To determine the value of the property you are purchasing or refinancing, an appraisal will be required. An appraisal report is a written description and estimate of the value of the property. National standards govern not only the format for the appraisal; they also specify the appraiser's qualifications and credentials. In addition, most states now have licensing requirements for appraisers evaluating properties located within their states.

The appraiser will create a written report for us and you'll be given a copy promptly, or three days before closing, whichever is earlier.

Usually the appraiser will inspect both the interior and exterior of the home. 

They will compare the qualities of your home with other homes that have sold recently. These homes are called "comparables" and play a significant role in the appraisal process. Using industry guidelines, the appraiser will try to weigh the major components of these properties (i.e., design, square footage, number of rooms, lot size, age, etc.) to the components of your home to come up with an estimated value of your home. The appraiser adjusts the price of each comparable sale (up or down) depending on how it compares (better or worse) with your property.

If your home is for investment purposes, or is a multi-family home, the appraiser will also consider the rental income that will be generated by the property to help determine the value.

Using these different methods, an appraiser will frequently come up with slightly different values for the property. The appraiser uses judgment and experience to reconcile these differences and then assigns a final appraised value. The comparable sales approach is the most important valuation method in the appraisal because a property is worth only what a buyer is willing to pay and a seller is willing to accept.

It is not uncommon for the appraised value of a property to be exactly the same as the amount stated on your sales contract. This is not a coincidence, nor does it question the competence of the appraiser. Your purchase contract is the most valid sales transaction there is. It represents what a buyer is willing to offer for the property and what the seller is willing to accept. .

In addition to verifying that your home's value supports your loan request, we will also verify that your home is as marketable as others in the area.

We will review the features of your home and compare them to the features of other homes in the neighborhood. For example, if your home is on a 20-acre lot, or has a large accessory building, we will want to make sure that there are other homes in the area on similar size lots or with similar outbuildings. It is hard to place a value on such unique features if we cannot see what other buyers are willing to pay for them. In some areas, additional acreage or outbuildings could actually be a detriment to a future sale. Finding comparable properties can be more challenging in rural areas where it is more difficult to find homes that have similar features.

We will also make sure that the value of your home is in the same range as other homes in the area. If the value of your home is substantially more than other homes in the neighborhood, it could affect the market acceptance of the home if you decide to sell.

We will also review the market statistics about your neighborhood. We'll look at the time on the market for homes that have sold recently and verify that values are steady or increasing.

As soon as we receive your appraisal, we will update your loan with the estimated value of the home. As a standard practice we will provide a copy of your appraisal promptly, or three days before closing, whichever is earlier.

Since the value and marketability of condominium properties is dependent on items that do not apply to single-family homes, there are some additional steps that must be taken to determine if condominiums meet our guidelines.

One of the most important factors is determining if the project that the condominium is located in is complete. In many cases, it will be necessary for the project, or at least the phase that your unit is located in, to be complete before we can provide financing. The main reason for this is, until the project is complete, we can't be certain that the remaining units will be of the same quality as the existing units. This could affect the marketability of your home.

In addition, we will consider the ratio of non-owner occupied units to owner-occupied units. This could also affect future marketability since many people would prefer to live in a project that is occupied by owners rather than renters.

We will also carefully review the appraisal to ensure that it includes comparable sales of properties within the project, as well as some from outside the project. Our experience has found that using comparable sales from both the same project as well as other projects gives us a better idea of the condominium project's marketability.

Depending on the percentage of the property's value you'd like to finance, other items may also need to be reviewed.

Both an optional home inspection and a required appraisal are designed to protect you against potential issues with your new home. Although they have totally different purposes, it makes the most sense to rely on each to help confirm that you have found the perfect home.

The appraiser will make note of obvious construction problems such as termite damage, dry rot or leaking roofs or basements. Other obvious interior or exterior damage that could affect the salability of the property will also be reported.

However, appraisers are not construction experts and will not find or report items that are not obvious. They will not turn on every light switch, run every faucet or inspect the attic or mechanicals. That is where the home inspector comes in. They generally perform a detailed inspection and can educate you about possible concerns or defects with the home.

Accompany the inspector during the home inspection. This is your opportunity to gain knowledge of major systems, appliances and fixtures, learn maintenance schedules and tips, and to ask questions about the condition of the home.

Federal Law requires all lenders to investigate whether or not each home they finance is in a special flood hazard area as defined by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The law can not stop floods. Floods happen anytime, anywhere. But the Flood Disaster Protection Act of 1973, the FDIC Flood Insurance Regulation 12 CFR 339, the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act of 2012 and the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act of 2014 help to ensure that you will be protected from financial losses caused by flooding.

We use a third party company who specializes in the reviewing of flood maps prepared by FEMA to determine if your home is located in a flood area. If it is, then flood insurance coverage will be required prior to closing, since standard homeowner's insurance does not protect you against damages from flooding.

Licensed appraisers who are familiar with home values in your area perform appraisals. We order the appraisal as soon as the intent to proceed has been given. Generally, it takes 10-21 days before the written report is sent to us. We follow up with the appraiser to insure that it is completed as soon as possible. If you are refinancing, and an interior inspection of the home is necessary, the appraiser should contact you to schedule a viewing appointment. If you are purchasing a new home, the appraiser will contact the real estate agent, if you are using one, or the seller to schedule an appointment to view the home.

We define manufactured housing as housing units that are factory built with a steel undercarriage that remains as a structural component and limits the structure to a single story. These types of manufactured homes are sometimes known as mobile homes. We do not consider other factory-built housing (not built on a permanent chassis), such as modular, prefabricated, panelized, or sectional housing, to be manufactured housing. If your home is one of these types, please complete the application indicating that your home is a single family home.

In order to qualify for our loan programs a manufactured home must meet the following requirements:

• A manufactured home is any dwelling built on a permanent chassis and attached to a permanent foundation system.
  
  
• Be a one-family dwelling that is legally classified as real property.
  
  
• The towing hitch, wheels, and axles must have been removed and the home must be permanently attached to a foundation system that meets state and local codes as well as the manufacturer’s requirements.
  
  
• Foundation system must be appropriate for the soil conditions for the site and meet local and state codes.
  
  
• Some programs require the land on which the manufactured home is situated must be owned by you.
  
  
• Must have been built in compliance with the Federal Manufactured Home Construction and Safety Standards that were established June 15, 1976. Generally, compliance with these standards will be evidenced by the presence of a HUD Data Plate that is affixed near the main electrical panel of the home or in another readily accessible and visible location.
  
  
• Must be at least double-width, 24 feet wide, and have a minimum 600 square feet of gross living area for some programs. Must be acceptable to typical purchasers in the market area.

First, you will complete our online application.

The application will ask you questions about the home and your finances. It should not take you long to complete the application.

After you complete the online application, a Loan Officer will contact you to introduce themselves and to answer any questions you may have. Your Loan Officer is a mortgage expert and will provide help and guidance along the way.

We will send you an application package and your early disclosures and prepare your loan for closing.

The application package will contain papers for you to sign and a list of items we will need to verify the information you provided about your finances during the online application.

We will order the appraisal from a licensed appraiser who is familiar with home values in your area. Depending on your finances and the loan amount requested, different types of appraisals are used.

A title report or title insurance will be necessary and we will take care of ordering that for you. We will use the title work to confirm the legal status of your property and to prepare the closing documents.

We will contact you to coordinate your closing date.

After we receive the signed early disclosures and the other items from your application package back from you and the appraisal and title work, we will contact you to schedule your loan closing.

Interest rates fluctuate based on a variety of factors, including inflation, the pace of economic growth, and Federal Reserve policy. Over time, inflation has the largest influence on the level of interest rates. A modest rate of inflation will almost always lead to low interest rates, while concerns about rising inflation normally cause interest rates to increase. .

The Federal Truth in Lending law requires that all financial institutions disclose the Annual Percentage Yield (APR) when they advertise a rate. The APR is designed to present the actual cost of obtaining financing, by requiring that some, but not all, closing fees are included in the APR calculation. These fees in addition to the interest rate determine the estimated cost of financing over the full term of the loan.

Also, the APR does not include all the closing fees. Fees for things like appraisals, title work, and document preparation are not included even though you will probably have to pay them.

You can use the APR as a guideline to shop for loans but you should not depend solely on the APR in choosing the loan program that is best for you. Look at total fees, possible rate adjustments in the future if you are comparing adjustable rate mortgages, and consider the length of time that you plan on having the mortgage.

Do not forget that the APR is an effective interest rate--not the actual interest rate. Your monthly payments will be based on the actual interest rate, the amount you borrow, and the term of your loan.

Mortgage interest rate movements are as hard to predict as the stock market and no one can really know for certain whether they will go up or down.

If you think that rates are on an upward trend then you will want to consider locking the rate as soon as you are able. Before you decide to lock, make sure that your loan can close within the lock-in period. It will not do any good to lock your rate if you cannot close during the rate lock period. If you are purchasing a home, review your contract for the estimated closing date to help you choose the right rate lock period. If you are refinancing, in most cases, your loan could close within 30 days. However, if you have any secondary financing on the home that will not be paid off, allow some extra time since we will need to contact that lender to get their permission.

If you think rates might drop while your loan is being processed, take a risk and let your rate "float" instead of locking. After you apply, you can lock in by contacting your Loan Officer by telephone.

A 15-year fixed rate mortgage gives you the ability to own your home free and clear in 15 years. And, while the monthly payments are higher than a 30-year loan, the interest rate on the 15-year mortgage is usually a little lower, and more important - you will pay less than half the total interest cost of the traditional 30-year mortgage.

However, if you cannot afford the higher monthly payment of a 15-year mortgage don't feel alone. Many borrowers find the higher payment out of reach and choose a 30-year mortgage.

Who Should Consider a 15-Year Mortgage?

The 15-year fixed rate mortgage is popular among younger homebuyers with sufficient income to meet the higher monthly payments to pay off the house before their children start college. They own more of their home faster with this kind of mortgage, and can then begin to consider the cost of higher education for their children without having a mortgage payment to make as well. Homebuyers, who are more established in their careers, have higher incomes and desire to own their homes before they retire, may also prefer this mortgage.

Advantages and Disadvantages of a 15-Year Mortgage

The 15-year fixed rate mortgage offers advantages for most borrowers:

• You own your home in half the time it would take with a traditional 30-year mortgage.
• Lenders usually offer this mortgage at a slightly lower interest rate than with 30-year loans. It is this lower interest rate added to the shorter loan life that creates real savings for 15-year fixed rate borrowers.

The possible disadvantage associated with a 15-year fixed rate mortgage is:

• The monthly payments for this type of loan are higher per month than the payment for a 30-year..

Compare Them Yourself

Use the "How much can I save with a 15 year mortgage?" calculator in our Resource Center to help decide which loan term is best for you.

There is no cost at all for completing our application.

You can lock in your interest rate as soon as your loan is approved. If you complete your application today, and your request is approved online, you will have the opportunity to lock in your great rate immediately.

If we need to review your information before providing your loan approval, a Loan Officer will contact you and you will have the opportunity to lock your rate at that time.

None of the loan programs we offer have penalties for prepayment. You can pay off your mortgage at any time with no additional charges.

General Statement

The interest rate market is subject to movements without advance notice. Locking in a rate protects you from the time that your lock is confirmed to the day that your lock period expires.

A lock is an agreement by the borrower and the lender and specifies the number of days for which a loan's interest rate is guaranteed. Should interest rates rise during that period, we are obligated to honor the committed rate. Should interest rates fall during that period, you as the borrower must honor the lock.

When Can I Lock?

We will notify you by telephone or via email when you are able to request the lock

Fees

We do not charge a fee for locking in your interest rate.

Lock Period

This means your loan must close and disburse within this number of days from the day your lock is confirmed by us.

Lock Changes

Once we accept your lock, your loan is committed into a secondary market transaction. Therefore, we are not able to renegotiate lock commitments.

A home loan often involves many fees, such as the appraisal fee, title charges, closing fees, and state or local taxes. These fees vary from state to state and also from lender to lender. Any lender or broker should be able to give you an estimate of their fees, We take quotes very seriously. We have completed the research necessary to make sure that our fee quotes are accurate.

To assist you in evaluating our fees, we have grouped them as follows:

Third Party Fees

Fees that we consider third party fees include the appraisal fee, the credit report fee, the settlement or closing fee, the survey fee, tax service fees, title insurance fees, flood certification fees, and courier/mailing fees.

Third party fees are fees that we will collect and pass on to the person or entity who actually performed the service. For example, an appraiser is paid the appraisal fee, a credit bureau is paid the credit report fee, and a title company or an attorney is paid the title insurance fees.

Typically, you'll see some minor variances in third party fees from lender to lender.

Taxes and other unavoidables

Fees that we consider to be taxes and other unavoidables include: State/Local Taxes and recording fees. These fees will most likely have to be paid regardless of the lender you choose.

Lender Fees

Fees such as points, loan origination fee, document preparation fees, and loan processing fees. .

This is the category of fees that you should compare very closely from lender to lender before making a decision.

Required Advances

You may be asked to prepay some items at closing that will actually be due in the future. These fees are sometimes referred to as prepaid items.

One of the more common required advances is called "per diem interest" or "interest due at closing." All of our mortgages have payment due dates of the 1st of the month. If your loan is closed on any day other than the first of the month, you'll pay interest, from the date of closing through the end of the month, at closing. For example, if the loan is closed on June 15, we will collect interest from June 15 through June 30 at closing. This also means that you will not make your first mortgage payment until August 1. All lenders will charge you interest beginning on the day the loan funds are disbursed. It is simply a matter of when it will be collected.

If an escrow or impound account will be established, you will make an initial deposit into the escrow account at closing so that sufficient funds are available to pay the bills when they become due.

If your loan requires mortgage insurance, two months of the mortgage insurance will be collected at closing. Whether or not you must purchase mortgage insurance depends on the size of the down payment you make.

If your loan is a purchase, you'll also need to pay for your first year's homeowner's insurance premium prior to closing.

If you have ever purchased a home before, you may already be familiar with the benefits and terms of title insurance. But if this is your first home loan or you are refinancing, you may be wondering why you need another insurance policy.

The answer is simple: The purchase of a home is most likely one of the most expensive and important purchases you will ever make. You, and especially your mortgage lender, want to make sure the property is indeed yours: That no individual or government entity has any right, lien, claim, or encumbrance on your property.

The function of a title insurance company is to make sure your rights and interests to the property are clear, that transfer of title takes place efficiently and correctly, and that your interests as a homebuyer are fully protected.

Title insurance companies provide services to buyers, sellers, real estate developers, builders, mortgage lenders, and others who have an interest in real estate transfer. Title companies typically issue two types of title policies:

1) Owner's Policy. This policy covers you, the homebuyer.

2) Lender's Policy. This policy covers the lending institution over the life of the loan.

Both types of policies are issued at the time of closing for a one-time premium, if the loan is a purchase. If you are refinancing your home, you probably already have an owner's policy that was issued when you purchased the property, so we will only require that a lender's policy be issued.

Before issuing a policy, the title company performs an in-depth search of the public records to determine if anyone other than you has an interest in the property. The search may be performed by title company personnel using public records.

After a thorough examination of the records, any title problems are usually found and can be cleared up prior to your purchase of the property. Once a title policy is issued, if any claim covered under your policy is ever filed against your property, the title company will pay the legal fees involved in the defense of your rights. They are also responsible to cover losses arising from a valid claim. This protection remains in effect as long as you or your heirs own the property.

The purpose of title insurance is to eliminate risks and prevent losses caused by defects in title that may have happened in the past.

This risk elimination has benefits to both the homebuyer and the title company. It minimizes the chances that adverse claims might be raised, thereby reducing the number of claims that have to be defended or satisfied. This keeps costs down for the title company and the premiums low for the homebuyer.

Buying a home is a big step emotionally and financially. With title insurance you are assured that any valid claim against your property will be borne by the title company, and that the odds of a claim being filed are slim.

First of all, let's make sure that we mean the same thing when we discuss "mortgage insurance." Mortgage insurance should not be confused with mortgage life insurance, which is designed to pay off a mortgage in the event of a borrower's death. Mortgage insurance makes it possible for you to buy a home with less than a 20% down payment by protecting the lender against the additional risk associated with low down payment lending. By purchasing mortgage insurance, lenders are comfortable with low down payments.  It also provides you with the ability to buy a more expensive home than might be possible if a 20% down payment were required.

The mortgage insurance premium is based on loan to value ratio, type of loan, and amount of coverage required by the lender. Usually, the premium is included in your monthly payment.

It may be possible to cancel private mortgage insurance at some point, such as when your loan balance is reduced to a certain amount - below 75% to 80% of the property value. Federal Legislation requires automatic termination of mortgage insurance for many borrowers when their loan balance has been amortized down to 78% of the original property value. Illinois State Law requires automatic termination of mortgage insurance for borrowers when their loan balance has been amortized down to 65%. If you have any questions about when your mortgage insurance could be cancelled, please contact your Loan Officer.

The maximum percentage of your home's value that you can borrow depends on the purpose of your loan, how you use the property, and the loan type you choose, so the best way to determine what loan amount we can offer is to complete our online application!

A home equity loan is generally a second mortgage against your home, meaning it is a loan that you take out using your home as collateral without paying off your first mortgage. A refinance typically means that you will be paying off your existing first mortgage and replacing it with a new first mortgage.

Determining whether it's best to refinance or to obtain a home equity loan is very complicated and depends on many factors. You should consider contacting your tax advisor to determine what makes the most sense for you.

In order to provide you with a new home equity loan, we must pay any existing liens you have on your home. This is required to insure that there is sufficient equity in your home to support both your current first mortgage and your new home equity loan. As part of the closing process we will request a pay off amount from those lenders who hold loans that we will be satisfying. After you sign and return the closing documents we will forward the funds directly to the lender.

A credit score is one of the pieces of information that we will use to evaluate your application. Financial institutions have been using credit scores to evaluate credit applications for many years.

Credit scores are based on information collected by credit bureaus and information reported each month by your creditors about the balances you owe and the timing of your payments. A credit score is a compilation of all this information converted into a number that helps a lender to determine the likelihood that you will repay the loan on schedule. The credit score is calculated by the credit bureau, not by the lender. Credit scores are calculated by comparing your credit history with millions of other consumers.

Some of the things that affect your credit score include your payment history, your outstanding obligations, the length of time you have had outstanding credit, the types of credit you use, and the number of inquiries that have been made about your credit history in the recent past.

Credit scores used for mortgage loan decisions range from approximately 300 to 900. Generally, the higher your credit score, the lower the risk that your payments will not be paid as agreed.

Using credit scores to evaluate your credit history allows us to quickly and objectively evaluate your credit history when reviewing your loan application. However, there are many other factors when making a loan decision and we never evaluate an application without looking at the total financial picture of a customer.

An abundance of credit inquiries can sometimes affect your credit scores since it may indicate that your use of credit is increasing.

The data used to calculate your credit score does not include any mortgage or auto loan credit inquiries that are made within the 30 days prior to the score being calculated. In addition, all mortgage inquiries made in any 14-day period are always considered one inquiry.

There is no charge to you for the credit information we will access with your permission to evaluate your application online. You will only be charged for a credit report if you decide to complete the application process after your loan is approved.

Whether you are purchasing or refinancing, we are certain you will find our service amazing!

If you will be purchasing but have not found the perfect home yet, complete our application and we will issue a preapproval for a mortgage loan now with no obligation!

Yes, you can borrow funds to use as your down payment! However, any loans that you take out must be secured by an asset that you own. If you own something of value that you could borrow funds against such as a car or another home, it is a perfectly acceptable source of funds. If you are planning on obtaining a loan, make sure to include the details of this loan in the Expenses section of the application.

We take full advantage of an automated underwriting system that allows us to request as little information as possible to verify the data you provided during your loan application.  You will need two years of W-2's and 2 current pay stubs to verify your income or two months bank statements can be used to verify the assets needed to close your loan.

The income of self-employed borrowers is verified by obtaining copies of personal (and business, if applicable) federal tax returns for the most recent two-year period.

We will review and average the net income from self-employment that's reported on your tax returns to determine the income that can be used to qualify. We will not be able to consider any income that has not been reported as such on your tax returns. Typically, we will need a full two-year history of self-employment to verify that your self-employment income is stable.

In order for overtime, commission or bonus income to be considered, you must have a history of receiving it and it must be likely to continue. We will usually need to obtain copies of W-2 statements for the previous two years and a recent pay stub to verify this type of income. If a major part of your income is commission earnings, we need to obtain copies of recent tax returns to verify the amount of business-related expenses, if any. We will average the amounts you have received over the past two years to calculate the amount that can be considered as a regular part of your income.

If you have not been receiving overtime, commission or bonus income for at least two years, it probably can't be given full value when your loan is reviewed for approval.

We will ask for copies of your recent pension check stubs, or bank statement if your pension or retirement income is deposited directly in your bank account. Sometimes it will also be necessary to verify that this income will continue for at least three years since some pension or retirement plans do not provide income for life. This can usually be verified with a copy of your award letter. If you do not have an award letter, we can contact the source of this income directly for verification.

If you are receiving tax-free income, such as social security earnings in some cases, we will consider the fact that taxes will not be deducted from this income when reviewing your request.

Yes, applying for a mortgage loan before you find a home may be the best thing you could do! If you apply for your mortgage now, we will issue an approval subject to you finding the perfect home. We will issue a pre-qualification letter online instantly. You can use the pre-qualification letter to assure real estate brokers and sellers that you are a qualified buyer. Having a pre-qualification for a mortgage may give more weight to any offer to purchase that you make.

When you find the perfect home, you'll simply call your Loan Officer to complete your application. You will have an opportunity to lock in our great rates and fees then and we will complete the processing of your request.

Only income that is reported on your tax return can be considered when applying for a mortgage. Unless, of course, the income is legally tax-free and isn't required to be reported.

Some lenders may offer a stated income program, which means that you can be qualified for a loan based on the income you state rather than that which can be verified. Usually these programs require larger down payments and offer interest rates that are substantially higher than regular mortgage rates. We do not offer stated income programs at this time.

If you own rental properties, we will generally ask for the most recent two year's federal tax return to verify your rental income. We will review the Schedule E of the tax return to verify your rental income, after all expenses except depreciation. Since depreciation is only a paper loss, it will not be counted against your rental income.

If you have not owned the rental property for a complete tax year, we will ask for a copy of any leases you have executed and we'll estimate the expenses of ownership.

Two years personal tax returns are required to verify the amount of your dividend and/or interest income so that an average of the amounts you receive can be calculated. In addition, we will need to verify your ownership of the assets that generate the income using copies of statements from your financial institution, brokerage statements, stock certificates or Promissory Notes.

Typically, income from dividends and/or interest must be expected to continue for at least three years to be considered for repayment.

Information about child support, alimony, or separate maintenance income does not need to be provided unless you wish to have it considered for repaying this mortgage loan.

Typically, income from a second job will be considered if a one-year history of secondary employment can be verified.

First, you'll complete our online application!

The application will ask you questions about the home and your finances..

After completing your application, a Loan Officer will contact you to introduce himself or herself and to answer any questions you may have. Your Loan Officer is a mortgage expert and will provide help and guidance along the way. If your request was not approved online, he or she will ask you for any information required to make a decision about your loan.

If you are purchasing a new home, the Loan Officer will also contact the Real Estate Broker or the seller so that they will know whom to contact with questions.

We will send you an application package and your early disclosures and prepare your loan for closing.

The application package will contain papers for you to sign and a list of items we will need to verify the information you provided about your finances during the online application.

We will order the appraisal from a licensed appraiser who is familiar with home values in your area.

Title insurance will be necessary. If you are purchasing a home, we will work with the real estate broker or seller to ensure the title work is ordered as soon as possible. If you are refinancing we will take care of ordering the title work for you. We will use the title insurance to confirm the legal status of your property and to prepare the closing documents.

We will contact you to coordinate your closing date.

After we received the early disclosures and other items from your application package back from you and the appraisal and title work, we will contact you to schedule your loan closing. If you are purchasing a home, we will also schedule the closing with the real estate broker and the seller.

The closing will take place at the office of a title company or attorney in your area who will act as our agent. A few days before closing, your Loan Officer will contact you to walk through the final information so that there won't be any surprises at closing.

Having changed employers frequently is typically not a hindrance to obtaining a new mortgage loan. This is particularly true if you made employment changes without having periods of time in between without employment. We will also look at your income advancements as you have changed employment.

If you are paid on a commission basis, a recent job change may be an issue since we will have a difficult time of predicting your earnings without a history with your new employer.

If you were in school before your current job, enter the name of the school you attended and the length of time you were in school in the "length of employment" fields. You can enter a position of "student" and income of "0."

Unfortunately, if you are purchasing a home, we will have to use the lower of the appraised value or the sales price to determine your down payment requirement.

It is still a great benefit for your financial situation if you are able to purchase a home for less than the appraised value, but our investors do not allow us to use this "instant equity" when making our loan decision.

Gifts are an acceptable source of down payment, if the gift giver is related to you or your co-borrower. We will ask you for the name, address, and phone number of the gift giver, as well as the donor's relationship to you.

If your loan request is for more than 80% of the purchase price, we will need to verify that you have at least 5% of the property's value in your own assets.

Prior to closing, we will verify that the gift funds have been transferred to you by obtaining a copy of your bank receipt or deposit slip to verify that you have deposited the gift funds into your account. We will require you provide us with a gift letter.

If you are selling your current home to purchase your new home, we will ask you to provide a copy of the signed sales contract and settlement or closing statement you will receive at the closing to verify that your current mortgage has been or will be paid in full and that you will have sufficient funds for our closing. Often the closing of your current home is scheduled for the same day as the closing of your new home. If that is the case, we will just ask you to bring your settlement statement with you to your new mortgage closing.

If you will be working for the same employer, complete the application as such but enter the income you anticipate you will be receiving at your new location.

If your employment is with a new employer, complete the application as if this were your current employer. You must be scheduled to start a new job within 60 days of loan closing if there is a guaranteed, non-revocable contract for employment. The income does not qualify if the loan closes more than 60 days before you start the new job. The information about the employment you'll be leaving should be entered as a previous employer. We will sort out the details after you submit your online application for approval.

A co-signed debt is considered when determining your qualifications for a mortgage. If the co-signed debt does not affect your ability to obtain a new mortgage we will leave it at that. However, if it does make a difference, we can ignore the monthly payment of the co-signed debt if you can provide verification that the other person responsible for the debt has made the required payments, by obtaining copies of their cancelled checks for the last twelve months and there is not a history of delinquent payments on the loan during that time..

Any student loan that will go into repayment within the next twelve months should be included in the application. If you are not sure exactly what the monthly payment will be at this time, enter an estimated amount.

If other student loans are reflected on your final credit report, which will not go into repayment in the next twelve months, we will ask you for verification that repayment will be deferred to a period outside the 12-month timeframe.

If you have had a bankruptcy or foreclosure in the past, it may affect your ability to get a new mortgage. Unless the bankruptcy or foreclosure was caused by situations beyond your control, we will generally require that two to four years have passed since the bankruptcy or foreclosure. It is also important that you've re-established an acceptable credit history with new loans or credit cards.

An installment debt is a loan that you make payments on, such as an auto loan, a student loan or a debt consolidation loan. Do not include payments on other living expenses, such as insurance costs or medical bill payments. We will include any installment debts that have more than 10 months remaining when determining your qualifications for this mortgage.

The closing will take place at the office of a closing agent, a title company or attorney in your area who will act as our agent. If you are purchasing a new home, the seller may also be at the closing to transfer ownership to you, but in some states, these two events actually happen separately.

During the closing you will be reviewing and signing several loan papers. The closing agent or attorney conducting the closing should be able to answer any questions you have or you can feel free to contact your Loan Officer if you prefer

Just to make sure there are no surprises at closing, your Loan Officer will contact you a few days before closing to review your final fees, loan amount, first payment date, etc.

The most important documents you will be signing at the closing include:

ALTA- Settlement Statement

This document provides an itemized listing of the final fees charged in connection with your loan. If your loan is a purchase, the ALTA-Settlement statement will also include a listing of any fees related to the transaction between you and the seller. If this loan will be a refinance, the Closing Disclosure will show the pay off amounts of any mortgages that will be paid in full with your new loan. This listing will correspond to the Closing Disclosure that will be provided to you 3 days before closing. The Closing Disclosure is also commonly known as the closing statement and both the buyer and seller must sign this document.

Truth-in-Lending Statement (TIL)

The Closing Disclosure provides full written disclosure of the terms and conditions of a mortgage, including the annual percentage rate (APR) and other fees. It is exactly the same as the Loan Estimate that you received immediately after your initial application, except it has been updated to reflect the final rate and fee information.

Note

This is the document you sign to agree to repay your mortgage. The note will provide you with all of the details of your loan including the interest rate and length of time to repay the loan. It also explains the penalties that you may incur if you fall behind in making your payments.

Mortgage / Deed of Trust

This document pledges a property to the lender as security for repayment of a debt. Essentially this means that you will give your property up to the lender in the event that you cannot make the mortgage payments. The Mortgage restates the basic information contained in the note, as well as details the responsibilities of the borrower. In some states, the document is called a Deed of Trust instead of a Mortgage.

If your loan is a refinance, Federal Law requires that you have three days to decide positively that you want a new mortgage after you sign the documents. This means that the loan funds will not be disbursed until three business days have passed. The closing agent will provide more details at the closing.

In some areas of the country it is very customary, and sometimes required by law, to have an attorney represent you at the closing. In other areas, attorneys are not as common at a real estate closing. Please contact the closing agent if you have questions about attorney representation. By all means, we recommend that you have an attorney at the closing if it would make you more comfortable. If your attorney has any questions about your new mortgage, please refer them to your Loan Officer. We would be happy to provide any information necessary.

The most important documents you will sign at closing are the note and mortgage, sometimes called the deed of trust. Unless there are special circumstances, these documents are usually prepared one to two days before your closing. You will receive the Closing Disclosure 3 days before closing. Other documents are prepared by the closing agent the day before or the day of your closing. If you would like copies of the completed documents to be sent to you after they are prepared, please contact your Loan Officer.

The closing agent acts as our agent and will represent us at the closing. However, your personal Loan Officer will contact you prior to closing to talk about your final documents and to provide a final breakdown of your closing fees. If you have any questions that the closing agent cannot answer during the closing, ask them to contact your Loan Officer by phone and we will get you the answers you need - before the closing is over!

If you will not be able to attend the loan closing, contact your Loan Officer to discuss other options. If someone you trust is able to attend on your behalf, you can execute a Power of Attorney so that this person can sign documents on your behalf. In other cases, we are able to mail you the documents in advance so that you can sign them and have your signature notarized and forward them to the closing agent. We are sure to have a solution that will work in your circumstances.

We use a nationwide network of closing agents or title companies and attorneys to conduct our loan closings. We will schedule your closing to take place in a location that is located near your home for your convenience.

We'll deliver our loan documents and wire transfer your loan funds to the closing agent or title company and attorney prior to closing so that they will have plenty of time to prepare for your closing.

Automated monthly payments are available.