Property Market

6 Reasons why it's important to get mortgage approval in principle before you look for a home.

You'll get a rough indication of what you can borrow on most property and mortgage websites.

But because there are lots of different things the lenders take into account that can drastically effect what you can borrow, (such as your age, your loan commitments, credit history, type of job, savings patterns and even how any kids you have) getting an accurate figure from any website is next to impossible.

Add to that the wide range of lenders out there and the different criteria they use, and the current credit crunch, and you'll soon see that there's only one way to know for sure what you can borrow, and that's to get mortgage 'approval in principle'.

Getting Approval in Principle simply means getting approval in place prior to finding the specific property which you're going to buy.

6 Reasons to Get Approval in Principle

  1. It removes the guess work and doubts about what you can and can't afford.

  2. Find out what size deposit, if any, you'll require.

  3. You can easily identify homes within your price range.

  4. You won't find the 'perfect home' and then discover you can't get finance for it.

  5. You'll be able to move fast when the right property comes up.

  6. Pre Approval effectively makes you a 'cash buyer'. When you place an offer on a property the seller doesn't have to worry about whether you'll get mortgage approval, as you'll already have it in place.

In a slower market like today, where houses are taking time to sell, and when mortgage lenders are changing their criteria so often, this is becoming more and more important.