We give our customers a buyer’s guide that shares the 10 commandments of things you should never do when going through the process. Today I’ve listed those ten things below:
1. Thou shalt not change your job or quit your job during the mortgage approval period. Even if you’ve been awarded a promotion or offered a chance to change your environment, you don’t want to make these changes during the loan process. Lenders like consistency, not change.
2. Thou shalt not buy furniture or decor for your home before you buy it.Sometimes people use their funds that they have set aside for the closing and buy furniture or home decor. It’s easy to get excited, but you don’t even own the home yet! Focus on the mortgage first and then when you close, you can start looking at furniture for your home.
3. Thou shalt not use credit cards excessively and miss your payment due dates. Little dings can affect your credit and you’d be surprised at how much that can put you in jeopardy of not being approved for your home loan. Keep that spending at a minimum and make your payments on time.
4. Thou shalt not buy a car, boat, truck, or any large item.It’s not a good idea to get a loan on that item, and even if you’re paying cash, it’s better to wait to make that purchase until your mortgage process is complete.
5. Thou shalt not omit debts from your credit application. A lot of times folks want to make themselves look good on paper and leave stuff off their loan application. Omitting any items could get you in trouble and jeopardize your loan process if any of those things come up.
“Lenders like consistency, not change.”
6. Thou shalt not stop paying rent or your current mortgage payment during the loan process. This can greatly affect your credit if you miss payments, and you can lose your loan approval for your new home.
7. Thou shalt not originate any inquiries to your credit during the mortgage process. Lenders don’t like a lot of change. Don’t make a lot of inquiries to your credit and keep things neutral during that process.
8. Thou shalt not cosign for someone else’s loan. You may want to help a friend or family, and they may make the payments on time, but it could affect your ability to get your loan approved so it’s best to hold off while you’re going through this process.
9. Thou shalt not make large deposits into your account without letting your lender know first. These deposits have to be verified at the source that they come from and you can get some advice from your lender about which accounts to deposit the funds into.
10. Thou shalt not change bank accounts or make a lot of transfers from one bank account to the other. You don’t want to make a lot of changes while you’re going through the mortgage process, so keep those funds where they’re at as much as possible.
If you have any questions about this topic, or you’re looking to buy or sell a home, give us a call. We’d be happy to help!
