Hello! I trust your Friday is going well and you have a great weekend planned.
I wanted to share with you a day in the life of a loan officer. My world is often confusing to an outsider. When someone contacts me about doing their loan, they really are first and foremost looking for a seamless transaction with minimal problems.
These days that is increasingly difficult. Not only am I having to provide more and more documentation to satisfy my underwriter but guidelines (what I can and cannot do) are stiffening all the time. Most if not all of my business is by referral. Once I have received an inquiry about a loan, it is my job to do the necessary work up front to see if your loan request is feasible.
I usually start by checking your home's value (whether it is a purchase or a refinance this is critical). With average depreciation in our market of 27% over the last few years, it pays to choose someone who can ballpark value. If the value of your home has gone down substantially it might not be worth it to refinance or sell your property.
I then go about collecting all the necessary documentation from you. This is often where you may choose to opt out. I ask for a lot but please understand it's the nature of the beast these days. Every lender will ask you for documentation. Expect to provide bank statements, W-2's, your mortgage statement and note, and tax returns if you're self employed. Pricing on loans is increasingly based on credit so it pays to either have your credit in great shape or to challenge anything that is inaccurate on your credit report.
After collecting everything from you, I will send you our credit disclosures and order the appraisal. Once the appraisal comes back (hopefully at the value we pegged), I will submit to underwriting for a loan approval. Expect that to take 24-48 hours. The loan approval will usually have conditions with it (for example, ordering an insurance binder from your insurance company) which we typically take a couple of days to satisfy. Once all the conditions are satisfied, we clear to close and draw up the documents. You will then get a call to come in and sign your loan papers.
How long is the process taking these days? If you're able to get me everything in a timely manner, 30 days should be the timeframe. The rest of my day is spent trying to drum up business through the professional contacts I have established. Whether it be over the phone or in person, I spent a great deal of time on marketing my business as I believe this to be key.
I hope you have enjoyed reading this. My job is definitely not easy and sometimes very frustrating. But I do it to help my clients. If I can help you, please let me know. Thanks for reading!
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