How Early Should You Actually Get Pre-Approved?

A pre-approval's rate hold typically lasts 90-120 days, which sets the practical window: get pre-approved once you're genuinely ready to start touring homes seriously, not months before, or the hold may expire before you've found and closed on a property.

That said, the groundwork for pre-approval — checking your credit report for errors, gathering income documents, confirming your down payment source — is worth doing well before that window, ideally a few months ahead, since fixing a credit report error or reorganizing documentation takes real time you don't want to lose once you're actively shopping.

If your home search is likely to take longer than a typical rate-hold window — a competitive market, a specific and narrow set of criteria, a longer timeline by choice — talk to your lender or broker about renewing or re-issuing the pre-approval rather than assuming the original one will simply still apply.

In short: prepare early, get formally pre-approved once you're about to start touring homes in earnest — not so early the hold expires, not so late you're making offers without a real number behind you.