Loan Process

Once you decide you want to buy a home it's a good idea to be "Pre-Approved" by your mortgage broker. It is almost useless to put a contract on a house if you don t know if you will qualify for financing. Some sellers won t even accept a contract without a Pre-Approval Letter.

Pre-Approval is fairly simple. You will complete a 1003 Loan Application and your mortgage broker will pull your credit and review the first 7 documents from the Loan Docs List. This is done to determine your Debt To Income ratio (DTI). This ratio is important to lenders in determining if you can afford a house payment, and how much house you can buy.

Once your contract is accepted by the seller the loan process really begins. This is when your mortgage broker and/or their loan processor go to work !

1.	Loan is Submitted: All your loan documents are submitted to the lender for review.
2.	Verifications: While your loan is being reviewed your broker will send verification requests to your employers. These verify your length of employment, income, hours and job title.
3.	Loan Approval: If your loan is approved the underwriter will provide a list of 'conditions'. These are additional documents they need to clear any questionable issues.
4.	Appraisal: Appraisal is ordered. You pay this now, out of pocket.
5.	Title: Title docs are requested from the closing company. Usually takes a few days to get back.
6.	Conditions: Once you have provided ALL the additional documents the lender required, they are sent in all at once. UW won't look at pieces so the faster you get these items in, the faster your loan moves. This could happen more than once if lender needs even more documents.
7.	Lock the Rate: You will need to lock your rate. It's usually not a good idea to lock it too early as there are deadlines to the rate-lock. If you don't close before it expires you lose that rate and could be forced to take a higher rate as a result.
8.	Survey: The survey is ordered. This is usually paid for on the HUD at closing. Only takes couple days
9.	Clear To Close: when the lender's underwriters are satisfied with everything you have provided they will issue a Clear To Close. Now you may schedule the closing.
10.	Once scheduled the lender will call your employer to verify you still work there. Don't change jobs in the middle of this process !
11.	Closing Package: lender will send the package to the title company and they will prepare the final HUD to be approved by lender.
12.	Final HUD: Once it is approved by lender and your mortgage broker you will be given your Funds To Close number (the amount you need to pay at closing).
13.	Funds To Close: These are usually in the form of a Cashier's Check or are wired to the title company.
14.	Closing: Bring your ID and be ready to sign your name dozens of times !! Congratulations ! You now own a home !!