Trust the Process with Peace of Mind: How to Know You’re Lender is Leading You to a Quick and Simple Closing

Results matter. Often, we look at things as a win or a loss, success or failure. We consider ties as losses, and we can’t help but look ahead and worry about the final outcome of any process. 

Homebuyers have specific and valid concerns about the conclusion of the home buying process, which will likely be the biggest investment of their lifetime. These concerns include: 

• Will we get in the new home before the baby comes? 
• Will we be able to move in before we’re married or after the wedding? 
• Will we get in the new home before or after our other place sells?
• Will we move into our new house in time for our kids to get registered for school? 
  

As a home buyer or prospective home buyer, you likely have one or two of the above concerns, and many more. Having peace of mind and being calm and confident is important in this process. You need to carefully choose your lender so that when it comes time to meet closing deadlines, you can rest assured that your interests are being taken care of. 

Relationship Status: Not the one on Facebook!

I’ve had clients who came into my office, referring to themselves as being married. Here in the South, when you're together with someone and you live with them for so long, a lot of people sometimes just say "my husband” or “my wife,” but on paper, they're not legally married.

So, this seemingly married couple meets with me, and they want to get a VA loan. As we were going through the process, the title work reveals that they are not legally married.

I called them frantically because VA loans have a unique condition that stipulates that you cannot borrow money with someone who is not your spouse, unless he or she is also a veteran.

At this point, we were two weeks into the four-week process. I started looking at everything quickly to see if the "husband,” who was the veteran, could qualify on his own. The "wife” couldn't qualify on her own because she wasn't a veteran. 

Then the couple says, “You know what? We'll get married. We were going to do it anyway. We'll get married tomorrow at the justice of the peace.” My assistant and I immediately offered to attend as their witnesses, because number one, that would be super awesome, and number two, we'll do whatever we can to remain within the guidelines and compliant to help meet a client's goal of homeownership.

They got married, we updated their whole file, and got them to an on-time closing! 

Don't just stay calm, Be Prepared! 

What I urge other lenders to do is to help clients remain calm and confident and try to approve the file from the beginning, and not at the end. That way, we're not just waiting to see if the loan's going to go to a closing. Instead, we're working to ensure a smooth closing from the beginning. 

A lot of this process lies in the hands of you, the borrower. I urge you to be diligent. This requires getting the loan officers all the paperwork they need. As you can see from the stories I've shared, your success is the result of a lot of the same things: getting the paperwork in on time; being clear and concise and not fighting the process, even during the moments when you might not understand it; and being completely transparent.

When all those things line up, they result in quick and smooth closings with happy customers—buyers and sellers. 

If you live in Louisiana, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida and want to learn more about working with me on your mortgage, check out my other website www.weeksteam.com