Buying a home
Whether it is your first place or your third, the process runs the same way. The difference is how well it is explained to you and how few surprises turn up in the last two weeks.
Start before you shop
Get pre-approved first. It tells you what you can actually spend, it tells sellers you are serious, and it surfaces any problems in your file while there is still time to fix them. See what pre-approval really means for the difference between that and a pre-qualification. To get a feel for monthly payments before you talk to anyone, try the mortgage calculator.
The steps
- Conversation. We look at your income, your credit and your savings, and tell you where you stand. No cost, no credit pull to begin.
- Pre-approval. We review documents and issue a letter you can put in front of a seller.
- House hunting. You shop with a real number. Your agent works from a letter that will hold up.
- Application and processing. Once you are in contract, we submit the full file and order the appraisal.
- Underwriting. We walk the file through rather than handing it off, and we tell you about conditions as they come up.
- Closing. You sign, the loan funds, and you get the keys.
What tends to cause delays
Large unexplained deposits, changing jobs mid-process, opening new credit accounts, and documents that arrive one at a time. None of these are fatal — they just cost days. We will tell you up front which ones apply to you.