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The mortgage process can be a very stressful time for a buyer who does
not know what to expect. In fact, it really is a very simple and easy
experience. There are many variations on what you may need to provide,
so we will just provide some basic guidelines for you. Your Mortgage
Professional can give you better details on what you really need to
provide.

Based on what you read in the section labeled “The Purchase Process”
at this time you would already have been pre-qualified by your Mortgage
Professional. At this time when you are going to complete the
paperwork, you may now need to provide documentation proving what
you discussed initially.

For a Fully Documented Loan, you may need to provide copies of:
1 Month of paycheck stubs
Last 1 or 2 yrs W-2s (form provided by your employer for your annual
taxes)
Bank Statements Showing you have the money for your down payment
(Usually 60 days worth of statements)
Tax Returns (if you are self employed, or if a large portion of your income
is from commission)

Your Mortgage Professional will meet with you to complete the
application and to have you sign some documents. There are many
forms that due to state and federal law you must sign for the
professional to comply with legal guidelines. These forms cover your
information (Application), disclosures about your rights, and a few forms
authorizing your mortgage professional to validate and/or verify
information about you.

At this time, you will probably also obtain a form called a Good Faith
Estimate. This form covers the approximate fees and expenses you will
have for the mortgage. Your mortgage professional should review this
for in detail with you. This form really tells you what you are getting for a
mortgage. We will get into much more detail on this in the upcoming
section labeled “Closing Costs”.

At this time, your Mortgage Professional will package up all your
paperwork and submit it to the underwriting department. An underwriter
will verify all the information you have provided meets the guidelines of
the lender for “Making” your loan. “Making” a loan means to actually
agree to and fund a loan.

During this time you will want to determine who you want for an attorney
or closing agent. You have the right, by Federal law, to choose any
attorney you wish. You cannot be required to use any specific one.
However, if you don’t have one you prefer to use, ask your Mortgage
Professional for suggestions– they most likely have found some who
specialize in real estate transactions. This will usually make the
process go smoother.

Once the underwriter has finished reviewing the file, they will issue your
commitment letter. On this commitment letter will be some additional
guidelines or requirements the underwriter feels need clarification. This
may include the appraisal, updated bank statements, or really anything
they feel has not been verified to their satisfaction. The commitment
letter will be returned to the mortgage professional, who will then contact
you to obtain anything additional they need from you.

Once you provide all additional information and the underwriter signs off
on it, your loan is then “Cleared to Close”. This means that the
underwriter is satisfied with all provided documentation to verify your
current loan situation. As mentioned on another page in the site, this
does NOT mean you can go out and buy $20,000 of furniture.

If anything changes from the loan that the underwriter approved (aka new
credit card debt, a change in employment, or a new $50,000 car loan) the
underwriter can “un-approve” your loan and re-verify that your loan meets
the lender’s guidelines. Please be VERY careful with making any
changes to your financial picture during this time!!!!!!!

You may need to obtain homeowner’s insurance. You will be required to
pay for 1 year’s policy upfront. When you are making monthly payments
into your escrow account, that is for next year's premium.

Note - when pricing out your homeowner’s insurance, get quotes for
additional items, like auto insurance at the same time. Some
companies give a large savings for having multiple policies with them. It
is not unheard of to save as much as $900 or more on annual auto
insurance by having auto and homeowner’s insurance at the same
company.