Trouble Getting Pre-Approved? | Home Loan Advisors
What Do You Do If You're Having Trouble Getting Pre-Approved in Florida?
By: Josh Jampedro, Home Loan Advisors
Video Transcript: Getting pre-approved for a mortgage in Florida
00:00:04:02 - 00:00:26:22
If you're having trouble getting pre-approved, the first thing that you need to look at is how do we create a roadmap for a pre-approval? Every single buyer has a roadmap. For some people, that road is really long. Unfortunately, you know, if you have a 450 credit score and we look at your credit and see that you haven't paid, Verizon, sprint, T-Mobile and sprint gave you a second phone, you didn't pay for that one.
00:00:26:22 - 00:00:53:04
And your credit is terrible. That roadmap is going to be really long, unfortunately, but for I would say 90% or 95% even of home buyers, percent of home buyers, the roadmap isn't that hard. It's usually trying to figure out how to balance their finances in a meaningful way. So that is a combination of figuring out how do we snowball paying down debt so that you're able to get ahead a little bit faster without having to spend a bunch of money all at once, or hit the lottery or something like that?
00:00:53:06 - 00:01:17:16
How do we increase your credit score? If that's a concern, which typically goes in line with paying down debt? So both of those things are typically tend to correlate. How can we add more income so that you are able to, over the course of a period of time, move your purchasing power up higher? Or if you already have enough income, how do we get you into a place where you can find a house that supports a payment, generally with the income that you already have?
00:01:17:18 - 00:01:38:20
So we want to try to figure out what are your expectations. If you want to live in Hyde Park in downtown Tampa and you're making $5,000 a month and the homes are $1 million. We kind of have to adjust our expectations and figure out, is there a lifestyle that you could see yourself living that isn't in that exact location?
00:01:38:21 - 00:01:57:04
Could we maybe move north or south or east or west? 5 or 10 miles? Can we put you into a position where you're still in a nice, safe neighborhood, but you're not spending tons of money on your mortgage? So a lot of times it comes down to those factors trying to adjust the budget, looking at your financing, and then also adjusting expectations until we get both of those ends to meet.
Executive Summary
Direct answer: Build a roadmap. Every buyer has one — the question is how long it is. For roughly 90-95% of homebuyers, the roadmap isn't difficult; it usually comes down to balancing finances in a meaningful way: paying down debt, improving credit, increasing income, or adjusting expectations about where and what you buy.
Why Does a Pre-Approval Roadmap Matter?
Every single buyer has a roadmap to pre-approval — for some people it's short, for others it's long. If your credit score is around 450 and your report shows unpaid balances with Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint, that roadmap is going to be long. But that's not the typical case. For the large majority of buyers, the path to pre-approval is a matter of adjusting a few specific things, not overcoming a credit disaster.
| Lever | What Does It Look Like |
|---|---|
| Pay down debt | Snowball payments to get ahead without a lump sum |
| Increase credit score | Typically improves alongside debt paydown |
| Increase income | Raises purchasing power over time |
| Adjust expectations | Consider a different area or home type that fits your current budget |
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do You Pay Down Debt Without a Big Lump Sum?
Snowballing debt is the way to make progress without spending a large amount of money all at once. The goal is to get ahead a little bit faster over time rather than needing a windfall — as Josh puts it, "without having to spend a bunch of money all at once, or hit the lottery or something like that."
How Are Credit Score and Debt Paydown Connected?
Increasing your credit score typically goes hand in hand with paying down debt — the two tend to correlate. Working on one usually moves the other in the right direction at the same time, which is part of why debt paydown is often the first lever to pull.
Can Increasing Your Income Help You Get Pre-Approved?
Yes — adding income is one of the direct ways to increase your purchasing power over time. If you already have enough income to support what you want to buy, the roadmap shifts: instead of increasing income, the focus becomes finding a home that fits the payment your current income already supports
.
What If Your Expectations Don't Match Your Budget?
Sometimes the roadmap isn't about your finances at all — it's about adjusting your expectations. If you want to live in Hyde Park in downtown Tampa on $5,000 a month and homes there are $1 million, the numbers don't reconcile. In that situation, the real question becomes whether there's a different lifestyle or location you could see yourself living in.
Moving 5 or 10 miles north, south, east, or west can put you in a nice, safe neighborhood without stretching your mortgage payment. This is often the fastest lever available — no debt paydown, no waiting to build credit, just a shift in location.
