Pre-approval is much more involved. Pre-qualification highlights your ability to borrow, pre-approval means you have been approved to receive a loan from a given lender, and up to what amount you can borrow.

In order to be pre-approved you will be required to fill out a loan application, provide bank statements, check stubs and so forth. Your financial background will be checked extensively. After the lender has reviewed all of your information they will let you know how much you can borrow and at what interest rate. There may be an application fee depending on your lender of choice.

You’ve chosen a lender, you know how much you can spend, time to make an offer on the property you want.

Now what?