Andrew

Thanks for the input but this thread is a bit old. I ended up buying a house in Beverly. Prices seemed much more sensible there. Many thanks for the feedback anyhow. - Wed Feb 4 2009, 14:35

I'm currently doing something similar and half wish I hadn't gotten into it. Even if you can find a lender to accommodate this in some way (it won't be easy at all in the current climate, especially with < 20% down), hopefully you can either do the work yourself or understand what you're getting yourself into re dealing with contractors, etc. If not, think about it long and hard given that there are many homes available that are move-in ready and without the ridiculous granite countertop mark-ups of several years ago. - Mon Mar 10 2008, 12:09

I see. I guess I was wrong in assuming that this was the entire purpose of the pre-approval letter -- to convey that the loan is in place. Otherwise, I can see no reason for the letter. Anyhow, I can certainly understand the listing agent wanting to hear it from the lender's mouth directly as extra confirmation. However, for some reason anything beyond that annoys me a little. Not sure why, but knowing exactly how I will finance my loan, credit score, annual salary, etc. feels like it is private and should be between me and lender. I would have assumed that all sales agent wants to know is whether the loan is a done deal. Also, my approval cap is 400K more than what I'm offering (letter only mentions offer amount), but I don't want that revealed for negotiation purposes.

Thanks to everyone for the advice. Some of these issues are nuanced and getting several perspectives is valuable. This is great site. - Thu Jan 24 2008, 08:29

Thank you, CJ. That makes some sense to me, but it strikes me as odd that the selling agent wants to call my lender before they respond to my offer. I've told my lender to reveal nothing other than that it is a "real pre-approval". I guess their concern is that some pre-approvals don't mean as much as others. I can see why they wouldn't want to take the house off the market before double-checking, but I don't like them talking to my lender before we agree on a price in principle. Am I being paranoid? It's hard to reason out all of the ramifications, so it's good to hear from people with experience in these matter. thanks again ... - Wed Jan 23 2008, 22:28