Get a mortgage pre-approval

Before you start shopping for a home, get preapproved for a mortgage. Here’s why:

First, it will let you know how much of a home you can buy. (If you can’t get the financing, you can’t buy the property.)

Second, most home sellers and their brokers (at least, the savvy ones) aren’t going to take your offer seriously (or very likely, won’t accept any offer you make at all), unless you have a mortgage pre-approval. Why? Again, if you don’t have the financing, you can’t buy the property.