going around I thought it would be good to clear a few things up.
If you prequaled at 250k, that’s the range that you need to buy at. You can look and something 5-10k over that price and gauge how you’re going to work it into your negotiations. But, thinking that you can purchase a home 100k over that, when other buyers are placing offers at the higher list price is crazy. As I’ve stated before prequaling takes into account various aspects of your financial standing and these play a significant part in the loan process. If a REALTOR® tries to steer you towards something significantly higher than what you prequaled at; it should be a sign that it’s time to look for a new professional to work with. I just thought it was time to clarify this as I’ve heard talk relating to it multiple times in the past few weeks. Good luck with the home search…and to answer the question in the title; Buy at the price level at which you prequal.
And like always you can catch me at: www.therealestatefrontlines.com
Copyright ©2008 Mike West
Tags: