Pre-qualification
The mortgage lender will use details you provide about your credit, income, assets and debts to arrive at an estimate of how much mortgage you can afford. The whole process may take only minutes or a few hours at most, and is free to you. While a "pre-qual" is non-binding to the lender (because the information you provide has not been verified), it does serve as a good indication to potential sellers of your general creditworthiness.

Pre-approval
Pre-approval takes pre-qualification one step further. The lender will contact your employer, your bank and others to verify your income, assets, debts and credit history, and then issue you a letter stating that your mortgage is approved for a certain amount within a certain time frame.

Gain the buying edge
By getting a pre-approval you're more attractive to sellers and you'll save time closing when you find a home because the lender will have already completed the necessary qualifying and underwriting steps.

2.) Figuring Out the Benefits

San Diego County provides first time home buyers programs which can save you thousands! To utilize these great programs contact us today or visit the AHA website for details by clicking here!

Almost 80% of all home searches today begin on the Internet. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can search through hundreds of online listings, view virtual tours, and sort through dozens of photographs and aerial shots of neighborhoods and homes. You may search through the latest listings or fill out the home search form and one of our highly trained REALTORS^® will find the perfect property for you. To begin your search click here.

4.) How Long Should It Take to Find What You Want?

A few buyers will look for years, but buyers who do that aren't motivated. A motivated buyer will find a home within two weeks. Most of our buyers find a home within a few days. We will listen to your wants and needs and arrange to show only those homes that fit your particular parameters, making it fast and easy to find the property you have been searching for.

5.) How Many Homes Will You See?

The average number of homes that I show to a buyer in one day is seven. Any more than that, and the brain is on overload. Therefore, don't expect to see 20 or 30 homes; although it's physically possible to do so, you probably will not remember specific details about any of them.

6.) View Top Choices a Second Time

After touring homes for a few days, you will probably instinctively know which one or two homes you would like to buy. We will then go over the pros and cons of each property and give you a second look at each. This allows you to see the properties with different eyes and notice elements that were overlooked the first go-around.

7.) Making the Selection

We can generally tell which home a buyer is going to choose, It's an intuition. But we make it a practice not to steer buyers, and we insist that you choose the home without interference from us. It's not our choice to make. Our agents are required, however, to point out defects and to help you feel confident that the home selected meets your search parameters. Once you have decided on the property of your choice, our skilled agents will then call the listing agents to negotiate the sale price of the home.