Pre-qual is a conversation. Pre-approval is a file.
A pre-qualification is Joe asking about income, debts, and a down payment and running AUS (automated underwriting) with stated figures. Useful, fast, and not what a listing agent in Highland Park wants to see on a multiple-offer weekend.
A pre-approval means we have pulled credit, viewed your income docs, viewed your assets, and issued a letter with a purchase-price ceiling. That is the letter that lets your agent write “buyer is pre-approved with Joe Metzler, NMLS 274132” and have it mean something.
Joe’s standard is 24 hours on a complete file during business days. Incomplete files do not get a fake letter. That is how you beat the buyer who uploaded a selfie of a pay stub.
The 24-hour document list
Send these as PDFs (phone photos are fine if they are readable) through the secure application:
- Income (W-2): last 2 years of W-2s, last 30 days of pay stubs.
- Income (self-employed): last 2 years of personal (and business, if any) tax returns, year-to-date profit and loss. Or ask about bank-statement / DSCR if that is the better product.
- Assets: 2 months of statements for every account that will be used for down payment or reserves. All pages, even the blank ones.
- ID: driver’s license or passport.
- If applicable: gift letter, COE (VA), award letter (disability / Social Security), landlord contact for rent history, HOA statements on a current home, and a contract if you are already under agreement.
Missing “all pages” of a bank statement is the #1 delay. Page 4 of 4 is often the page that says “0 other accounts.” Underwriters want it. Send it the first time.
What we do on our side
- You complete the application at metzlermortgage.com/apply (about 10 minutes) or we start from a phone call.
- Credit is pulled with your authorization. One pull is used across lenders — you are not getting dinged 12 times.
- We match you to a product: conventional, FHA, VA, USDA, jumbo, or DSCR.
- AUS runs. Conditions, if any, get named in English.
- You get a letter stating max purchase price, loan program, and that Joe is the loan originator. Your agent gets a phone number that actually answers.
What a good letter includes (and a weak one hides)
Listing agents have seen every trick. A letter that says “pre-qualified for up to $1,000,000” with no credit pull is wallpaper. A useful letter names the borrower, the program, the max price or loan amount, down-payment source at a high level, and how to reach the lender. We issue that.
If your credit, income, or gift funds still have a hole, we will say so and fix it before you write an offer — not the night before closing.
After you are approved
Do not finance a truck, close a credit card, job-hop, or move large unexplained deposits. Do not “borrow” earnest money from a friend without telling us. Those are the unforced errors that kill files in week three. Shop for houses. Let us handle the underwriter.
If you already have an offer deadline this week, call (651) 552-3681 and say so in the first sentence. The 24-hour clock starts when the docs are in, not when you first thought about buying.
This article is for education only and is not a commitment to lend, a rate lock, or a guarantee of any program. Loan approval, rates, fees, and assistance amounts depend on the borrower, the property, the lender, and current guidelines. Programs and limits change. Joe Metzler, NMLS #274132, Cambria Mortgage. Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in AZ, CO, FL, IA, MN, ND, SD, and WI.
Talk through your scenario
Joe will tell you which program fits — and which one to skip.