Starting to think about buying a house in beautiful Marin? You probably start your search on the internet. You start looking at what homes are selling for, doing your initial research to see what you can afford, you might even call a realtor.
You aren’t really ready to look seriously for a home, just doing a little initial research and then you see it- your perfect dream home. It is “the one” and you HAVE to have it. You call your favorite Marin county realtor and say Ginger, “I want to put an offer on that home.”
“Great Joe,” I say, “did you call the mortgage broker I referred you to and get pre-approved?”
……
……
“Joe, are you there?” 
A year ago, you could almost get an approval in a hour or so. It wasn’t a good one, but nobody really cared. Right now, pre-approvals are taking about two weeks for Marin home buyers. Why so long? Well, there are a lot fewer places where you can go to get a jumbo loan in California, and even fewer lenders with reasonable rates.
What we have here is called a roadblock.
Fewer lenders available = a serious back log of buyers all going down the same single lane. The road isn’t closed, but traffic is pretty slow. The mortgage brokers I work with say it takes about two weeks for a pre-approval and suggest 60 days for a close of escrow.
I have a secret for you. (There is a way around the roadblock!) Listen close…
Get pre-approved BEFORE you find your perfect Marin County dream home!