• Deciding up on a desirable and suitable neighbourhood.
• Finding homes for sale in your desired neighbourhood.
• Using your evenings and weekends visiting homes that you think you may like.
• Choosing a real estate agent to help you find the home in your chosen community.
• Visiting homes with your agent that you have selected as possibly being the homes that suit all of your dreams.
• After finding a home that feel is perfect, you draft an offer to purchase the home.

A professional realtor will draft your offer so that your interests and your deposit are protected. He will submit the offer but this is not necessarily the end to the negotiating process.

For a successful purchase the seller must accept the offer and then you loan application has to be accepted by your financial institution.

If the offer is accepted or after a suitable price is finally negotiated, the loan application for your mortgage must now begin as soon as possible.

Loan Application Process
After having found the house of your dreams, negotiating back and forth with the seller and much anticipation and perhaps stress in the process, you must now have your loan approved for the actual purchase to happen. Everything depends on upon whether you get the loan or not. If it is not granted, you have put forth much effort and excitement for nothing. You will not be able to buy the house you have decided was just what you wanted!

Here are the steps in applying for a mortgage loan.

• The first step is to meet with a loan officer who will check into your credit history, income statements and debt history.
• The loan officer can supply you with an estimate of your expected closing costs and the function of all these costs in addition to an estimate of your possible loan amount with the information you have supplied.
• The loan officer will need to verify income statements and your debt history through various agencies. The loan officer will also need an appraisal and title report on your home. This all takes time.
• With all the gathered information, the loan will be either "approved", "denied", or suspended.

This is done with a Pre-Approved Mortgage Loan.

You, your agent and the seller from whom you will eventually buy a home will all benefit from a pre-approved mortgage.

A pre-approved mortgage gives your seller a guarantee that you qualify to buy their home which strengthens your bargaining position

Your agent will know what your financial parameters are and then spend more time looking for houses that "fit" your needs and financial capabilities.

You will feel at ease in knowing that the houses you view and the one that you will decide upon are within your buying power as that has already been decided through your pre-approved mortgage.

Let's review the power of a Pre-Approved Mortgage.

• It gives you a written approval from the lender for a specific loan amount so that you know exactly in what price range you can purchase your desired home.
• It gives you peace of mind, knowing that approval is not an obstacle in your purchase of a home.
• It gives your sellers the reassurance you are serious about purchasing their home and that there will not be a problem or delay with financing. Your offer is therefore a guaranteed one with the Pre-Approval and gives your priority over an offer that does not have Pre-Approval.

How to get a Pre-Approved Mortgage
Here are the steps to get a pre-approved mortgage.

• Find a company who offers pre-approval.
• Meet with the loan officer and fill out required paperwork and forms.
• Usually within a few days your loan is approved and you will be issued a pre-approved mortgage certificate!

You have eliminated many steps, anxiety and time by not using the traditional method of buying a home. There is no need to have specific information on a home.

• There is no need to have specific information on a home.
• There is no need to pay for an up-front appraisal.
• There is no long, nervous wait to find out if you qualify!