Do I need to be pre-approved?

[Kyle Keller]

I would like to make an offer on a house but I am not pre-approved for a loan. I don't want to get pre-approved for a loan because I don't know if I will be buying a house soon or not, I just want to be able to watch the market and see if there is anything I can snag.

Do I need to be pre-approved for a loan in order to make an offer? If that offer gets accepted, should I be worried about not getting approved in time? (I have good credit, low DTI, and steady job)

Any thoughts are welcome, thank you.

[Aaron K.]

"I would like to make an offer"..."I don't know if I will be buying a house soon or not"  You need to make a decision here.

You can make an offer without preapproval but you may have to dig for a realtor willing to do that for you if you need a realtor.  Also your offer goes straight to the bottom of the pile after the other offers that do have pre-approval/ proof of funds and not all listings will even consider an offer like that.  If you are just messing around you are going to burn bridges with realtors.