Get a Mortgage Pre-Approval

What Is a Mortgage Pre-Approval?

A mortgage pre-approval is a lender's written commitment to finance your home purchase up to a specific amount, at a specific rate, for a specific length of time (usually 90–120 days). It's based on a real review of your income, credit, and debt — not a rough guess.

In Calgary's market, where multiple offers on well-priced homes are common, a pre-approval is table stakes. Without one, your offer is significantly weaker than a buyer who has already been vetted by a lender.

Why Get One Before You Start Looking

• Know your real budget. Online affordability calculators are rough approximations. A pre-approval tells you the exact number a lender will actually give you based on your situation.
• Lock in today's rate. If rates move up during your search, you keep the lower rate you were approved at. If rates drop, you typically get the lower one at closing.
• Make stronger offers. Sellers and their agents take pre-approved buyers more seriously. In a competitive situation, pre-approval can be the difference between winning and losing a house.
• Find problems early. If there's something in your credit file that needs cleaning up, or a documentation issue that could slow a purchase down, better to know in advance than at offer time.
• Close faster. Because most of the paperwork is already done, your financing condition period on an accepted offer is shorter and less stressful.

What You'll Need

A specialist will typically ask for:

• Photo ID
• Last 2 years of T4s or Notices of Assessment (self-employed buyers: 2 years of business financials)
• Recent pay stubs (2–3)
• Proof of down payment (90 days of bank/investment statements showing the funds)
• List of current debts and monthly obligations
• Permission for a credit check

If you don't have everything yet, reach out anyway — specialists work with incomplete files all the time and can tell you exactly what's missing.

How Long It Takes

For a straightforward file (employed, salaried, good credit), a full pre-approval takes about 1–3 business days. Self-employed or more complex files can take a week. Most specialists can give you a preliminary answer within a few hours of receiving your documents.

Pre-Approval vs. Pre-Qualification

These two get confused constantly. A pre-qualification is a quick estimate based on numbers you tell the lender — no document review, no real commitment. A pre-approval involves an actual review of your income, credit, and debt, and produces a written commitment. When you're house hunting in Calgary, you want a pre-approval, not a pre-qualification.

First-Time Buyer in Alberta?

Alberta first-time buyers have access to several programs that can significantly reduce what you need up front or help with closing costs:

• RRSP Home Buyers' Plan — withdraw up to $60,000 per person from your RRSP tax-free for a first home (must be repaid over 15 years).
• First Home Savings Account (FHSA) — contribute up to $8,000/year ($40,000 lifetime), tax-deductible going in and tax-free coming out for a first home.
• First-Time Home Buyers' Tax Credit — $10,000 federal non-refundable credit for first-time buyers.
• GST New Housing Rebate — partial rebate on GST for newly-built homes under certain price thresholds.
• Insured high-ratio mortgages — 5% down on homes up to $500,000, scaling up for pricier homes (CMHC/Sagen/Canada Guaranty).

Your mortgage specialist will walk you through which of these apply to your situation.