Listings Hitting The Market On Fridays Make It Important For Buyers To Have A Lender Letter Ready To Go

A buyers says...

I plan to buy a home as soon as "the right one" comes on the market.  I talked to a lender six months ago and they didn't have any concerns with being able to approve me for a mortgage.  I'll just wait until the right house hits the market and then I'll get a prequalification letter from my lender.

This works out OK some of the time to most of the time - but not all of the time.

Sometimes a new listing hits the market on a Friday.  We might go see it on Saturday afternoon.  By the time we are looking at the house there are already two offers in hand and a few more might be received at any moment.

If you love the house, and want to make an offer, we might be in a tight spot, because...

1.  An offer without a lender letter won't typically go anywhere.

2.  An offer with a promise to deliver a lender letter on Monday won't typically go anywhere.

Certainly, sometimes a seller won't be making a decision until Monday or Tuesday and sometimes offers don't materialize that quickly.

But... if you want to be ready to make an offer on a house that you love when it hits the market, you should already have a lender letter ready to go.