Preferred Home Finance, LLC

Step I: Getting Prepared

Here's the key to Step I - gather ALL your documents that are needed for loan application and have them ready for the initial meeting with your PHF Loan Officer. (Click on link below to see a list of the documents required). By compiling all the documents at this initial step, you will eliminate the need for your PHF Mortgage Loan Officer and/or the bank who may be supplying your loan to have to come back to you for additional information - which can, and in most cases does, slow the process down.

See Documents Required

Again, please keep in mind that when your PHF Mortgage Loan Office has to come back to you for missing document/items, this can add days to the mortgage process.

Step II: The Application

The application process takes place with your PHF Mortgage Loan Officer. By end of this meeting, you will sign the necessary paperwork and the mortgage application verifying the information that will be submitted to the bank. During this meeting, various fees and down payments are discussed and you will receive a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) and a Truth-In-Lending statement (TIL) within five days which itemizes the rates and associated costs for obtaining the loan.

With this step, it is an option to have the initial paperwork sent to you via email or regular mail so that you can fill it out and return it to your Mortgage Loan Office prior to the initial meeting. In this case, your PHF Mortgage Loan Officer would just need to get answers to a few initial questions over the phone in order to get the process moving. This approach can speed up the overall Application process. During this step, please take time to ask your PHF Mortgage Loan Officer any questions, especially if there are aspects of the paperwork you do not fully understand. When there is a lack of understanding, no matter how small, it can create problems later on in the process. PHF's Mortgage Loan Officers are experts in the mortgage field and pride themselves on providing superior customer service. Their responsibility is to answer all your questions in an effort to ensure you go into the loan process feeling comfortable.

Click Here to Start Your Loan Application

Step III: The Appraisal

One of the next major steps in the mortgage process is the property appraisal. This is where the lender sends a professional home appraiser out to evaluate the property. The lender wants to make sure the home is worth the amount you have agreed to pay for it.

Step IV: Processing

This is the step in the loan process when Preferred Home Finance reviews your completed application to make sure that it's comprehensive and depicts an accurate picture of your financial situation. In addition, it is Preferred Home Finance's internal step of submitting your application to the "underwriter" of the lender that will (hopefully) approve your mortgage.

Step V: Underwriting

Underwriting is where the Underwriter* looks at the overall loan package submitted by Preferred Home Finance and decides whether or not your loan is approved.

In today's technical world, "automated underwriting" has taken this process to a new level! Now, rather than having to go to an actual underwriter for every step, an automated underwriting system can take care of many of the tasks that once had to be done by hand, bringing the entire process from weeks down to minutes! During the automated underwriting stage, the system may come back with a list of "Conditions." "Conditions" are requests for additional information in order to make a decision. When conditions are given, don't delay response, this will only delay the overall process. Sometimes conditions may involve things like a "Verification of Employment" or 'Statement from your Bank" for proof that funds are still available. Conditions can vary greatly. Once all conditions are cleared a "clear to close" is issued by the bank or lender and settlement can take place. Ideally a "clear to close" should be in hand a full week before the closing.

*Underwriter - Reviews and evaluates information on mortgage loan documents to determine if buyer, property, and loan conditions meet establishment and government standards.

Step VI: The Closing

Closing usually occurs between 30-45 days from the initial loan application. At the closing, the lender "funds" the loan with a cashier's check, draft or wire to the sellers in exchange for the title to the property. Then you as the borrower will sign all the loan papers and then actually take possession of your new home! If all steps above have been followed, this should be a very smooth and "happy" occasion.

During Closing, it is good business practice to review the papers you are asked to sign. In addition, you should bring your Good Faith Estimate you were given earlier with you to compare and make sure all the costs that were presented up front are still the same. Once the paperwork is signed and you receive a complete packet, you can consider yourself a new homeowner!