I Don’t Want to Talk to a Lender. I Want to Find a House First

I was just approached by a potential buyer,  enquiring about a Los Angeles home for sale.

My first question to her was whether she had spoken to a lender.  Her answer was no.  I told her that she needed to do that before starting the process of buying a Los Angeles home.  Her answer:  “I just don’t want to talk to a lender and not find a home. So I figure I could just work backwards.”

We do not work backwards when buying a Los Angeles house. We look and work forward.  The very idea of working backwards is a negative one.  The only thing that will happen is you will trip and fall.

No good Realtor® worth his or her salt is going to work with you if you are not pre-approved/qualified by a lender and you do want to be represented by a good Realtor® who is going to look after your best interests.

Why do you need to be pre-approved/qualified before buying a Los Angeles house?

In the best of times you need to find out how much home you qualify for.  And especially in today’s lending environment.  Unless you are an all cash buyer you are going to have to jump through several hoops before a lender is going to give you that all-important mortgage.  What you consider credit-worthiness and what the bank considers credit-worthiness are two totally different things.

I am sure you will find a Realtor® who will work with you, but why would you waste  your time looking at homes which you cannot afford?  Wouldn’t you rather spend your time making your search a realistic one.  If you start looking at homes above your price range and fall in love with one, unless you come up with the difference in cash you are not going to get it.  And then you will be disappointed when you start looking in a lower price range.

What if there is a home on which you want to make an offer at the same time as others want to make an offer.  They are pre-approved and you are not.  Who do you think is going to get the home?  Not to mention that  even if you are the only one making the offer it will not be accepted without a pre-approval letter from your lender.

If you are serious about buying a Los Angeles home you are going to have to talk to a lender one way or another, so why not do it in the right order.  First.  That is the only way the process will work.

 

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5 thoughts on “I Don’t Want to Talk to a Lender. I Want to Find a House First”

  1. I’m always amazed when real estate agents work with unqualified buyers. Getting approved for a mortgage should be the first thing on every home buyers list.. Unless they are paying cash, then it’s getting documentation to prove they have the funds available.

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