"One, Two, Three, Four Lenders"

I started with my client about 6 months ago.  He was a low income buyer and we went the Homepath route (Nightmare).  The first lender took his info and told us he would be approved to 160k FHA no problems.  After searching for a few properties we received the news that my buyer was no longer approved.  His credit score was not high enough.  I was under the premis that the lender would have told us this information before we started searching for properties.  Fast forward 2 months and we transfer lenders and are told " yes your buyer is approved".  I talk with the lender and ask them if they can send me an aproximate price of where my buyer is at.  At first he is approved conventional and then FHA.  As a few days pass he becomes uneligible for either of these loans.  You can imagine at this point that my buyer is upset with me and starts having issues trusting anyone.  So once again my buyer and I stop looking for properties and try and figure out why he can not be approved.  His credit score is over a 700 and he has enough income to pay for a mortgage.  My buyer became frustrated and searched out a lender(broker) who specifically did Homepath Mortgages.  He tells us that my buyer is approved and can go search again for propeties.  We find a homepath property and write the offer at 141, 300.  The offer is accepted and we start the process of escrow.  While in escrow my buyer has questions to the homeowners ass. and they want us to pay them for any questions that we have.  Also, the lender was supposed to order the condo cert and did not do this until the last week of escrow.  I take the responsibility of the cert not being ordered because this was my first time dealing with a condo.  Well, we get down to the last day and the listing agent is asking us to remove contingencies.  I call and talk to the lender and he tells me that my buyers file is great but the FHA underwriting system will not approve it.  I ask him what is the reason and he has no answer.  So the deal is falling through at this point.  The listing agent contacts me and says if we go with their preffered lender that they will extend escrow, and we still have an opportunity to purchase the property.  The 4th lender was by far the best.  He started working right away and after 3 days let us know that my buyer is not approved.  The reason being is that my buyer switched from a W2 to a 1099 and needs to have at least 2 years of income statements.  Finally we got an answer to why he is not able to purchase at this time.  The whole process taught me a lot about people and how Real Estate is learned by almost losing a deal and having to figure out all sorts of alternatives.  I am very surprised how dishonest lenders can be and I certainly can't trust everything that I am told.  My buyer and I will be searching for properties again in a month and I hope I can do my duty and find him a suitable property.