Jesse,

I would agree with the first comment in going to a bank or your credit union. It will probably be the easiest and you should be able to be pre-approved within minutes. A full approval with conditions should come back in one day after application has been made ( In a perfect world). Once all of your conditions are furfilled and the stipulations have been met you will be issued a clear to close. But I do think going to a bank that you have a relationship with would be your best bet. Then you can shop the loan around with other banks. My realtors that I work with have told me they have the most problems with clients obtaining a loan online and with certain brokers. Make sure you select a loan officer that is highly credible for their service. Most likely if the Loan Officer has a great reputation and works well with several realtors in your aera you will get great service from them, they will explain every step in the process throughly, and they will explain how a mortgage "works". They are actually a little more complicated than a simple loan.

Make sure you shop carefully. Additionally, another piece of information, if you are a first time homebuyer it would be a good idea to look into state programs. Most of the time your state will have bond money, grants, etc. It never hurts to check those out and if you qualify for them it could save you money. FHA are also good loans for first time homebuyers, Hope this helps and Good Luck!!

Brent Bester
Mortgage Professional
614-622-8916
bbester@usavingsbank.com

Thu May 15 2008, 10:58

Jesse,

That depends on what you need the pre-approval for. If your objective is to be able to submit an offer and you just need the pre-approval to be considered serious, then go to your current bank, or better, your credit union, and ask them to work through the pre-approval process for you. It's typically quick because you're their current customer and they want to keep you satisfied. What you're looking for is just a letter that says your qualified to purchase a home up to a certain value.

If instead you're going to move fast, from offer to closing, then you have to consider picking the horse you want to get the final loan from. In that case, first and foremost, find an experienced buyer's agent. I'm not trying to sell you on getting representation, but the percentage of times that it's a good idea to try to buy a home with the limited information available to the general public without representation, is very, very small.

A good buyer's agent will have several lenders that they have good experience with, their reputation counts on that. When you finally get down to selecting a lender, be sure to get Good Faith Estimates from every lender, and you must get those GFEs on the same day, to do an apples-to-apples comparison.

Best regards,

Jeffrey

Thu May 15 2008, 08:33