The Loan Application Process

Once you've found your home and gotten an offer in and accepted, it's time to complete the loan process with the lender you've chosen to work with.

Upon reaching an agreement with the seller, you will have put together an offer to purchase that details the amount of the home, the property details, closing date, and other pertinent information regarding the sale. This is what the mortgage lender will use to calculate and prepare the finalized loan contract. Bring this in to your lender along with the following information:

Unless you've already been pre-approved (not just pre-qualified), any figures you've given the lender were most likely not backed up with any paperwork at the time. While there shouldn't be any problems as long as you were up front about your numbers, at this point, they'll need some proof before they hand over any cash. The supporting documents you'll need include:

Your lender may not require all of them (tax returns are sufficient for many), but it can't hurt to bring along as much verification as possible, just in case. If you're self employed, bring at least the last 3 years worth of tax returns and any other supporting evidence you have; bank records to verify a positive cash flow can be helpful.

These additional sources of income should provide receipts or other supporting documentation, bring that in as well.

If you have additional assets that can be documented, such as stock certificates, savings bonds or other investments, you may want to bring that in too. Basically, anything you can bring in to demonstrate positive cash flow can't hurt.

While some people would encourage bringing in documentation to support your debts as well as income, most lenders have easy access to your credit reports to check on that sort of thing - so unless it goes to support your perfect payment history or your lender explicitly asked for it, it's probably not required (if you do bring it along, don't put it on top of the pile at least).

While it's not due until the closing date, you'll normally have to let the lender know how you'll be paying for the down payment towards the home. If you're getting a down payment as a gift, be sure to get a gift letter made and signed, and bring that in as well (this serves as 'proof' that the down payment was not a loan, which could give the lender some rights to the home as collateral).

A passport, drivers license, any government supplied identification will usually suffice to prove you are who you say you are. If you've done any previous business with the lender (like have a savings account if you’re working with a bank), bring along a couple of account statements and your bank card as well.

Once you've supplied the lender with the needed paperwork, you're ready to fill out the actual loan application. Most lenders will have you fill out a standardized application called the "Uniform Residential Loan Application". There are normally some fees that will need to be paid along with it's submission. (See closing costs for more information).

Once your application is complete, it's up to the lender to carry on the process and get the mortgage approved. This can take from a few minutes to a few weeks depending on what has to be done (manual appraisals can lengthen the time for example); don't be afraid to ask how long it will take to expect an answer.