Before  you even begin your house hunting, you should begin the loan pre-qualification process. Getting pre-qualified requires that a lender verify your financial information, and it serves as their commitment to lend you a specified amount of funds  based on that information. It will give you a number of advantages:

• When you do find a home, sellers will take your offer more seriously given that you have a lender that has committed to backing your offer with a loan.

• It does give the assurance that you’re looking at homes that you can confidently afford to finance. Your home looking efforts will be focused on properties that match your financing abilities.

• You’ll have an edge over other buyers who aren’t pre-approved. In situations where there are multiple offers on the same home, this can be the difference between having your offer accepted or losing the home you fell in love with  to another buyer.