topic Re: We Finally Applied! in Mortgage Loans

We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 22:47:16 GMT

Today we applied for a mortgage. We did the best we could at getting our mortgage scores higher but we landed at 707 & 695 middle scores. So I guess we're looking at 695 to be our number. At first I was nervous but now I just feel that if it was meant to happen for us then it will. I'd like to thank everyone here for the advise you've given. You've helped us through our rebuild, car loan and now our pursuit for homeownership. It's been truly inspiring to read what everyone else has experienced even though everyone and situation is different. We really hope to meet a deadline of July 15th to close on a home as we have already submitted our notice to vacate (it was either that our extend the lease). It's crazy because I am praying for peace of mind and to remain optimistic when you'd think I'd be praying for the approval. I know I'll have plenty of LOEs to write but I'm ready for whatever it takes. So here we go on our very first homeowners journey. Let's see how things will unfold. If nothing else, we'll at least find out what we need to do to get there right?

5/30 - Submitted loan application

Re: We Finally Applied!

Anonymous — Wed, 30 May 2018 12:53:55 GMT

Congrats! Hope it goes well! I'll be starting the same thing in a couple weeks (hoping to close mid August).

What sort of things do you expect to write LOEs about?

Re: We Finally Applied!

me12345 — Wed, 30 May 2018 13:52:25 GMT

Congratulations...

Just remember, your loan officer is your best friend, tell him/her everything, and don't be afraid to ask questions if you don't understand something, we love questions.

They want your loan closed also, they are on your side. (that's the only way that they get paid)

Good-Luck,

Re: We Finally Applied!

JVille — Wed, 30 May 2018 21:41:52 GMT

Congratulations! Remember if the lender wants it, no matter how stupid or that you have given it 3 times already, just get it to them immediately!

Re: We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Wed, 30 May 2018 23:01:54 GMT

@joe I guess they'll ask about my recent car loan refi. I shopped my 3 credit unions for the rates so there are inquiries from that. Also, DH has one collection from 2015 for $115. It's the only negative he has and shows on 2 reports. Something we thought we best leave alone unless told otherwise. We also relocated in 2016 and our income is a 3rd of what it use to be. He has only a year on new job and I'm almost at 2.

My question is how do they find out about employment gaps? DH went 8 months before finding a job in our new state but has income from 2016 and 2017. They didn't ask on the application. Maybe it will come up later.

Re: We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Wed, 30 May 2018 23:05:16 GMT

@me123 For sure! I've already expressed to our LO that we needed someone who is creative and will provide us with every scenario and option available to us.

Re: We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Wed, 30 May 2018 23:08:51 GMT

@jville I spent all night scanning every document and placed it on a to go drive. I read about that and am anticipating them asking for the documents multiple times. I think it's good to know they will do this so now I won't be frustrated. Had we not known this was part of the process, I probably would've.

Re: We Finally Applied!

me12345 — Wed, 30 May 2018 23:44:40 GMT

@redE2move wrote:
@Anonymous I guess they'll ask about my recent car loan refi. I shopped my 3 credit unions for the rates so there are inquiries from that. Also, DH has one collection from 2015 for $115. It's the only negative he has and shows on 2 reports. Something we thought we best leave alone unless told otherwise. We also relocated in 2016 and our income is a 3rd of what it use to be. He has only a year on new job and I'm almost at 2.

My question is how do they find out about employment gaps? DH went 8 months before finding a job in our new state but has income from 2016 and 2017. They didn't ask on the application. Maybe it will come up later.

No problem with shopping for the car loan...

Correct, don't do anything with the baddie, unless told by your lender to do so...

They will obtain a verification of employment (VOE) from your current and previous employers.

Has he been back on the job for 6 months? Is he in the same line of work?

Thanks,

Re: We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Wed, 30 May 2018 23:50:38 GMT

It will be a year this coming Tuesday for DH at his current job and yes he is in the same line of work.

Re: We Finally Applied!

JVille — Wed, 30 May 2018 23:55:53 GMT

Repeat after me...
I will Not kill the loan officer (or processor)
I will Not tear his hair out or gauge out his eyeballs, no ripping off his ears either!
I will comply immediately no matter how mad he makes me!

Ok now let me hear you say it, because the process will piss you off but you get a house when it’s all over!
Good luck!!

Re: We Finally Applied!

me12345 — Thu, 31 May 2018 00:41:13 GMT

@redE2move wrote:
It will be a year this coming Tuesday for DH at his current job and yes he is in the same line of work.

Great, you should not have any employment issues then....

Thanks,

Re: We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Sat, 02 Jun 2018 13:31:41 GMT

@jville

I will Not kill the loan officer (or processor)
I will Not tear his hair out or gauge out his eyeballs, no ripping off his ears either!
I will comply immediately no matter how mad he makes me!

Now...I do have one concern however. We applied to find out how much we could afford before going shopping but I did use a few mortgage calculators to guesstimate affordability based on our current DTI. Well, immediately our LO is putting in $200k for the loan. Whoaaaaa we make pennies, have debt and no savings (just gift money). Isn't this info needed before starting a loan at $200k? Isn't there a LO cheat sheet or something that says based on this information you may want to start at this number? Just doesn't seem realistic to me based on our debt. Also, our LO almost instantly killed our hopes of using one of the first time home owner down payment programs saying we didn't qualify and re-routed us from conventional to FHA. I get it that reworking numbers may make one loan work better than the other but I can't imagine that there isn't a program that we can qualify for. I'm thinking of doing another app with another LO simutaneously to explore the differences between what they both say I qualify for. My fear is that we'll run out of time to find something if we start from scratch if we utilize just one LO.

Re: We Finally Applied!

JVille — Sat, 02 Jun 2018 14:11:03 GMT

Are you working with a Realtor? Talking to another lender is always an excellent idea. Friend, Family and your RE Agent can give you recommendations of a LO they love.
You need to sit down and work on your personal budget. You need to share with the Lender what you personally think you can afford to pay for a housing payment. In my nearly 30 yrs of lending I met Two different borrowers. The ones that wanted to borrower Twice ( or more) what I would ever qualify/approve them for and then the ones who would never consider paying a Mtg Pmt as high as they qualified for. The point is you need to know personally what your budget can afford and then share that with your LO and see if your Budget and the reality of what you qualify for.
Sometimes this whole process is a reality check. But it sounds like your lender did not fully explain why one program works and another doesn’t. If your funds are completely gift funds then I can understand why you were switched to FHA. Conventional loans have requirements as to how much money of your own must be in the transaction vs gift funds. FHA is far more lenient in matters of DTI ratios, minimal down payment and gift funds.
So you need to know how much you realistically can afford to pay and compare that to what your lender will qualify you for. Then adjust your home Search to meet those guidelines.
Does any of this make sense. I have not had my coffee yet this morning !
Ask your lender questions and yes if you are not on board with this lender, find a different lender that you may work better with. Good Luck!

Re: We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Sat, 02 Jun 2018 14:40:53 GMT

We haven't chosen a real estate agent. We're pretty much trying to find out what we can spend before even looking for someone to help us spend it but our LO recommended some. I would say we fall in to the category of NOT wanted to spend what we can't afford comfortably. We don't have the champagne dreams with beer money syndrome. Not interested in having a mortgage that we'd have to struggle to afford. Our goal is to become responsible homeowners and reap the benefits of our hard work. We have considered homes that need a little TLC. It doesn't have to be new and shiny just something that won't put us into the poor house because the note is high or because it is a money pit.

My question to you now is will the LO submit the loan to the underwriter with $200k or will it go to underwriting with what we can afford based on DTI?

Re: We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 22:49:33 GMT

Update:

6/11 - LO requested latest paystub (emailed right away)

6/14 - LO called to congratulate on pre-approval (yayyy). But when I got home to read the approval and it says it is a Mortgage Loan Committment. Is this the same thing? I'm asking because I also saw the term pre-qualified.

Re: We Finally Applied!

JVille — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 22:58:49 GMT

Yes!!! Congratulations 🎈🎉🍾

Re: We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 23:06:28 GMT

Thanks Jville.

Re: We Finally Applied!

Anonymous — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 23:23:02 GMT

Congrats! I am hoping you will get the house. Like what the other said, whenever the loan officer asking for anything let them know everything and more. After my last attempt for pre-approval on Nov 17, I have keeping in touch with the loan officer. I asked him all sort of questions. I made another attempt for pre-approval today and waiting for a good news. Use the EQ 5, TU 4, EX 2 scores from myfico.com. This is the most accurate scores since the scores I am getting from 6/10/18 is exactly the same with what the lenders pulled today. That way, you will have more confidence to get exactly what you want from the scores.

Ask the Loan Officer if he/she has real-estate agent in the network. If yes, use that agent. Sometimes some lenders will provide you less interest rate as an incentive to use real-estate agents in their network.

Re: We Finally Applied!

redE2move — Thu, 14 Jun 2018 23:29:53 GMT

@ben Good Luck! I still feel a bit on edge. My letter says it is a mortgage loan committment but says I am pre-qualified so I'm still confused about it. My LO says it is a mortgage committment assuming nothing changes and that it was reviewed by FHA underwriting. Idk

Re: We Finally Applied!

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Jun 2018 00:35:52 GMT

Thanks. Eventhough you are pre-qualified but if you haven't sign the actual contract so nothing is in stone. You still have to go through the appraisal, underwriting and closing. As long as the house is under pending sale I think you have a greater chance to get the house (unless the seller backing off and giving it to somebody who paying the seller a big lump sum of cash for example) or something like below.

https://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/can-sellers-back-out-of-a-home-sale/

Good luck to you too. If you don't get it, keep searching for another one or couple of houses. I always try to look for some backup houses. It is sad that several houses that I like were sold off. Good price, good land, good neighborhood etc.. Oh well.