Home Loan
Process

The loan process can be confusing to new and even seasoned home buyers. Much of what people have experienced in the past influences how they think the loan process works. Depending on whom you used for your last home loan, your experience may have been good or bad. At Optimal Rate Home Mortgage Loans in Redmond, Oregon, we believe that the loan process should be predictable and painless. The only way for any mortgage company to achieve this is to have a thorough understanding of how the loan process works and to have the right people in the key roles that interact with your loan at various stages of the process.

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Prior to the beginning of the loan process, you are going to talk to one of our loan officers and get prequalified. This is where the majority of potential loan issues will be identified. After getting prequalified, you will get some generic estimates based on a fictitious property, sales price, down payment, etc. The loan officer will give you a lender letter and you will go out with your real estate agent to find a home.

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As you are searching for your new home, you should keep your loan officer in the loop. When you find potential candidates for your new home, your loan officer can provide revised estimates that are specific to the property you are looking at. They will also be able to advise you and your real estate agent how much you may need to request from the seller in closing cost incentive so that your out-of-pocket cost stays as low as possible.

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Once you’ve found a home and you and the seller have agreed on a purchase price, the loan process begins.

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STAGE 1

Loan Application/Pre-Qualified

You will need to complete a loan application either in person or online thru a secure encrypted online application that your mortgage advisor will provide to you. For your mortgage application be ready to provide the last 2 years of addresses you have lived and employers you have worked for as well as your income and assets (if applicable). Based on your application and a preliminary conversation you will be provided with a detailed list of supporting documents needed to best get your ready to move forward in your journey.

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Once your application and income documents have been reviewed and it is determined that you are pre-qualified you will receive a pre-qual letter that lets your real estate agent and the potential seller know you are legitimate and ready to make an offer to purchase a home.

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STAGE 2

Accepted Offer

Congratulations you are under contract to purchase a home! Now is the time to look at locking in your interest rate. While we do not have a crystal ball, at Optimal Rate Home Loans we get notifications from several different market sources throughout the day advising us in real time what interest rates are doing, have been doing and might do soon. Your mortgage advisor will share this information with you and together strategize on whether to lock or not right away.

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STAGE 3

Loan Set Up/Initial Underwriting Approval

Prior to your file being reviewed by an underwriter, there are a series of checks and verifications that are ordered in the loan setup. Your SSN will be verified with the Social Security Administration, your tax returns will be compared to what the IRS has on file, and we will verify your employment directly through your employer. With certain types of loans, other verifications will be ordered depending on the program guidelines. We also do a second review of all the documentation provided and see if anything else is needed from you prior to submitting the loan to the underwriter. After all of this has been completed the loan is submitted to the underwriter for review.

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The underwriter’s job is to review what has been submitted and ensure that it meets the agency or investor’s loan guidelines. Assuming that your loan does, the underwriter will issue an initial credit approval. This initial credit approval will contain a list of conditions that have to be met in order for the loan to be final approved.

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STAGE 4

Gathering Conditions/Resubmitting for final underwriting approval

Current paragraph of stage 3 is great, except last sentence please change to: Our goal at Optimal Rate Home Loans in Redmond, Oregon is to have 2 touches to underwriting, initial submission and resubmitting of requested conditions to get your loan final approved and cleared for closing. Once cleared to close we will request your initial closing disclosure be sent for your review. This will start a 72-hour clock for signing final loan documents.

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STAGE 5

Closing Disclosure/Loan Documents/Final Verifications

Please change paragraph to: Once your loan is cleared to close by underwriting the lenders closing department and the title company will begin finalizing numbers including your monies needed at closing, preparing your final loan documents and scheduling your appointment to come in and sign.

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Please note: Before the lenders closing department will release final loan documents to the title company, they will have to re-verify your employment and whether you have opened any new credit since your initial application was completed. DO NOT OPEN ANY NEW CREDIT OR CHANGE/QUITE JOBS WITHOUT LETTING YOUR MORTGAGE ADVISOR KNOW.

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STAGE 6

Loan Closing/Get your keys

This is the exciting part-getting your home! There is not much required from you at this point other than make your signing appointment on time, have your ID and any closing funds needed in the form of a cashier’s check and or have had it wired to the title company already. You will have already received the final number and instructions prior to this point.

CONGRATULATIONS FROM YOUR FRIENDS AT OPTIMAL RATE HOME LOANS!

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