This Mortgage Tip is brought to you by the Jefferson Lewis Board of REALTORS® and Northern Credit Union. Last week I talked about using a proof of funds letter when buying property. More common is to be asked if you are pre-qualified or pre-approved. Hi, I am Lance Evans from the Jefferson-Lewis Board of REALTORS®. While the two sound alike and require contacting a lender, pre-qualification is different than pre-approval. To become pre-qualified, the borrower submits data to a lender. The lender relies on this data and does not go into a lot of depth to come up with an amount that the borrower could be loaned. This means the lender does not look at the financial situation or history prior to issuing the pre-qualification. If the borrower’s data is not accurate, neither will be the lender’s opinion. However, pre-qualification is a good first step to see what you can afford so you can Dream It, Live It, Own It in Northern New York. This Mortgage Tip is brought to you by Northern Credit Union. If you are building, buying or refinancing, Northern will get you the lowest mortgage rate GUARANTEED.