When buying a home, there are two stages in the home loan approval process.Stage 1 starts when a homebuyer submits a mortgage application to his loan officer for a pre-approval.

When pre-approval is requested, it will be a preliminary home mortgage approval indicating that the mortgage will likely be approved for a certain down payment and purchase price.

Stage 1 ends when the buyer signs a purchase contract on a home. At this point, the “walk-through” approval is useless because the buyer now needs a real home loan approval from an underwriter and not a loan officer.

Stage 2 of the process occurs when a mortgage underwriter is reviewing credit, income, assets, job history and probable other things. It is the job of the underwriter to insure that the buyer can meet the lending institution’s criteria for loans.

This procedure should be a formality if the Stage 1 loan officer did an appropriate job. Usually this stage moves along as anticipated. However, sometimes the buyer changes his loan “risk” without intending to do this, but affecting the mortgage approval. The buyer doesn’t mean to decrease his loan probability, it “happens.”

During the mortgage approval process, the buyer must not do anything that will increase his loan risk during the time between Stages 1 &2. Risk needs to remain consistent. The following are 6 things of the “Honey Don’t” list for this interim period:

1. Don ‘t miss a payment to a creditor 2. Don’t transfer large amounts of money in or out of your bank accounts (large may have different meanings to different people) 3. Don ‘t accept gift of cash without talking with your loan officer first (There are rules for gifts) 4. Don’t buy a new car (or increase loan or lease payment) 5. Don ‘t quit your job or change career(don’t switch to a “commission” job ) 6. Don ‘t open a new credit card (no matter the deal)

This is the basic starter list of things not to do. You may still make some errors, but talk to your loan officer if you have concerns or need to break a “rule.” There can be “glitches.” throughout the mortgage loan process. Therefore, keep the lines of communication open between you and your loan officer.