We're with you every step of the way.
Buying a home doesn’t have to be stressful, after all, finding and moving into that special home should be one of the happiest moments of your life.Familiarizing yourself with the following steps in the mortgage process will ensure that your loan application remains on track.
Step One: Get Prequalified
Contact us or use our Online Prequalification Form to see how much home you can afford before you begin your search. During the prequalification process, we typically determine and verify your income, debt, credit and assets as well as your employment history.
Items needed for your mortgage pre-qualification include, but may not be limited to:
Identification
- Driver’s License or Passport
- Current and Previous Addresses
- If you are renting, name and address of the landlord, current monthly rent, and previous addresses and landlords if you have lived a your current address for less than two years
Income
- One month of paystubs
- Last two years W2s
- Last two years of your personal federal tax returns. If self-employed, please include your last two years of your federal business tax returns
- Name(s), address(es) and phone number(s) of employers for the past two years
Liabilities
- Your most recent mortgage statements
Assets
- Last two months complete statements for all asset accounts such as checking, savings, brokerage, 401k, IRA, etc.
Other
There may be some special situations, such as self-employment, divorce, child support, etc. that require you to supply additional information.
Step Two: Start your Home Search
Contact a Realtor and share your list of what style of home you’d like to buy, whether you want to build or buy an existing home and what features are important to you such price, number of bedrooms, size of kitchen, square footage and lot size to name a few.
Step Three: Make an Offer
Once you weigh all of the options and homes available and settle on the perfect home for you, your real estate professional will work on a formal offer to the sellers based on other similar homes in the area that have sold recently. Your offer will be presented to the seller’s real estate agent by your agent. The offer can be refused and countered or accepted by the seller.
Step Four: Apply for your Mortgage
After your offer is approved by the seller, and you know what amount you will be paying for a home, it’s time to collect your applicable Loan Application Materials and apply for your mortgage financing. Contact a PMA Mortgage Advisor to review the type of loan that is best for you and to lock in your rate. You will receive a good faith estimate, truth in lending and other regulatory disclosures within three days of loan application. Your loan is then submitted for review and approval.
Step Five: Closing
Your closing documents will be prepared and you will be notified of your closing date and the amount of funds you will have to bring to closing in the form of a certified check. You will also need to bring identification, such as a driver's license. At closing, you’ll review and sign all closing documents after which your home is officially yours!