There are certain things that never change, but the mortgage application process is not one of them. Each year as Congress runs out of things to do, they add another piece to the endless puzzle of disclosures they insist must be completed during the mortgage application process.
It starts with Congress obviously, but after they vote on something, it trickles down to the various agencies that add their own paperwork and disclosures to the reams of paperwork legally required to be signed and included in every mortgage application package in the United States. And when the agencies are finished, the states add their closing touches for those extra disclosure forms, which they’re sure you’d miss if they did not insist on including them, and if not for electronic signatures (thank goodness), every mortgage applicant would have to spend the better part of a day reading and signing dozens of pages of disclosures, then returning them to the lender in bulk.
Sound familiar? Yes, those who have already gone through the mortgage application process definitely know what I’m talking about, and all of these mandatory signed disclosures that are necessary to the mortgage application process are, of course, in addition to the basic items that a borrower must submit, such as income, asset, and purchase contract information, etc.
The big joke is that I think at the present time on a typical mortgage application, the number of disclosures that must be signed and submitted probably outnumber the income and asset data information that a borrower submits, which tells you how bizarre and insane the disclosure situation has become.
But since there’s nothing a lender can do about the disclosure situation at this time other than getting everything signed in a timely fashion and making sure every mortgage application package contains the required disclosure information and documents, the trick to getting your mortgage application moving quickly is to make sure those disclosures are signed and sent back right away so they can’t impede getting your mortgage done in the fastest and most efficient manner.
Because the disclosure process takes many different avenues, this is not something you can necessarily take care of upfront and then forget about it. Some of the disclosures require certain timeframes in between other disclosures, and the trick to getting everything done quickly and not allowing your mortgage application process to drag on needlessly is to sign as soon as you get each one and send it back superfast just as you would a ping pong ball if it was served to you.
For instance, there is the first disclosure that needs to be signed which states you want to go ahead with the loan process before it can proceed. Then there is the initial disclosure that must be sent out to the borrower within three days of an application with all the closing costs itemized that must be signed and returned immediately. Then, as you start to sign and return the disclosures promptly, you get tested some more with a few more disclosures, which must be signed and returned quickly.
You start the program signing and submitting, signing and submitting, and then when you think you’re done, you may get a break for a few weeks, then there are more disclosures to sign and submit, but by this time you’re already a pro at signing and submitting!
By the end of the mortgage application process, you should be a professional at signing, submitting, uploading, scanning, and more signing until it is time for the closing. The irony is that by the time you go to the real closing, you are now a professional signer so nothing throws you off.
The one trick that is important to get the knack of right away if you want the mortgage application process to go quickly never changes. If you want speed in getting your mortgage application approved and closed, the fastest way to get there is to make sure that all disclosures, documents, and anything else that is requested from you is submitted the minute you are requested so that you do not lose time by the process freezing while it waits for you (the borrower) to get the necessary documents back to the processor. If you are fast getting the requested paperwork submitted, the time frame will definitely be faster. n
Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a Licensed Real Estate Broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) with over 20 years of experience offering residential, commercial and management real estate services. You are invited to visit her website at WWW.AVCREALTY.COM. She can be reached at 516-569-5007 or Readers are encouraged to send any questions or comments by email to anessa@avcrealty.com.