By Marian Rengel
Times Staff Writer

If you want to buy a home, consider visiting a mortgage banker before you visit a real estate agent.

Once upon a time, 90 percent of all home buyers would first make an appointment with a real estate agent and begin looking at houses. But today, almost half of all the people thinking of buying a new home start the process by visiting a loan officer first.

By contacting your mortgage banker before you contact your real estate agent, you will know what you can afford before you shop. You and your real estate agent will not waste time looking at houses out of your range, and you will not have to wait quite so long to move into your new home, once you find it.

Though computer connections have made conducting credit checks fast, buyers who provide their own records to the loan officer make the job of verifying debt much easier.

You need to take five types of information with you when meeting your loan officer:

• The two most recent years of tax returns or copies of W-2 tax forms.
• Evidence to show that you made rent or house payments on time. This could include canceled checks or mortgage payment receipts.
• Pay stubs covering the last 30 days.
• Two previous months bank statements.
• The names addresses and account numbers of all creditors.

These documents help the loan officer determine three important qualifications about you as a home buyer:

• If you have a good credit rating.
• If you have enough income to support monthly mortgage payments.
• If you have enough cash for the down payment.