What is the difference between pre-qualification and pre-approval?

Pre-qualification is an estimate built from figures you stated. Pre-approval is built from a verified file: income documents reconciled, assets evidenced, and a credit report pulled. The second is what sellers and estate agents treat as meaningful, because it is a conditional commitment rather than an opinion.

How long does a mortgage pre-approval last?

Usually sixty to ninety days, after which the file is stale and gets rechecked. Even inside that window most lenders re-underwrite shortly before closing, so an approval is a snapshot of your finances at a moment, not a guarantee that lasts until the keys change hands.

Does getting pre-approved hurt my credit score?

It takes a hard inquiry, which costs a few points. Applying to several lenders inside a short shopping window is generally scored as one inquiry rather than several, which is why the advice is to gather your quotes in two weeks rather than spread them over a season.

What income do I need for a $400,000 house?

With 20% down at 6.5% over 30 years, the principal-and-interest payment is $2,023, which sits at 28% of gross income for a household earning roughly $86,700. Add about $300 a month of tax and insurance and the same rule wants closer to $99,500 — and other debts then come out of the remaining budget.

Can I be pre-approved if I am self-employed?

Yes. Expect two years of returns and possibly a profit-and-loss statement, since the lender is averaging income you cannot evidence with pay stubs. Some lenders run bank-statement programmes instead, which accept deposits in place of returns, usually with stricter pricing.

How to Get Pre-Approved for a Mortgage

4 min read · updated October 9, 2026

A pre-approval is the document that turns someone who likes houses into a buyer who can make an offer. It is also where wishful arithmetic meets a file, so the surprises in a purchase get found early — or, if you skip it, late.

What it actually is, what a lender verifies, how long the paper survives, and the one number that sets your ceiling before you walk through a single front door.

Pre-qualification is a guess; pre-approval is a file

Pre-qualification means a lender took your word for it: income, debts, roughly your score, and an estimate came back. Pre-approval means those claims were verified — pay stubs against W-2 forms, two years of returns if you are self-employed, two or three months of bank statements — and a credit report was pulled rather than guessed at. What arrives is a conditional commitment: a loan amount, subject to appraisal, to your circumstances holding, and to verification still standing at closing. Read those conditions, because they are the product.

The number that sets the ceiling

The ceiling is not the price you like; it is the payment you can carry. Lenders still quote the old ratios of 28% of gross income for housing and 36% for all debt together, while many approval systems stretch the combined figure to 43–50%. The How Much House Can I Afford calculator uses that logic openly: $95,000 of income at the 28% housing cap gives a payment of $2,217, which at 6.5% over 25 years with 20% down points at roughly $410,368. Raise the cap to 36% and the identical income points at about $527,600 — a $117,000 swing produced by a policy choice rather than by anything about you. Two cautions the calculator states on its own: the figure covers principal and interest only, and reserving roughly $300 a month for tax and insurance pulls that same $410,000 down to about $354,900. A useful shorthand at 6.5% over 30 years is that every $100 of monthly capacity buys about $15,800 of loan.

What the file has to show

Three things, verified. Income: pay stubs that reconcile with your W-2 forms, or two years of returns if your pay arrives through a business. Assets: money that has sat where it is for about 60 days, so moving the down payment between banks the week you apply invites a letter of explanation. Credit: a hard inquiry, worth a few points and generally treated as one shopping event if you apply to several lenders inside a short window (see how your credit score moves your rate). And if you are putting less than 20% down, the insurance premium is part of the payment being underwritten, not an afterthought (PMI Calculator).

How long it lasts, and what breaks it

Sixty to ninety days, after which the file is stale and gets rechecked, including a fresh look at balances and credit. Even inside that window the approval is not final: most lenders re-underwrite shortly before closing. The familiar ways a deal dies after approval are new debt — the car delivered after the offer was accepted — a change of job, particularly to commission pay, a large deposit nobody can source, and an appraisal below the agreed price. The cash side weighs as heavily as the payment side, since the file must show the deposit, the closing costs and a couple of months of reserves, all itemised in what cash you need to buy a house.

Take two or three, inside one window

Rates are not the only difference between offers. Below the best credit tiers lenders add pricing measured in basis points, and origination fees vary more than borrowers expect. Compare the note rate, the add-on and the fee line together, then put each quote through the Mortgage Payment Calculator so you are comparing months rather than marketing. The Down Payment Calculator shows how each lender's assumption about your deposit changes the same picture, and the Amortization Calculator makes the long-run shape visible once you have chosen.

Order of operations

Fix the file, size the payment, then get the paper. Check your score, work out your own ceiling in the affordability calculator before a lender does it for you, take documents to two or three lenders within two weeks, and only then start opening doors. In that order, pre-approval stops being a formality obtained after the fact and becomes what it should be: a ceiling you chose rather than one you discovered.