How’s it going everyone? Matt Leighton, welcome back to another video. In this episode, we are talking mortgages, lending. I’m here with Rich Conlon from Atlantic Coast Mortgage. Say what’s up Rich. Hi, Rich Conlon, Atlantic Coast Mortgage. Loan Officer. Born and raised in Vienna, Virginia. Love the area. Still live in the area. Just here to help out with my man Matt and help answer any questions. Awesome, whenever someone has a mortgage question further than “What is the rate?”, I just tell them to talk to Rich. I know a little bit about mortgages…but today we’re talking about the top mistake people are making when they’re applying for a loan.

You see all these loan commercials. It’s funny, when we get the primer, one-sheeters on the list of things NOT to do. One of them is like, “Don’t go and buy a boat”. Don’t buy a new car. I’m thinking to myself, nobody in the history of loans has ever gone under contract and then bought a boat the day after. I’m sure it has happened. But it obviously is not the number one mistake people are making when they’re trying to buy a home. That’s where Rich comes in. Rich, you’re on the spot here. What is the number one thing people are doing, that they shouldn’t be doing when they’re applying for a loan with you guys? It’s simple, it’s before you even get to contract.

It’s just waiting until the last minute to get pre-approved. We understand circumstances sometimes that’s just how it is. The big thing is, after meeting your agent, talking about price ranges and goals, the next step, it can’t hurt to just reach out to a lender or two or three and start identifying what you can actually qualify for. That’s the best thing. The earlier the better. Main reason is that it allows time to find any potential pitfalls that can come back in the underwriting process a week before closing. Last minute surprises are the worst. Nobody wants that. Getting pre-approved early is always better. It allows time to figure out if there are any extra hoops to jump through. That just gives you better piece of mind. When you’re out with your agent. Definitively what you can and can’t qualify for. In addition, we always like to provide you with estimates on homes that you’re going to go see so when you’re looking at them, the wheels are turning.

What are my payments going to be like? There’s a ton of benefits to getting preapproved early, rather than waiting for the last minute. And it is beneficial from the very beginning all the way to settlement. It will make your transaction much more transparent, seamless, and less stressful. It takes a village. And it just helps when everything is lined up. Yeah certainly execution is the number one thing. You can look online at how to apply for a mortgage, what pitfalls to avoid, how to do this, how to do that. At the end of the day, actually going out, going on your lender’s website and getting preapproved.

You know when I’m working with buyers, I always ask two very important questions. Number one: are you already working with a real estate agent. Very important. I’ve not asked that in the past and it’s come back to bite me, believe it or not. Well, it’s very easy to believe actually. And number two, are you pre-approved with a local lender? If you are looking for homes and you are not pre-qualified, you are not a serious buyer. You are wasting your time. You might say “well, I’ll just get a letter once I write a contract, it’s fine”. Well, my buyers already have that letter and they will beat you to the punch and get their offer in before you. Nobody likes to get bad news. You don’t want to waste your time falling in love with something that you ultimately don’t qualify for. We find that our clients 99% of the time are pre-approved early just makes your guy’s time much more efficient and you know what you can qualify for.

All of your processes are so streamlined just to a T that if you do them, you will get qualified, you will have your letter. The reason you screw up is you go off astray, you don’t return calls, you don’t return emails. We’re a referral-based company so communication is key. Delivery, setting expectations and obviosuly meeting those expectations. Pre-approvals we can do in as little as 24-hours and especially in this market. Spring time, summer time, that’s what it takes. Speed kills. That’s how we like to operate. And communicating to you and your agent so we can all move quickly.