LOAN CENTER
Welcome to the Loan Center! Are you looking to buy a home? Here you can use our online tools to learn more about home loans and find the best loan options to suit your needs and goals. You can explore our site without any obligation or disclosure of personal information. Or if you want, you can even begin the application process online!
At any point, feel free to e-mail or call us regarding any questions you may have. You can find our contact information at the bottom of each page. We are here to personally help you through the entire home financing process.
You can contact us by email, text, phone, (livechat, if added), or in person depending on your location at your convenience to go over your goals and objectives to know your options and make an informed decision today. We don’t need to pull your credit up front to answer questions and go over estimates but will need to for issuing a loan estimate with exact quotes or to issue a pre-approval letter for purchasing a home. You can have your credit checked up to 3 times in a 30 day period without negatively affecting your score.
Gather Your Documents
This is the next step in having your loan pre-approved and verified.
Next Steps In The Home Buying Process
There are several ways you can get us copies of your documents.
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Web Portal - If you apply online and create a login and password, you can log back in at any time to upload your documents securely.
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Dropbox - We can also do a shared folder in Dropbox with you to upload your documents.
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Email – this is not as secure unless you can password protect or encrypt but we do accept this format for sending documents.
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Fax – this is not a preferred method because they can be hard to read, however, you can fax your documents to us as well.
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Mail – you can mail your documents to our corporate office or your local office. Our corporate office location is 509 Scott Ave Ste 154 in Woodland Park, CO 80863.
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In Person – you can drop off your documents at one of our offices or give them to your loan officer in person.
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Below is a list of common items needed for documentation approval and processing of your loan. They don’t all apply to each situation and there could also be other items needed specific to just your situation. Your loan officer can clarify exactly what is needed.
DOCUMENTS NEEDED FOR LOAN:
Income Documents
___ Two Years Personal Tax Returns
___ Two Years Business Tax Returns
___ Year to Date Profit and Loss Statement for Business
___ Current Balance Sheet for business
___ Business License
___ CPA Information
___ Proof of Self-employment Current Existence and Two-Year History
___ 24 Months Personal Bank Statements (All Pages)
___ 24 Months Business Bank Statements (All Pages)
___ 12 Months Personal Bank Statements
___ 12 Months Business Bank Statements
___ Last Two Years W-2 Forms
___ Last Months’ Worth of Recent Pay-stubs
Asset Documents
___ Last Three Months Bank Statements (ALL ACCOUNTS)
___ Most Recent Statements on all Asset Accounts such as 401k, stocks, bonds, etc.
Property Related Documents
___ Insurance Dec. Page or Insurance Agents Name and Number
___ Home Inspection, Pest Inspection, Survey
___ Recent Home Tax Information
___ Recent Mortgage Statement on all Mortgages
___ Payoff and Pay History
___ Lease Agreements
___ If Purchase, Purchase Contract (ALL PAGES MUST BE LEGIBLE)
___ Contract for Deed
___ Lease Purchase Agreement
___ Power of Attorney
Miscellaneous Documents
___ Letter of explanations on credit, income, housing, job situation, etc., as applicable
___ Recent statement for any debt being paid off before or at closing
___ Credit documents _____________________________________________________
___ Divorce Decree and Alimony documents
___ Child Support documents
___ Copy of canceled earnest money check on purchases
___ SS# and credit pulled for Non-purchasing spouse if in community property state
___ Copy of Driver’s License and Social Security Card or other acceptable ID forms
This is very dependent on the loan type you are on as well as your specific situation, credit, income, and assets.
In General, this is the basic process you can expect:
Application – In this initial step, your basic information is reviewed along with your credit report to determine what loan(s) you qualify for and what option you want to go with. It is best to turn in copies of documents needed at this point in the process but it is not legally required.
Disclosure – Initial disclosures must be issued within three business days of the application date and must be signed in order to start the processing of the loan and ordering things like title work, appraisal, and verifications for loan underwriting.
Processing and Verifications – In this step, your documents and information are verified and approved. Your loan processor will gather documentation and do order-outs for things like your appraisal, title work, property insurance verification, and loan processing verifications.
Initial Underwriting – This is one of the most important steps in the process and is where your loan is conditionally approved. A list of final items is generated that are required to get the loan cleared to close (ctc).
Final Processing and Verifications – Your loan officer and processor will now work to get the list of conditions from your approval done.
Final Underwriting and Clear to Close – The loan is resubmitted back to the underwriter for final approval and the list of conditions is cleared at this time and the loan is made as cleared to close.
Closing Disclosure – The initial closing disclosure must be signed at least three business days prior to closing on most loan types. This is a federal TRID requirement for most mortgage types. This document can be issued without a clear to close at times, however, certain things must be in and approved by underwriting, like asset documentation and your property appraisal. It is our goal at Skyridge Lending to issue this document as soon as possible to keep things moving along in the loan process as efficiently and quickly as possible.
Closing – Once your loan is cleared to close and your initial closing disclosure is signed, your closing date and time are set and confirmed. Your loan officer will go over your funds to close amount and how to get your funds to the title company. Important Note: There is fraud going on about funds to close so please check with your loan officer and title company before just wiring funds based off of an email and make sure it is correct.
Funding – Once your loan is closed the title company will usually make sure everything is signed appropriately with either the lender’s closer or one of our closers and then fund the loan. For a purchase transaction, this usually takes 20 to 30 minutes. For a refinance, if it is investment property it is a similar process, if it is owner-occupied then there is a mandatory three-day right of rescission based on federal law that gives you three days to review the closing documents until the loan funds.
Understand the difference between Pre-Qualified, Pre-Approved and Fully Qualified
At Skyridge Lending, we offer full approvals and full qualification for the loan prior to shopping for a house.
Getting fully qualified prior to looking for a home should give you a leg up on the other buyers you may be competing with when buying a home. It will also give you more peace of mind since you are not only credit-approved but fully loan-approved already taking care of income and asset documentation. When putting in an offer for a home, this helps you in multiple offer situations because your loan is already approved pending the appraisal, clear property title, and property insurance. You can also lock and shop. Your interest rate can be locked in for up to 90 days while you look for a home. Some of our rate locks also come with float-down options in the event that the market rates significantly drop prior to closing.
Mortgage Insurance
Mortgage Insurance protects the lender or investor in case of loan default.
Conventional Conforming loans (also known as qualified mortgages or QM) require mortgage insurance when financing more than 80% loan-to-value. This is typically done in the form of a monthly amount, but can also be paid upfront or financed into the interest rate on most loans. The amount is determined by credit score, loan-to-value, and loan term. It typically ranges from 0.35% on a shorter-term high-credit score to 1.1% on a lower score at maximum financing. Conventional monthly mortgage insurance is required for at least two years and then can be canceled when the loan is at 78% loan-to-value or less. In most cases, it is canceled automatically at that time. There is no mortgage insurance on a conventional loan when starting out at 80% loan-to-value or less.
Conventional Non-Conforming (also now known as non-qualified mortgages or non QM) loans typically have a higher interest rate and have no mortgage insurance (in most cases).
VA has no monthly mortgage insurance but does charge a 2.30% funding fee or up-front mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) for first-time users and a 3.60% funding fee for subsequent users. Example: $300,000 base loan amount would cost a $6,900 funding fee for first-time use for a total loan amount of $306,900 ($300,000 x 0.023) or $10,800 funding fee for subsequent use, making the total loan amount $310,800 ($300,000 x 0.036).
FHA has a 1.75% up-front mortgage insurance premium (UFMIP) and either 1.3% monthly or 1.35% monthly mortgage insurance for the 30-year term, depending on loan-to-value and 0.6% monthly for the 15-year term. This is charged even if the loan-to-value starts off under 80% and never cancels on a 30-year term. It does cancel after 11 years on the 15-year term. Example: $300,000 base loan amount would cost $5,250 in up-front mortgage insurance premium for a $305,250 total loan amount and $343.41 ($305,250 x 0.0135% / 12) monthly mortgage insurance for a 30-year term or $152.63($305,250 x 0.006 / 12) monthly mortgage insurance for a 15-year term.
USDA has a 1% up-front mortgage insurance and then 0.35% monthly mortgage insurance. The monthly mortgage insurance is cancelled after two years and once the loan is under 78% loan-to-value. Example: $300,000 base loan amount would cost $303,000 ($300,000 x 0.01% = $3,000) total loan amount and monthly mortgage insurance of $88.38 ($303,000 x 0.0035 / 12).
Section 184 (Native American Loan) – 1.5% Up-front mortgage insurance premium or guarantee fee and then a 0.01% monthly mortgage insurance amount. The monthly amount was added in the fall of 2014. Prior to this, there was no monthly amount. Example : $300,000 base loan amount would cost $4,500 (200,000 x 0.015%) in up-front mortgage insurance premium, making the total loan amount $304,500. The monthly amount would then be $25.38 ($304,500 x .001% / 12).
Overlays
Overlays are extra guidelines or conditions that a lender requires for approving a loan above and beyond what is required by that program. At Skyridge Lending, we have very few overlays on some of our programs and no overlays on the rest.
VA guidelines are set by the VA.
FHA are set by the Department of HUD.
Conventional Conforming are set by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
Conventional Non-Conforming guidelines are set by the servicing lender or investor.
A good example of an overlay that most banks and lenders currently have in place is a minimum credit score requirement that is higher than the program requirement. For example, VA allows a credit score of 560 at 90% loan-to-value and a 580 or higher for 100% financing. That is what we at Skyridge Lending follow.
However, many lenders and banks have an overlay for this program, requiring a 600, 620, or even 640 credit score before they will do the loan. We see the same thing with FHA. Many times, other lenders are requiring a 640 score, while FHA will go down to 560 in some cases, or even lower in certain situations where the loan meets the guidelines. Conventional conforming will go down to a 620 credit score currently. However, a common overlay is a 660 credit score, which we see many banks and lenders impose. Again, we follow the federal guidelines on this and can lend on conventional loans down to scores as low as 620.
The credit score is just one factor in the loan process and does have a bearing on the interest rate. However, you also need to consider if what is on the credit meets the guidelines for loan approval. It is best to contact one of our loan officers by email or phone about your specific situation for more information on this.
