Derek McGowan explains why homebuyers need to refresh their mortgage pre-approval as interest rates shift. An outdated pre-approval weakens your offer, and updated financial documents show sellers you're a serious buyer with current buying power.
Hey, it's Derek McGowan. I wanted to send a little reminder out to make sure you have your pre approval refresh. And this is kind of a unique thing with today's market, but it has taken people a little bit longer than normal to find their homes. And for that reason, we just want to make sure we're up to date with all of our documents and the qualifications on your loan. So we just want to make sure we, if needed, we could schedule a quick little consultation to make sure things back up to speed. So the big thing here is one, interest rates. We all know it's all the headlines everywhere. Even though we maintain the lowest margins, lowest rates, price match beat anybody out there, still, baseline interest rates have gone up. So let's say interest rates from when you last looked at it to today went up 3,8 of a percent over the last couple of months. Well, that 3/8 of a percent for the average homeowner is about $100 a month more. Now if that person was totally maxed out, and some are, some aren't, but if you were up against your limit, well, that actually means your limit now drops by $100 a month because $100 more had to go to the raise. And that would cut you back about $20,000 in buying power. So if you were looking at a $400,000 house, now you have to look at a $380,000 house as your maximum amount to keep you within that same payment. So we would want to dive into that, make sure that you're still on the right track and there's no surprises when you do find the perfect house. And we want to make sure we look at your updated pay stubs, make sure you're still getting the hours at work, the income hasn't changed, or if it's increased, we can increase your approval limit. That's great as well. And we also want to make sure we have your latest bank statements in the in files so that just know there's no questionable deposits or anything that might have concern. My job is to dissect that and help, you know, cross that path early on so there's not an issue later on in underwriting. So it's very important these days to make sure we are kind of working hand in hand to make sure we have the latest things in file all the way around. Many different reasons. And the last piece to it is it never fails when somebody's making an offer, the listing agents, they like to hear from the lender. That's something that I commonly do probably every day. Calling some listing agent, helping a buyer boost their offer. But the big thing that the listing agent wants to hear is, is everything up to date? You know, how long have these people been looking? And do we have the latest documents? Derek, have you seen their documents? And, you know, I can only answer honestly there so I can say, yeah, I got it. They're working on getting refreshed documents. That sounds okay, but doesn't sound near as good as if, yeah, I've got it up to date. You know, the last week or two, they sent me their pay stubs, their latest month's bank statement, and Mr. And Mrs. Listing Agent, I can guarantee this person's ready to go. I can say that a lot more convincingly. And that can help put your offer to the top of the list. So all the way around, it only benefits you to make sure that you are up to date. And let us know if you set up a time to make that happen.
