Tell me about your mortgage timeline?

[vanillahip]

Our current house has a private mortgage, I did a couple of pre-approvals with conventional loans through banks before going private but that was 6 years ago and I remember very little helpful info.

What was your mortgage timeline like? Anything I should keep in mind that'd make it move faster or slower? I'll be calling a couple of banks in the morning to start the pre-approval process (because- whoops!- we found a house we love that we're willing to put an offer in on about 7 months ahead of my schedule....) but I'm wondering how far into the summer this'll go if all works out?

(Specifically? For the most ridiculous reason LOL. I'm hosting a joint b'day party in June and I wonder if I should continue planning it here or put that on hold at least until the offer is accepted/rejected in case it's moved to the imaginary new house. Speedy bonus points- it's vacant, not a foreclosure, either an estate or the owners have just downsized, they were there for many many years but it's currently vacant)

Any helpful info would be hugely appreciated! TIA!

[housegeek]

I think its usually 60 days? Sometimes they want 30, but theres a lot of inspection/paperwork drama that has to happen so 60 is better after the offer is accepted.

[kaylie]

We were pre-approved when we made our offer and once it was accepted we applied for the mortgage the next day. We actually could have closed in 25 days if we wanted to.

I'm assuming you're doing conventional based on your post on D&R, in which case you could probably close in 30 days.

To make it move faster you want to work with a good company. Are you working with an agent? They might know which company is known for getting deals closed on time. Our broker was GREAT - I could not have been more grateful for their help.

Be prepared with your paperwork. You'll need your 2011 w-2s and tax return, 60 days of bank statements for any accounts you want considered in the equation of down payment + closing costs + emergency fund (typically they want to see that you have 2.5 months worth of mortgage payments left over). You need your last two pay stubs. You'll also need to explain any large deposits that aren't salary that were made into your account in the last 60 days.

[car.ramrod]

It took us 30 days to close on a conventional loan but they were ready a few days before that, the sellers however weren't. Our agent told us that most FHA loans were taking 45-60 days to close.

[Pom]

The sellers signed our offer and we put down our earnest check May 7. We did have a mortgage pre-approval and had already started into underwriting with a different house, so we have a complete file that was transferred. We just went back to underwriting today. Our lender says our closing date is May 25, but our REA is concerned we will close before the end of this month. Our REA told us 30-45 days is standard.

This is a conventional loan, 20% down.

[justinlove]

We closed in 28 days. Would have been 23 but the bank rep for the home we were buying (a foreclosure), forgot to sign a form so we had to wait 5 more days to coordinate schedules again to close. We did a conventional, 20% down.

Have EVERYTHING in order before you begin and the process goes much faster. Respond immediately to any requests and follow up if need be.