You will have a realistic idea of what properties you can afford once you have received your pre-approval, and you can house hunt with confidence. This means you might need to look at more affordable neighbourhoods or compromise on some of the features you’ve set your heart on.
Providing this pre-approval to estate agents and sellers shows them that you’re a serious buyer and it should speed up the overall buying process because of the certainty that it creates. And when you make an offer on a property, a pre-approval sets your offer apart from others, and may help you to negotiate a better deal.