Realtor View: Mortgage preapproval a must before an offer

Before even starting to search for your dream home, get preapproved or prequalified for a mortgage to know your limits and the best type of financing available. With the current limited supply of homes on the market and the multiple offers many properties draw, sellers may not consider an offer without preapproval or prequalification, so be prepared! Prequalification and preapproval mean different things.
To get prequalified for a mortgage loan, you provide a lender your approximate income, curr