Originally Published at The Motley Fool

A Pre-Qualification is merely a verbal interaction… i.e. you tell me blahblahblah, and I tell you “ok, I verbally annoint you to borrow X.”

A Pre-Approval Certification is generally only accepted by sellers and their agents when they state in writing that the borrower’s documentation has been reviewed and credit-approved, leaving only the collateral remaining to be approved. It doesn’t have to take more than an hour (maybe even 15-30 mins) once the borrower gets their relevant documentation in… but for many folks that can take from hours to weeks.

Rayy’s right about one thing, you *CAN* always go out & hit the bricks hoping for the best. If you are shopping strictly among FSBOs you *may* have a bit more luck as well. Anymore, however, listing agents screen buyers pretty hard to prevent timewasters.

David Donhoff
Senior Leverage Planner

Phone 425-223-4520
Email David@NoBullFinancial.com
Web www.NoBullFinancial.com
WA MB# 510-MB-26336

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