The time nears for yet one more EXTINCTION in the mortgage business: yield spread premiums will soon be considered illegal, courtesy of the Dodd-Frank Act.

Yield spread premium is when the lender pays the loan officer for doing the loan instead of (or in addition to) the borrower paying points.

You might be tempted to believe that yield spread premium is a "kickback" by reading the mainstream media. You could get the idea that ending YSP will somehow create:

1. more accountable loan officers
2. greater clarity for borrowers

And, maybe it will.

But at what cost?

As with most things dished up to "protect" the consumer, this ultimately will add yet one more obstacle to buying real estate in an era when consumers are cash strapped, mortgage guidelines are ridiculously strict (and getting stricter), and the entire country is waiting for a housing rebound to lead us out of the recession.

Like many professionals, an MLO (mortgage loan originator) has more than one way to make money.

1. Points expressed as a percentage of the loan amount. This is charged along with the other closing cost fees. This adds to the amount of CASH the borrower will need to bring to the closing table.
2. The interest rate charged to the borrower can be "marked up"resulting in the bank paying "yield spread premium" to the MLO. This adds to the payment the borrower makes as a result of a higher rate.

To simplify: An MLO can make money by charging over wholesale on his product. It isn't a radical concept to mark the wholesale price up to a retail price, but that is what is happening here. OR...

An MLO can make money by charging a fee. Or both.

You see, I have a problem with making YSP out to be some evil, secret kickback designed to rip the head off of loan applicants. If yield spread premiums are "kickbacks" then you must also believe:

1. Car dealers don't get any money from the bank when they arrange your auto loan.  They probably make all the money they need to on the car.
2. Insurance agents must work for free since they never charge an upfront fee for taking your insurance policy. It wouldn't be fair for the agent to get paid by the insurance carrier (that would be a dirty rotten kickback).
3. Travel agents must arrange crusises because it's so much fun. The cruise line can't pay the travel agent for arranging a $10,000 trip. That would be a kickback!!

Okay. Enough about how the government is picking on the mortgage industry. Those of us who remain in the business will continue to pay for our "sins" until the last MLO is driven out of the industry. Will we all feel better when the only option for getting a mortgage is walking into one of those big banks that pay salaries to clerks who spit out assembly line mortgages?

So how does Dodd Frank hurt the people who need a mortgage? Three ways:

1. More cash required to close.Without the ability to get paid via YSP, the only alternative will be to charge points. Points add to the cash needed to close a real estate purchase, YSP does not. Would anyone agree with me that one of the biggest challenges in this market is LACK OF LIQUIDITY (or in the case of a refinance, LACK OF EQUITY)?
   
2. Bye-bye lender funded closing costs. A lender can fund your appraisal out of YSP. Heck, a lender can fund 100% of your closing costs out of YSP, which how "no cost" loans are done. Without any YSP, this will not happen.
   
3. Bye-bye flexibility. Ever hear of the cash strapped borrower that has a great income? What about the guy with plenty of cash who wants the absolute lowest rate because he is going to keep his property forever? In both of these cases, the MLO has the flexibility to arrange the loan in the optimum way for the borrower, by charging only the points, only the YSP, or some combination that will work best for the borrower.
   

Will life go on? Yes. Will we work around it? Yes.

Do the benefits outweigh the losses to the guy who needs a mortgage to buy a house?

Not by a million miles. Just wait and see.

Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Banker for RPM Mortgage in the San Francisco Bay Area,          NMLS# 238304

I am trying to decide: Is there is a shortage of loan officers or an over abundance of lender-orphaned Realtors?

If loan officers used to be a dime a dozen, then today there are only four of the dozen still left.  Maybe you could still buy one with a dime, but that guy will probably be gone by the end of this year, anyway.

There is a coming shortage of loan officers and they will not be nearly as tolerant of REALTORS BEHAVING BADLY.

Go ahead and laugh.  But there is another BIG CHANGE coming down the pike this year regarding loan officer compensation that will cause many more loan officers to run screaming in the other direction leave the business. (more about this in a future post)

 Here is why you don't want to be a REALTOR BEHAVING BADLY:  it is time to make sure you are affiliated with not just ONE, but several top notch lenders who can:

1. Spin out rock solid preapprovals.
2. Get loans approved and closed in a timely manner
3. Communicate effectively
4. Identify approvable buyers by sorting out complicated situations
5. Market listings with brilliant financing options

As the mortgage business continues to shrink, your ability to have a few great lenders who will place your priorities on the top of their "to do" list that day might not be as easy as you think.

More importantly, REALTORS BEHAVING BADLY will not be tolerated by the best loan officers. You DO want the best, don't you?

Are you guilty of bad behavior? You are if you:

1. Look at an FHA approval letter and say this to the buyer: "Why would you do an FHA loan? Mortgage insurance is SO expensive!" 
2. Go behind the back of the loan officer to the manager of her company to "check on the loan". 
3. Say this to the loan officer: "That is just not acceptable. You need to go back and "get in the underwriter's face".
4. Change the closing date with an addendum to the contract and "forget" to tell the loan officer
   
5. Have your broker (who knows nothing about the loan) call the loan officer to scold or to make demands
6. Create hysteria and doubt in the mind of the buyer with unnecessary drama
7. Second guess the interest rate charged to the buyer or bring up the loan officer's compensation in any way
   
8. Tell a brand new buyer who shows up with a preapproval letter to abandon his loan officer because you feel "more comfortable" with your own lender.
9. Are so demanding of the loan officer's time that she feels the need to inform you about her bathroom breaks
10. Say this: "Aren't you glad you're in the mortgage business? My job as a Realtor is SO MUCH harder!"

Takeaway: Get a good one while you still can. Seriously.

We baby boomers have always been a headstrong bunch of pioneers, and nothing about that is going to change until the last one of us is in our grave.

Here in California, we boomers seem to have this horrible recurring nightmare: the price of buying real estate is so high that our kids either become permanent renters or (gasp!) move to one of those "cheaper" states to raise our grand kids.

Wait. That isn't a dream. That was reality only a few years back! 

And it will be over our collective dead bodies that we let that dream become a reality again.

Not happening.

We would much rather take advantage of what we see as a golden opportunity to help our kids:

1. Some of the very best California real estate is now dirt cheap (no pun intended).
2. We remember rates at 17%!!! We don't EVER remember rates in the 4's.
3. In spite of the economy taking a major dump, we still have enough equity/cash/investments/inheritance/retirement to help our kid buy a house. At least NOW we do.

But who knows how long any of the above will last?

So before things turn around again, (and they WILL turn around), consider helping your kid while you are still alive (as you secretly scheme to keep the newest generation close by...you know, the ones THEY have to take care of).

10 Things You Need to Know to Help Your Kid Buy a House in 2011

1. You can "gift" up to 100% of the down payment and closing costs on an FHA loan (FHA requires only a 3.5% down payment).
2. You can sell your kid your own house, or your rental house, and "gift" the equity in the house as the down payment and closing costs (money from the proceeds of the sale are transferred directly at the time of close, no need to "front" the cash).
3. You can use your equity line to "gift" your child the funds required for the down payment.
4. All of the gift funds need not come from one party. There can be multiple gifts from various interested parties (grandma, uncle, sister, brother, employer, etc)
5. Closing costs can come from seller credits and/or lender credits. The down payment CANNOT be a credit from the lender or the seller.
6. You do not need to be on the loan or on the title to to gift funds to your child.
7. If your child cannot qualify by herself, FHA will allow you to be on the loan as a "non-occupant co-borrower".
8. You will need to prove you have the gift funds in an account by showing a copy of the account statement. (You may not use cash from your safe unless you are willing to deposit it. Gift funds need a paper trail)
9. You will need to sign a document stating it is a true gift and you do not expect to be repaid.  You will not need to transfer these funds until your application is approved and ready for docs.
10. There is a saying in the lending world "You cannot sign good credit to make up for bad credit".  If you are making an application to be on the loan with your kid, your excellent credit score does not matter if your kid's score will not pass. Your mortgage person may be able to fix credit issues. Ask her.

Takeaway: There is a golden opportunity in California this year to help your child realize the dream of owning their own home. If this is one of the things on your "bucket list", start by working out the details with a local mortgage professional that will interact and work well with the communication styles of both generations. 

Best of luck, and please feel free to contact me with questions.

 Written by Janet Guilbault, Private Mortgage Banker with RPM Mortgage based out of the San Francisco Bay Area

There is weight to be lost. Bad habits to be broken. Vacations not taken, and money not earned. You are swept away in the negativity of it all, when you throw in the towel and think this:

"Welcome to 2011, LOSER".

But there is something you can do for yourself that will make New Years resolutions flow easily with a positive energy.

Celebrate 2010 first.

Usher it out with a tribute to everything that went right. Everything that changed you for the better. Embrace your successes, your creations, your revelations, your friendships, and your smallest baby steps in the right direction.

Think of the end the year as the end of a party. Was the party perfect? No. But end it graciously. Completely. Fully.

Then go to bed with a smile on your face, and sleep well.

Tomorrow is a new day year. 

Let's play 20 Questions to get you going. Here's how:

1. Answer the 20 questions below about 2010 with the first thing that pops into your head. Example: #18 asks you to name someone that came into your life and changed it for the better (you are celebrating 2010 by thinking of this person).

2. Write a  New Years resolution for 2011 beside each of your answers. Your resolution might be to reach out and meet more new people (boring, and not specific). A better resolution would be to sit down tomorrow (on the first day of 2011) and write this person a letter of appreciation for all they contributed to your life in 2010.

Here we go:

20 QUESTIONS TO ASK YOURSELF ABOUT 2010 BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS.

1.     I changed a life when I___________________________________________________________.

 2.    I felt like a kid when I_______________________________________.

 3.    I learned this new skill_______________________________________________________________.

 4.    This is something I read that gave me a better perspective_______________________________________.

 5.    I left this baggage behind__________________________________________________________________.

 6.    I am healthier because_____________________________________________________________________.

 7.    I boldly stepped out of my comfort zone to do this___________________________________________.

 8.    I wasn't paid money to do this, but it paid off in a bigger way________________________________.

 9.    I am so glad I decided NOT to ___________________________________________________.

 10.  This was my most important discovery____________________________________________.

 11.  I consider this small move a baby step in the right direction_____________________________________.

 12.  2010 was better than 2009 because____________________________________________________________.

 13.  I was able to overcome my worst moment in 2010 because I___________________________________.

 14.  Even though I was afraid, I did this__________________________________________________________.

 15.  I am glad I bought this for myself._____________________________________.

 16.  It may seem insignificant, but this one small change mattered________________________________.

 17.  The place that inspired me________________________________________________________________.

 18.  The new person who came into my life and changed it for the better_______________________________.

 19.  I felt LUCKY in 2010 because of this______________________________________________________.

 20.  When I think about 2010, I want to shout this from my rooftop "__________________________"!!!!

A New Year begins and the world once again offers the bright pure joy of possibility.  Go out and make a difference. Happy New Year Readers and Subscribers!

You are a Realtor who closed 2 loans this month. You notice that one loan is at a rate of 4.25% and one is at a rate of 5%.  Do you believe the loan officer who charged the higher rate:

1. Has OVERCHARGED?
2. Is guilty of EXTORTION?
3. Got lucky with a pristine borrower and took advantage of the situation?
4. Needs to disclose how much money he is making to "protect" the buyer?
5. Took advantage of the fact the buyer didn't "shop" enough for their loan?

This is a point of view  featured (and supported by some) this week here on ActiveRain.

So let me ask you this. Which one of these people were OVERCHARGED?

1. Molly, who pays $600 more a year for car insurance than her best friend because she has had 2 speeding tickets and one accident?
2. Bob, who paid $10 for a hot dog at the World Series playoff game when he could have bought the same hot dog 2 blocks outside the stadium for two bucks?
3. Allison, who bought a house using an FHA loan, and paid $10,000 more than the seller would have accepted from a CASH buyer??
4. Christine, who paid 3 times as much to do her taxes as her best friend? Christine owns 8 rental properties and 2 businesses. Her best friend has worked for 20 years at the same insurance company.
5. Barney, who looked down at his cash register receipt and realized he had not been given the SALE PRICE on his bag of potato chips and was overcharged by $1.50?
6. Sally, who bought a house listed by her agent, for cash and a 15 day close? It was the first day her agent had listed it (and a 6% commission included for the agent)?

Answer: Only Barney was overcharged. He should go back and get a refund.

Some people believe that paying a premium to get exactly what you want, exactly when you want it, equals being OVERCHARGED.

It doesn't.

And if you are someone who believes that the government should step in and mandate that ALL hot dogs cost $3 ($2 + the administration fee of $1), then guess what? You are never going to eat a hot dog at a ball park again, and every hot dog you do buy will carry some small print telling you exactly how much profit was made on that one little hot dog (that's what you paid the one buck for).

If you think the Realtor who got 6% for a quick sale "overcharged", then try working on commission and paying all of your own expenses for a year.

If you think people who drive recklessly should pay the same for insurance as a safe driver, then you must LOVE our health insurance system (without risk based pricing reckless behavior is never punished and everyone pays more).

Rather than be critical of situations where someone paid a higher price, we should celebrate our ability to deliver the goods in high risk situations (let the seller charge more for the FHA buyer!)

Rather than to call foul because someone appears to have a higher than market rate, we should celebrate his ability to buy the house (let the guy with the 645 score buy a house and pay more!)

And please, let me be able to buy a $10 hotdog and not miss a moment of the game. Let me pay more because my taxes are more complicated, and I want the best CPA out there. Keep on charging higher premiums so those lousy drivers will reform.

And if I ever look across the closing table at a hard working, dedicated Realtor, and believe he is gulity of extortion and overcharging (because he will be getting paid a commission)?

 Just shoot me.

Take away thought: If open communication exists from the beginning of a real estate transaction, then concerns about the rate by the Realtor would have already been out in the open and discussed with the Loan Originator.  A Realtor and a Loan Originator must act as a team with open communication at all times, in my opinion.

 Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Loan Originator Based Out of the San Francisco Bay
Area

Who calls a mortgage office out of the blue?

Lots of people do. Call it a sign of the times. Call it an epidemic of finance phobia. Whatever it is, the clues they leave behind could help you find more buyers in 2011.

So let's get the basic premise of this post out of the way right now by agreeing on these 3 things which I believe to be true:

1. People might call a mortgage person BEFORE they ever contact a Realtor. This trend is going to continue because lending is so challenging and credit is so tarnished.
   
2. Knowing who these people are and what they are thinking might help you decide who to target as buyers next year.
3. You could be in danger of losing a sale because they call the lender first.

Okay, if we agree on these things, then here are my 5 suggestions for outsmarting the compitition and making sure you have plenty of buyers and sellers in your 2011 pipeline:

1. Pick up the phone now and call every seller that sold their home as a short sale in 2008 and 2009. They are being released from short sale jail after 2 years. Lenders are ready to loan to them again (with restrictions, of course) and they are tired of renting, over the embarrassment of the short sale, and want to be ready to buy in 2011. These people are calling our office in droves, asking us to run their credit and set them up to buy next year.
2. Make sure all of your past clients know you will help them if they sell their property to someone in their family. I have handled 5 transactions this year in which parents sold properties to children without a Realtor.  They called into the mortgage office for help with the transaction because they needed a loan for the son/daughter. Most thought there was no way a Realtor would help unless they paid a standard commission. Did these people need Realtors to help them ? YES.
   
3. DO NOT even think about taking a listing or holding an open house without a financing flyer.  Believe me when I tell you I get plenty of calls off of these flyers from people who called me but not the Realtor who had the house listed, or who held the open house. At least this way, I can (and will) refer the buyer back to you.
4. If the only lender you have in your lender stable is a big box bank, you need an alternative. Here's why: you might be surprised at the number of loans we have closed this year that the big box banks wouldn't do, couldn't do, or the poor borrower got so frustrated that they actually fired their big box lender and called our office.
   
5. For every 9 calls that come into our office, only 1 actually has the right stuff to qualify. Pretty sad statistic, but one we must live with. For this reason, you as a Realtor need to develop a way to EDIT your potential buyers quickly and ruthlessly. Seek out a lender who will text you, e-mail you, or pick up the phone when you call with a scenario or a request for a preapproval. Don't try to figure it out yourself, or make "hope" your strategy. The faster you get through the nine that won't, the closer you are to the one who will.

Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Banker For RPM Mortgage in the San Francisco Bay Area

One quirky thing about the mortgage profession is this: we have no bloody idea what our official title is, so most of us we just make one up. We don't have that all encompassing term "Realtor", and I wish we did. 

Everyone understands immediately that Realtors sell houses. So simple. So why can't we come up with a single title that tells people"I do real estate loans"?

I personally like to call myself a "mortgage hack" when someone asks. The words "mortgage banker" (my official title) have an extremely hard time forming on my lips.

I can't help it. I try not to take this whole idea of having a "title" so seriously.

Results you have to prove. Titles you don't.

Doesn't the word "mortgage" come from the Latin word for "dead" anyway? As in "mortuary"? Or "mortally wounded"? Oh great, like everyone wants to associate "dead" with applying for a loan.

Besides that, everyone knows a banker is some big round guy in stiff clothes who sits behind a desk and stamps "DECLINE" on your paperwork, right?  It also can't help that everybody is MAD at bankers these days.

The industry likes to call us "originators". Part of the reason I joined the mortgage business was I just LOVED the term "originator". I still do!  Hey, 2-4-6-8, what can I originate? 

Isn't originate sort of like being original? Doesn't that mean you started something? That you made it happen? Even the National Mortgage Licensing System (NMLS) wants to call us MLO's (Mortgage Loan Originators) but the average guy getting a loan from me has no idea what "originator" means.

Here's a problem: It sounds pretty close to "terminator", don't you think?

I tried saying"originator" once to a guy at an open house. He looked at me and said "Yeah, but I want someone to do a real estate loan for me." Then he turned around and walked out the door.

Our company likes to call us "loan agents" as a way of differentiating us from "loan processors". But of course no one would ever put "loan agent" on their business card. That sounds too much like "rental car agent" or "ticket agent".  Not nearly impressive enough.

Among ourselves, we use the slang term "L.O." (short for "loan officer"). But "officer" (to most of us) means "police officer". I'm thinking I don't want to be thought of as the "mortgage police" (although undoubtedly some of my clients would call this an appropriate description).

And finally I am wondering this: Why don't Realtors ever put this on their card: "Senior Realtor"? Because you have more sense than us, that's why! When I was first in the business all I could do is throw my head back and laugh when a guy in my office who had been in the business 10 months, aged 25, gave himself the title of "Senior Loan Consultant". I think he only started shaving the month before.

Let's just say"Senior" (for most mortgage offices) is a loose term sort of like being a "senior" citizen. At some point, you just decide you are a senior depending on the benefits of calling yourself a senior. 

Now for all of the"strategists", "specialists", "consultants" "planners" and other assorted mortgage geniuses (yes even those that have risen to the level of senior), here is something to consider:

One of the most impressive guys I have ever met in the mortgage business was my former boss. He always took the smallest, least prestigious office even in the boom years. He drove an inconspicuous gray truck. I teased him and called him a REVERSE SNOB.

But there were 2 things about him that stood out:

1. On his card was NO TITLE, no reference to the fact he owned the company. Just these 3 words: REAL ESTATE LOANS
2. He had far more business than anyone else in the office.

Do titles matter? Those of us who have survived (and thrived) through the madness have gotten to this point for one reason:

We do real estate loans.

Yes, it is that simple.

Written by Janet Guilbault, Mortgage Banker for RPM Mortgage in the San Francisco Bay Area 

San Francisco's very own Tara-Nicolle Nelson wrote a provocative blog asking the following question: "Why aren't buyers biting?" But I ask this: Are there any fish left in the American Dream Pond who can even swim (much less "bite")?

Or have we dropped so much toxic waste into the pond that we have killed most of the fish? At best, we can hope they are hiding at the bottom of the pond, out of sight and too sick to bite that juicy "lowest rates ever" worm.

How did this happen? Here is the perspective from a busy mortgage office, which must tell 9 people out of 10, why they are a fish out of water when it comes to buying a house:

1. We fished the first time homebuyer fishes nearly into extinction earlier this year with our "First Time Homeowner Tax Credit". Sure there are a few left. We taught them it was best to wait around for a handout before you buy bite.
2. The move up buyer fish can't bite because it is flopping around trapped in the "NO EQUITY" net. These fish desperately WANT out, but are getting more entangled by the day.
3. We scared all the jumbo buyer fish into hibernation by killing off their food supply of JUMBO MONEY. They are hiding, and fearful. That's right, we let the big one get away.
4. What about that HUGE POND with a gigantic NO FISHING sign posted? For every foreclosure, and for every short sale, another buyer fish gets thrown back into the water, off limits for years. They may be willing to bite, but these fish are tainted. Did I mention the lender owns this pond and is VERY STRICT about that NO FISHING rule?
5. Bottom feeders don't bite on bait anyway. They are living off bait that fell to the bottom of the pond. These fish don't have jobs, have income that is undocumented, or live off income from sources that do not qualify them to buy a house.

If you were a fish living in this pond, how healthy would your appetite be for ANY WORM that the real estate industry dunked into the water?

And yet the dream lives on. That's the amazing part. Fish evolved to live in water, and Americans evolved to want real estate. Neither will change for generations to come.

But it is possible for fish to become extinct long before evolution would cause them to grow legs and walk or sprout wings and fly. All you have to do is over-fish, throw poison into the water, and deprive them of their food supply.

 Methinks we've done a pretty good job of that.

Written by Janet Guilbault, Private Mortgage Banker with RPM Mortgage in the San Francisco Bay Area

And so I am...the lucky one. First born means you have known your father longer than any of your brothers or your sisters. You have watched his life unfold:

in his twenties...... (freshly graduated from college, joining the corporate world)

in his thirties....(driven to rise the corporate ladder, travelling the world "on business")

in his forties....(2 teenagers and 2 toodlers and disllusioned with corporate life)

in his fifties....(re-invents himself to somebody thinner, healthier, and becomes a real estate investor)

in his sixties....(begins second career as business broker)

in his seventies...(working from home as consultant to business owners, giving and going to seminars)

And now, in his eighties...still on the treadmill for an hour every day...and still working.

That's a long time to have a person who steadfastly believes in you, who loves you without conditions, is there for your failures with a shoulder to cry on, and is there for your triumphs, forever wearing a smile, overwhemed with pride.

As the decades of my own life have unfolded, I have been shaped and molded by the luxury of being his child. I am convinced the greatest luxury in the world is being able to revert to that child at any given moment, no matter how old I am.

A child can show off. A child can be a daredevil. A child can break down in tears when the disappointment of this world is just too much. A child can always come running home.

Accomplishments are easy for those of us with a security net if we fail, and a cheering squad if we succeed. You can try anything, you can do anything, you can be anybody.

Why? Because he said it was so.

And so I sprout wings and fly high, and like a typical child, I don't consider the risk I might have a crash landing.

But if you look very closely you will notice this: I am looking for him, sneaking peeks, and waiting for him to notice.

Or to catch me if I fall.

Each decade a little sweeter than the last.

But all of them a gift.

Please, whatever you do, don't go out and put $8000 worth of kitchen appliances on your Home Depot account BEFORE your loan closes.

I don't care if it is 0% financing and the payments don't start for 6 months. Just don't do it.

You may have your loan approval in your hot little hand. You may have signed your closing paperwork. But that bird is not going to fly anymore if you have added debt, all thanks to the new Fannie Mae Loan Quality Initiative that took effect yesterday, 6/1/2010.

Lenders are now required to run a second credit check right before the loan funds to make sure you haven't run up your credit cards, bought a new car, or added any sort of debt DURING THE MORTGAGE PROCESS.

Credit scores are NOT pulled again, but the lender will be able to see additional liabilities. If any new debt rears its ugly head, do not pass GO, you are headed straight back to the underwriter to be re-approved.

And in case you don't think this is important, ask your Realtor how messy things get when there is a DELAY OF FUNDING for a week or so while the file must go back through the approval process.

Here are the rules for managing your financial life DURING THE PROCESS of making an application to buy a house:

1. Don't use your credit cards or keep use to the bare minimum.
2. Don't take on new debt by buying a car, a boat, or a vacation to Mexico.
3. Don't close credit cards and place balances on a new cards.
4. Don't co-sign with anyone on a credit transaction.
5. Don't close checking accounts, savings accounts, and then move money into new accounts.
6. Don't put any LARGE deposits into your checking or savings accounts. If you do, keep a record of where the money came from...copy all documents: withdrawal and deposit slips, and the check. You are going to need to "source" the funds, that is, explain where the money came from.
7. Don't use your equity line.
8. Remember: lenders do not allow you to come to closing with green paper money that your have hidden in your mattress. Don't even disclose you have it.
9. If you are required to pay off debt to qualify, don't do it in advance, since proving the account is paid off can be a problem. Pay off debt right through the escrow company in conjunction with your closing.
10. Your funds to close the loan cannot come from an account that you have not disclosed to the lender. Neither can your deposit on the house. All money that goes into the transaction must come from an account that was revealed on your credit application.