There are a lot of myths about home buying, mainly because everyone that has ever bought a house has their own opinion as to how it is done, and they all think they are experts. My two favorite ones on this list are "Cash is King" belief and "Prequalified means you have a Loan". First, the belief that a cash offer is somehow better than a financed offer is not true. Sure, if the seller needs to close in a week, and you have cash, great deal. But, no one needs to close in a week, so on the day the deal does close, the seller will get all cash no matter how the buyer gets their money. Second, Prequalified means you have a loan. Not true, it means with a quick look at your finances on the day you talked to the bank, they gave you an estimate of what kind of loan you could possibly get from them. Notice the word "possibly" is in that sentence. After you make an offer and actively seek to get a loan approved, the bank will take a more serious look at your finances. At that point, they might offer you the loan exactly as you had hoped, you might get a better deal, or even a worse deal. In some cases, the bank could take a more detailed look at your finances and turn your loan application down.