Now, I don’t mean to offend anyone with this post but here’s an all too frequent scenario from the Loan Officer’s point of view.
John and Mary Renter have decided that it makes good financial sense to buy a home and let their landlord find someone else to pay for his investment. They spoke with Laura the Loan Officer and worked through the different loan options. They decided on the program that made the most sense and they went through the fat stack of papers that Laura prepared for them.
Laura let them know what she would need to get the loan closed. She doesn’t need anything special, she just needs the standard items like paystubs and bank statements and W2’s. She sees them out of the office with a smile and an agreement to meet in two days when John and Mary will drop off the needed paperwork.
John and Mary then call their Realtor® to schedule some time to look at the nice homes that are for sale in their neighborhood. This is the fun part! We all have a little bit of the voyeur in us, so it’s interesting to see how other people live. Plus John and Mary get to pick out the type of house they like. Is a split level appealing or maybe a rambler? It would be nice to buy something where the neighbors have nice gardens. And of course the schools must be checked out. They want the best education possible for the kids. They find one they like and write up an offer.
The weekend passes and then it’s back to work for both husband and wife. The thoughts of down payment money and closing costs are starting to cause some anxiety. The day to day business of children, pets and grocery shopping must be attended to. Monday evening they receive a friendly call from Laura the Loan Officer reminding them that they were to have dropped off some papers and asking them to re-schedule a time to do that. Oops! Life is very busy when you are buying a home. Right after that phone call another comes in with the news that their offer has been accepted! The problem is starting to develop.
After the homework is done that night, Mary gathers up what she can find. One of the banks statements is missing, but no problem, John can stop on his way home tomorrow and get a print out from the bank. But one of the W2’s has also gone astray and John is no help at all with that. Mary takes care of all the bills. Mary decides she must look a little harder because she knows she hasn’t thrown anything out in years so it must be just misfiled. She does find it eventually, but it is Friday before it turns up. The problem is gaining momentum.
Saturday and Sunday go by in a flurry of visits to the property to meet the home inspector and phone calls from family wanting to know how the house buying is working out. By the time Sunday is over, some of the household chores have fallen by the wayside. John and Mary go to bed excited and tired out. The paperwork has not been delivered to Laura and a week and half has gone by in the blink of an eye. On Tuesday Laura calls and is sounding a bit stressed out herself. John and Mary wonder why. This is what she does for a living so why should she be anxious? Right?
This sounds like a perfectly normal scenario doesn’t it? It is a perfectly normal scenario. The problem is that now Laurie the Loan Officer only has 2.5 weeks to close the transaction! She is understandably concerned. Can it be done? Yes, it probably can. As long as no surprises happen. But it would have been much more of a sure thing if John and Mary had provided the paperwork on day two.
If you are buying a home or thinking about it, remember this story. You will be very busy during the month it takes to close your purchase transaction. But, behind the scenes, there are many people who depend on you to get your documents into the Loan Officer as quickly as you can. The transaction will get stalled at some point awaiting these critical papers. You can’t stand back and watch as everybody else handles your file. Getting a mortgage is not a spectator sport. It is a hands-on, full-contact situation.
And you are one of the key players!
