Pre-Approval Helps Buyers Compete

Shopping for a home can be exciting and nerve-wracking.  When the market is tight, and you’re competing against multiple offers – especially when some of those offers are for cash – it can be downright frustrating.

American Pacific Mortgage offers a pre-approval process that helps combat the competition with our Keys on Time program.

Keys on Time allows you to get fully approved for your financing prior to finding your home.  This puts you in the running with cash offers, as the financing is not at issue. So, how does the program work? Let’s dig in.

You apply for your loan with no property attached to the application. The loan is processed and fully underwritten and a preliminary approval is issued.  This approval will have a loan amount attached to it, stating the maximum loan (or any loan amount lower than the maximum) that you qualify for. Once you get a property in contract, the loan is moved along in the system, and you’re given a full approval with the property address once the property is appraised and reviewed by the underwriter. 

It’s important to note that both the initial approval and final approval may have conditions attached to them.  These conditions can be simple, and things that the loan officer needs to resolve within the transaction – or they can be more complex. It’s important that you work closely with your loan officer to get them the documents needed to clear these conditions as quickly as possible so that your loan is not delayed.

The great news is that if you get pre-approved prior to going into contract, then go into contract on a home, the closing time can be greatly expedited – often to just a couple of weeks.

You might be asking yourself if there are any other benefits to utilizing a pre-approval, and there most definitely are.  In an active real estate market, the seller and their agent often field multiple offers on the listing.  Getting an offer with a loan approval attached not only tells them that you’re serious, it also allows them to look at your offer more closely, like they would a cash offer, as opposed to an offer with no financing in place. It’s not quite the same as cash, but it definitely lets you compete!

Pre-approvals are available in most of the markets we serve.  If you have questions about the program, or how to get started, contact your loan officer today!