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I think we did a prequalification before seriously looking at houses so that the seller would know our offer was solid (that we could actually get a loan for the amount of our offer).

We found the house first and then got the preapproval to submit with the offer. We had a good amount for the down payment so we knew that we could get the loan but it is probably a good idea to get preapproved first anyway.

We got pre approval after we found the house. But we were in a special situation where I worked at the bank that did our mortgage so I knew we would have no trouble getting the pre approval quickly. And like @Andrea we had a large chunk for the down payment so it was no issue. I liked waiting because that meant our pre approval letter was tailored to the house we wanted. We purposely bought a house much lower than the max we could afford. If we just went in for a general pre approval letter they would have approve us for WAY more money and who knows if it would have tempted us to look at more expensive houses.

We were preapproved first. I wouldn't have known what we could afford without being approved!

Sortof both? A little over 6 months ago we talked to a loan agent at a bank and saw where our budget would be and what our payments might look like. I didn't have any credit although I had the downpayment, so we didn't actually get approved but it gave us a number to look at.

I kept looking at houses, for us and my mom (she's going to do rental properties) and when we looked at a rental option for her I fell in love with it, and since it was a foreclosure we had to get pre-approved with the bank who owned it to make an offer.

So pre-approved(failed), looked-found!, pre-approved offically, closing the deal TODAY! ah!

Pre-approved first! Although we started looking before we got pre-approved, but we were pre-approved before we found our house.

We budgeted out what we could afford first, and looked for houses in that price range. When we were seriously looking at a few options, we got preapproval for a number a little bit above our budget, even though we could technically qualify for a great deal more.

Determined our own house-budget first! Then got pre-approved (for a lot more than our budget, which is why determining your own realistic budget is important), then looked at homes in our price range.

Well we casually looked at houses first, found one that I really liked, then got preapproved and a realtor - but ended up putting an offer on a different house that we live in now. When we put in an offer they required the pre approval letter, so I guess we didn't have a choice.

we got pre-approved first. that was it increase chances that an offer would get accepted faster than by someone who didn't have a pre-approval.

Found the house first. It was sort of a whirlwind, impulse purchase. We were looking for rental houses and our agent offered to show us some that were for sale. After a month we had picked out a house, made an offer, got approved, and were under contract.

We got prequalified first to see how much we were dealing with. Once we found a house, we went through the more formal process of getting pre-approved to make us look like more desirable buyers to the seller.

We are getting prequalified next week and hope to be house hunting in August, pending a job offer. I figure why not!

@autumnlove: Just a warning. Don't use your pre-approval as your way of figuring out your budget!! Look online there are tons of resources available to help you figure out what your monthly payment will be based on different home prices, what your tax rates are, and what kind of down payment you are using. Most people will get preapproved for WAY more than what it's smart to spend. That's part of why there are so many foreclosures now.

Most realtors won't allow you to look at houses without a preapproval letter. Ours didn't It helped a lot because when we found a house we liked, we sent it to our loan agent and he would figure out exactly what the mortgage would be, closing costs and all that. It was much less of a hassle.

We looked for a few weeks before getting pre-approved, as we didn't forsee any issues and wanted to see what was out there. It was really quick, only took about 30 minutes. Now we are pre-approved and still looking. The lender we met with told our realtor that we were approved, but said he would wait until we submitted an offer so that he could tailor the letter. We're looking for a loan that's less than half of the amount we were approved for, and he noted that we'd lose negotiating power if either realtor knew the actual amount of the approval.

Best of luck to you!

We got pre-approved first just to make sure we were looking at properties we could actually buy.