Why should you speak with a lender before looking at homes?

Over the years I have shown hundreds of homes to people that have never spoken to a lender.  Don't ask me why...I guess I was nuts or just wanting to show houses.  Nowadays, I rarely show a home unless I know who the buyer's lender is. 

Why?

Well, first of all, lenders have tightened up the requirements to get a loan.  This is a good thing, but it also means that someone really needs to be serious about buying because today is not 5 years ago when you could just fog up a mirror and a lender would give you money.  Now, you really need to qualify and even then you might feel like you are being abused.

Secondly, if you can't get a loan, why would you look at homes?  I know this sounds obvious, but in the past 2 weeks I have had several people want to look at homes eventhough they filed bankruptcy in the past year.  One person had not filed taxes in the past 5 years! 

A good lender will help set you on the correct path.  They will let you know how much you can borrow, thereby letting you know just how much home you can afford and what type of homes you should be looking at.  This is why speaking with your lender is the very first step of any serious home search.  If you have credit issues, they can direct you on how to clean it up.

A lender will ask you some tough questions and even pull your credit, so don't bother telling them you have a 760 credit score when you know you have been late on most of your bills, they will find out!  It is best to be up front and honest, after all, the lender is actually a human as well (believe it or not) and their time is just as valuable as yours and mine.

So, don't get upset at an agent if they ask you who your lender is before showing you homes.  Realtors are 100% commission.  We don't get paid to show homes, we do not have a draw account, we pay for our own gas, etc.  I only want to work with people who are serious about purchasing a home, and that means that they are ready to speak with a lender.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me.  I would love to help out.