By Rich Dansereau of Home America Mortgage and part of the Thornton Team

I am certainly fortunate that a well respected mortgage industry professional such as Rich agreed to do a guest blog. Rich is an active blogger who writes about many topics, but he is great at what he does. You can find out more about his writing and his service by going to the Thornton Team’s mortgage website. Unfortuantely for me they are not in Texas, but look at the bottom of the post to see where they do work. You should check them out.

One of the first steps you will be asked to do after choosing a lender is to complete the Uniform Residential Loan Application, also referred to in real estate parlance as the 1003. Most loan originators/officers will complete this on their computer with the information you provide while talking the phone, or direct you to a secure website where one can be completed. The 1003 is required for all mortgage loans and contains most of borrower’s important information. The information contained on the 1003 is initially unverified but can be changed as it is verified. Many companies will provide a pre-qualification letter based on this unverified information.

Most realtors prefer that a borrower be pre-approved prior to doing all the preparation work required to show potential homes to prospective buyers. In order to get pre-approved, which is a time sensitive commitment, based on verified information, that the lender is prepared to write a home loan, there are often underwriting conditions that must be cleared prior to final approval. These conditions will vary based on individual circumstances but there are several items that will invariably be requested for a full documetation loan (full documentation, a.k.a. full doc, loans will generally garner better pricing as they are less risky for the lender). Some of the most requested documents are:

• Two
  most recent detailed (show withholdings) paystubs – these will be
  compared with the income and employment information supplied at the
  time of application.

• Previous
  two years W-2 or tax returns (all pages – individual filings only)

• Other
  income documentation – pension award letter, social security award
  letter, disability award letter, etc.

• Two
  most recent month’s bank statements (checking and/or saving accounts
  – all pages) – these will be used to verify asset information,
  receipt of governmental and/or employer awards, and reserves (money
  on hand) supplied at the time of application.

• Other
  asset documentation given at the time of application to qualify for
  the loan – 401k statements, IRA statement, stock statements, mutual
  fund statements

• If
  you have declared bankruptcy, gotten divorced, lost a property due
  to foreclosure, or any other major event for which documentation is
  provided, these items will be necessary

Home America Mortgage holds licenses in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Florida, South Carolina, Missouri and Colorado.

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Tags: Home America Mortgages, loan application, Mortgages, preparation, Rich Dansereau, Thornton Team
This entry was posted on Thursday, July 31st, 2008 at 1:16 am and is filed under Mortgages. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.