Mortgage guides
Nineteen guides on getting pre-approved and buying with the letter. Plain answers, no sales pitch.
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Nineteen questions answered plainly
Buying a home involves a lot of vocabulary nobody teaches you. These guides explain what lenders actually look at, in plain terms, so you know where you stand before anyone runs a number.
Start with readiness if you are early. Go straight to the pre-approval guide if you are ready to make offers.
Read the guideWhere to start
Most people follow this order
Every guide below fits somewhere on this path.
The guides
All guides
Mortgage readiness
Where your credit, income, debts and savings stand today.
How to qualify
The four things lenders weigh, and what usually gets in the way.
Will I get approved?
The three approval stages, and how to tell if your file is on track.
What is a pre-approval?
A plain explanation of what the letter actually is.
Pre-approval vs prequalification
One is an estimate. The other has been checked.
How long does it take?
About 90 seconds here. Days elsewhere, and here is why.
How long does it last?
Why letters expire at 60 to 90 days, and how reissuing works.
Does it affect my credit score?
Soft inquiries, hard inquiries, and when each one happens.
Documents needed
None with Preqly. Here is what everyone else asks for.
Pre-approval letter explained
Every line, and what a listing agent checks.
Denied? What next
Six common causes, and what fixes each one.
What does conditionally approved mean?
The underwriter has said yes, subject to a list.
Credit score needed
Minimums by program, and what a lender overlay is.
Debt-to-income explained
How it is calculated, and why minimums matter not balances.
Down payment and reserves
How much you need, where it can come from, what stays behind.
Self-employed borrowers
Why lenders use net income after deductions.
Mortgage process step by step
All nine stages, and where files usually stall.
Making an offer
What to fix before your agent submits.
FHA vs conventional
Easier to get into, or cheaper to stay in.
Nothing matches that. Try a shorter word, or .
Start here
What these mortgage guides cover
Nineteen guides, written to answer the questions people actually ask before they apply.
Most mortgage advice online is written for people who already understand mortgages. These guides are not.
Each answers a single question in plain words, gives you the numbers where numbers exist, and says plainly when the honest answer is “it depends on your lender”.
Before you shop
Work out where you stand before an agent asks what your budget is.
- Mortgage readinessAn eight-point self-check across credit, income, debts and savings. Start here if you are more than a month away from buying.
- How to qualify for a mortgageThe four factors lenders weigh together, and the blockers that stop an application before it starts.
- Credit score needed for a mortgageMinimums by program, why lenders often want more than the program allows, and what actually moves a score.
- Debt-to-income ratio explainedHow it is calculated, why minimum payments matter more than balances, and what counts as debt.
- Down payment and reservesHow much you need, where the money can come from, and why lenders care what is left afterwards.
Understanding pre-approval
What the letter is, how long it takes, and what it does not promise.
- What is a mortgage pre-approval?The plain explanation, and why the word "pre" confuses people.
- Pre-approval vs prequalificationOne is an estimate you typed in. The other has been checked. Agents know the difference.
- How long does pre-approval take?About 90 seconds here, one to three days elsewhere, and where the time actually goes.
- How long does a pre-approval last?Why letters expire at 60 to 90 days, and why reissuing is not starting over.
- Does pre-approval affect your credit score?Soft and hard inquiries explained, plus how rate shopping is protected.
- Documents needed for pre-approvalNone with Preqly. Here is the full list of what everyone else asks for.
- Your pre-approval letter, line by lineSix lines, and a listing agent may ask about any of them.
When something goes wrong
Most setbacks are timing problems rather than permanent ones.
- Will I get approved for a mortgage?The three approval stages, and how to read whether your file is on track.
- Pre-approval denied? What nextSix common causes, what fixes each one, and roughly how long each takes.
- Self-employed borrowersWhy lenders use net income after deductions, and how to plan for it years ahead.
- What does conditionally approved mean?What a condition actually is, why the list exists, and how to clear it without losing the deal.
Buying with your letter
What happens between an accepted offer and the keys.
- Making an offerWhat the listing agent checks, and why to reissue your letter at your offer price.
- The mortgage process step by stepAll nine stages, roughly how long each takes, and where files usually stall.
- FHA vs conventionalOne is easier to get into. The other is cheaper to stay in.
Reading is useful. A number is better.
A verified pre-approval takes about 90 seconds and involves no credit inquiry.
Get pre-approvedTools
Mortgage calculators
Two free tools. Work out what you can afford, and what the monthly payment would actually be once taxes and insurance are in.
How much house can I afford?
Lenders work backward from your debt-to-income ratio.
Open the calculator →Mortgage payment calculator
The loan is only part of what you pay each month.
Open the calculator →No sign-up, no credit check. See both calculators.
Questions
Asked before anything else
What is a mortgage pre-approval?
A lender's assessment of how much you can borrow, based on verified income, assets and credit position. It is stronger than a prequalification because the figures were checked rather than stated.
What is the difference between pre-approval and prequalification?
A prequalification is based on figures you state yourself. A pre-approval is based on income and assets that have been verified. Only one of them holds up when a listing agent calls to check.
How long does a mortgage pre-approval take?
About 90 seconds with Preqly. Upload-based lenders typically take one to three days, and a bank branch three to seven, because a person has to read your documents first.
Does getting pre-approved hurt your credit score?
Not with Preqly, because no credit inquiry is run at that stage. Elsewhere a hard inquiry can lower your score by a few points.
What documents do I need for a mortgage pre-approval?
None with Preqly. Income and assets are verified through a read-only bank connection. Traditional lenders typically ask for pay stubs, W-2s, two years of tax returns and recent bank statements.
How long is a mortgage pre-approval good for?
Most letters last 60 to 90 days. The exact period is set by the lender and appears on the letter itself.
The short version
Nine things worth knowing before you read anything else
If you only take one pass through this page, take these.
A pre-approval is not an approval
It is a verified qualification. Final approval comes after underwriting and an appraisal on a specific property, and your credit and employment are checked again days before closing.
Twenty percent down is not required
It is the point at which most programs stop charging mortgage insurance. VA and USDA allow zero down. Some conventional programs start at three percent.
Lenders count payments, not balances
A $6,000 card with a $60 minimum affects your debt-to-income ratio less than a $450 car payment. Clearing the biggest minimum payment frees the most housing budget.
Program minimums are not lender minimums
FHA allows a 580 score. Plenty of lenders that write FHA loans want 640. That extra requirement is called an overlay, and it is why one decline is not every decline.
Reserves matter as much as the deposit
Money left after closing is what lenders treat as your cushion. A buyer with exactly enough for the down payment and nothing behind it can fail on that alone.
Rate shopping is protected
Credit scoring models generally treat several mortgage inquiries inside a short window as one event, so comparing lenders does not stack up damage the way opening cards would.
Self-employed income means net, not revenue
Lenders start from your income after business deductions. Every write-off that lowered your tax bill also lowered what a lender will count, which is why this needs planning years ahead.
Nothing should change mid-process
A new car loan, a store card or a job move between offer and closing can unwind an approval at the worst possible moment. Credit gets re-checked before you get the keys.
Ask for the letter at your offer price
If your letter says $485,000 and you offer $430,000, the seller can see exactly how much more you had. A reissue takes seconds and costs nothing.
How we write these
What you will not find here
There is no glossary, no rate table and no general mortgage encyclopedia on this site. Those pages exist everywhere and they help nobody make a decision.
Every guide here does one of three things: it answers a question people ask right before they need a pre-approval, it explains a number that decides whether they qualify, or it says honestly where a bank branch would serve them better than we would.
Where a figure changes annually, such as conforming loan limits or agency fees, we say who sets it rather than quoting a number that will be wrong next year. Where lenders differ, we say so instead of pretending there is one answer. Our licensing and disclosures set out who we are and who actually lends the money.