New and Ready to go.....

[Olatunde Owoloye]

Hi everyone , so its my first post and am so excited !!  have been a lurker on BP for a while now , but today i finally decided to upgrade my membership . its nice to be here i must say , cos have learnt so much from BP in just couple of months.

So here is my question , I spoke to a real estate agent in my area (someone have known for a while) on Monday about wanting to invest on properties in Brooklyn area , he insisted that before he cant find nothing, he said he has to know how much am Pre-qualified for , from my bank  .Having a well paying job and good credit score i know getting the loan for finance is the least of my problems , but the agent insisted he cant find any property until he sees the pre-approval letter from the bank , is this right?

Secondly , when seeking a mortgage loan approval from the bank , is it advisable to go as high as you can on the amount ? or the bank decides the amount they can give you based on your income and credit score, what if i want more than the bank offers? or does it ball down to your down payment or how much you willing to get ? Please advise.

Thanks