If you plan to finance your home purchase, start the mortgage loan process well before buying a home, even before the bidding process.

• Investigate loan options that best suit you. Talk to financial institutions, mortgage companies and/or savings and loan institutions to look at what kinds of loans are available, and compare rates.
• If you are a first time home buyer, you may qualify for mortgage programs with little money down, low interest rates or federal programs that give beneficial rates.
• When you have settled on a type of loan and a loan institution, get pre-approved and get a pre-approval letter. To do this, a loan officer will review your credit files and discuss with you how much you can borrow. This will help you know the price range you can consider when shopping.
• Having a reduced debt load and a good credit history will be helpful in getting a better loan rate. You may wish to discuss with your financial institution, ways to improve your credit score to get a better rate.
• Show your pre-approval letter to your real estate agent when you begin shopping for a home.