Increase Your Home Buying Odds with a Pre-Qualification

It may be cold outside right now, but the busiest home buying and selling season is right around the corner.  If you are in the market for a new home, getting pre-qualified for a loan ahead of time will put you steps ahead of the competition.

What is a pre-qualification?  Simply put, a pre-qualification is a procedure to determine how much money a potential homebuyer will be eligible to borrow prior to actually applying for the loan – a statement from a lender that says you are qualified to borrow up to a certain amount.  By identifying how much they can afford, a buyer can target their search to their price range.  Chris Barth, assistant vice president of Bradford National Bank said, “A pre-qualified loan not only tells you how much home you can purchase, but also shows how much home you can afford from a budgetary standpoint.”

In recent years, our area has experienced an active sellers’ market meaning demand is high and if borrowers were not pre-qualified, chances are they lost out. 

Besides determining how much home you can afford, a pre-qualification makes you a more powerful buyer.  Agents and sellers will see you as a serious buyer when you have the backing of a lender up front.  Barth said, “All things being equal, if two people are bidding on a house and one of them is already pre-qualified, they will win every time.  It’s a very powerful home-buying document.”

Buyers with a pre-qualification letter in hand have better negotiation power because real estate agents and sellers know that you have done your homework and are a serious homebuyer and there is less chance of the deal falling through.  It is likely there would be a shorter closing period as well since the lender already has your financial information collected.

At Bradford National Bank, getting pre-approved is a simple process and any of their consumer lending officers can assist you.  You will need to provide personal information of the borrower and co-borrower as well as all income and asset information. 

Visit www.BradfordBank.com and navigate to “personal borrowing.”  Once there, click on “apply now” under home loans and that will guide you to our lending portal.   Then click “start a new application.”  Once you start the process, you will have the option to select purchase, pre-qualification, refinance, home equity, or construction.  It’s that simple.

Once a pre-qualification letter is generated, they are usually good from 60-90 days.

Going through the pre-qualification process, especially for first time homebuyers, will give buyers a better understanding of the entire lending process, including down payments, closing costs and more.  It creates a more confident buyer for when you begin the actual home search.

Finance Your Solar Energy Project Locally

Solar power is becoming increasingly popular in our area with several companies dedicated to the installation and maintenance of home solar programs. 

Bradford National Bank now offers financing for the purchase and installation of a solar program.  The program includes zero money down, a 5/5 adjustable rate with 20-year amortization.