Looking for a Deal? Make sure you are prepared with a mortgage pre-approval

Buyers are asking me whether a pre-approval is really necessary and what information they need to gather together to get pre-approved. For buyers ready to get into this active spring market the answer to the first question is Yes! Yes! Yes!

And to the second, the paperwork involved in getting a loan approval has grown, as the loan climate has tightened. It's not really more than a full doc loan ever was, but people that applied for their last mortgage in the early 2000's may have had the experienced that not as much was required. Don't take it personally!

Here's what you need:

· Copy of driver’s licenses.

· Last two pay-stubs.

· 2007 & 2008 W-2’s.

· 2007 & 2008 Federal tax returns with all schedules.

· Last two monthly statements, or the most recent quarterly statement, for your savings, brokerage, and retirement accounts. (Including all pages.)