Sarasota homes for sale - Shay T. of Sarasota, Florida, warns house hunters against permitting mortgage lenders to compete for your business.

Shay knew to get pre-approved before house hunting and getting her hopes up. She knew to shop within her budget, whatever her budget turned out to be. In her mind, permitting mortgage lenders to compete for her business made sense. She wasn't in a rush to buy, so she talked with many different mortgage professionals from loan officers at banks to mortgage brokers.

Finally, Shay's search began with mortgage pre-approval letter in hand. Little did Shay know her lengthy mortgage pro "interview process" would destroy her dream of home ownership.

Soon after getting pre-approved, Shay found the perfect home for her. Her realtor took care of all the paperwork, leaving Shay to balance euphoria with worry. As the closing date neared, Shay discovered (to her shock) her scores had dropped more than 80 points.

Of course Shay was devastated.

Only now does Shay understand her sudden credit score DROP. Shay allowed mortgage lenders to compete for her business. You see, Shay began her house-hunting with a simple online questionnaire to allow mortgage lenders to compete for her business.

Shay eventually provided enough personal information to allow each mortgage lender to pull Shay's credit, resulting in a hard inquiry each and every time Shay's credit was pulled.

Shay discovered every 3-5 hard credit pulls penalizes a person's credit 12-36 points.

Fair, Isaac & Company (the creators of the credit-scoring software used by the big 3 credit reporting agencies Equifax, Transunion & Experian) ignores (rather, they're supposed to overlook) all automobile or mortgage-related inquiries that occur within a 30-day period prior to the date the credit score is calculated....typically monthly.

For every 14 days prior to this 30-day period, only one inquiry will be counted, no matter how many inquiries were made during a particular two-week period.

That's how it's SUPPOSED to work. Though Shay shopped for a mortgage much longer than normal, Shay is convinced Fair, Isaacs software stole her dream. She swears only a couple mortgage pros pulled her credit after the "shopping exemption" period.

In Shay's case, I'm expected to take her word for what allegedly dragged her scores down and destroyed (or postponed) her dream of home ownership. However, I personally have witnessed house hunters allowing mortgage lenders to compete for their business watch in horror as their scores drop...right in to escrow and rejection at the last moment when underwriting pulled her credit before funding.

Sarasota homes for sale toss several challenges in a buyer's path from Sarasota foreclosures, disrepair, no a/c for months & now financing. Banks have tightened their mortgage lending. Banks take their time responding to short and/or REO offers to purchase. Before allowing mortgage lenders to compete for your business, consider talking with many mortgage pros, showing them a copy of your own reports and consumer scores from www.myfico.com. Once you confirm your mortgage professional and your buying time table, you then safely can get your reports pulled. If you or someone you know wants (or needs) to buy or sell a house in or around Sarasota, Florida, please contact me now.