Once approved, how long before you have to buy?

After getting approved by the bank for a mortgage, how long do you have to shop for a house before it expires?

Once approved, how long before you have to buy?

I think our initial pre-qual was food for 90 days.

Re: Once approved, how long before you have to buy?

What do you mean by "approved"? Do you mean having a full mortgage commitment, which you would get once you are in contract on a house and you apply for a loan? If so, then a mortgage commitment is usually good for 30 days. Same with a rate lock... 30 days or less. If you need a longer lock, it will usually cost you in some way.

If you are referring to a preapproval letter, which you get before you actually apply for a loan (but you will need to put an offer in on a house), they don't really expire the way a mortgage commitment or rate lock does. But if your house hunt takes awhile, you will need to get the letter updated from time to time. A seller/listing agent usually wants to see a fairly recent preapproval (dated within 60/90 days). You wouldn't want to put in offer in on a house in April with a preapproval from September 2012. But updating your preapproval is usually no big deal, as long as everything stays the same. If a certain amount of time passes (say you put your search on hold and resume looking 8 months later, your credit will need to be run again and all of that). You obviously want everything to stay the same financially once you are preapproved, so don't open new credit cards, take out a car loan, quit your job, etc.!

As far as I am concerned, it's never too early in the process to get a preapproval letter. It doesn't bind you to that lender (you can always shop around later), and it doesn't put you on a time clock to buy within a certain period. But there is a lot of misinformation out there about loans and people often grossly overestimate (AND underestimate) what they will be approved for, and what they can afford. So talking to a good mortgage professional early on can educate you, not only about the amount you can be approved for, but what you can afford (in a monthly payment), what loan product will work best for you, and how you can line your ducks up now to be prepared when you do find the house you want to buy.

Once approved, how long before you have to buy?

Yes, to echo Christine, we had a pre-approval from Chase, but ended up going with a broker for the actual mortgage. We got a better rate that way.

Once approved, how long before you have to buy?

Thank you- I guess I meant a pre-approval letter as we are house hunting. Once I obtain the pre-approval, should I find a house and make an offer, then do I apply for the mortgate?

Re: Once approved, how long before you have to buy?

Re: Once approved, how long before you have to buy?

Exactly - You need the preapproval for your own knowledge and to be submitted with any offer you make.

After you have an accepted offer, you can get your loan application submitted (the bank will need the contract, but you can start gathering stuff before you are in full contract, while you are doing a home inspection and contracts are being prepared).

The contract will specify that you have x number of days (usually 45, but can be more or less) to obtain a mortgage commitment. So the sooner you submit your loan application, the better.

But you can always select a different lender than the one you were preapproved by when it comes time to actually apply for a mortgage. I've actually had buyers switch lenders AFTER we were in contract, and sometimes even after the first lender did an appraisal (although then the buyer has to pay for 2 appraisals). It's less than ideal, but it happens, because buyers want to shop around for the best rates, lowest costs, etc.