Common mistakes to avoid before buying a home include:

• Changing/Quitting your current job
• Purchasing a new vehicle
• Applying for a new or unnecessary credit
• Spending some of your savings

These changes may improve your lifestyle, but they can affect your ability to qualify for a mortgage. Sometimes, these changes can have such a significant impact on your approval that you no longer qualify for a mortgage.

Understanding the impact that these changes can have, can help you decide when to take action on them. Put off the new vehicle until after you buy your new home, plan to change jobs first to increase your income and then give yourself the needed 3-6 months to make the lender confident that you are settled in before buying.

Again, a pre-approval allows you to plan and prepare for these problems without having to deal with them during the purchase process.