Your Mortgage Application; Clarity around the First Step towards a Mortgage Approval.
This first step seems to be one of the most misunderstood. Technology (i.e. the telephone) plays a huge role in simplifying the process.
A mortgage applicant is no longer required to gather all of their original documents and take them in person to a mortgage Broker, Bank, or Credit Union.
Many people still believe that their only option is to wait a few days for an appointment, which often involves booking time off of work (or play), then attending what can be a 60-90 minute long interview process from which many come away more frustrated and confused than when they arrived. (Important note; never leave your original documents behind – they are 100% not required at any point. In fact copies are all that is ever required, copies that can be e-mailed or faxed),
Clients routinely initially ask me where and when we can arrange to meet in person, and I spent a lot of time in the early days never questioning this request; meeting clients wherever and whenever was convenient for them without really realizing that the clients would not have chosen this path had they known there was another option. All that time I thought I was making it easy for my clients, not really realizing that it still resulted in an inconvenience, and more importantly a delay, for them the majority of the time.
What has proven to be the superior option for 99% of my clients is a simple telephone application. (Yes there is an online option too, but I find that far too impersonal and often key components are missing which will dictate some specific required action on one or both of our parts).
I’ve taken well over 1,000 mortgage applications by telephone at this point. From clients as they commute home from work, sit on a chairlift, relax on a boat, I even had one applicant work through the entire process while cycling home from work. As somebody who likes to maximize the effective use of my own time I love this kind of thing.
99% of the data required to process an initial preapproval is all right there at the top of your mind, it is a far simpler process than most people expect.
In fact it is it a simpler process than most brokers expect it to be as well, I will never forget the surprise and relief in my clients voice on the other end of the phone line when I first suggested we could process the initial application by telephone. It was a question that I certainly wish I had asked several dozen clients prior.
At the end of the day I am a suit and tie guy who sits ready and available to meet in person in a formal office five days a week, with some very accommodating hours. Yet the majority of clients once given the option, tend to delay the first in-person meeting until the point at which we have a complete stack of approval documents to review together.
From the point of that first phone call beginning; typically less than 30 minutes later I am able to confirm for the clients the maximum amount of mortgage money they qualify for as well as lock down interest-rate holds for up to 120 days. At the end of that phone call I forward a comprehensive list of documents required to the client, fine tuning it to fit their situation which I now have a far greater grasp of than an online or paper application would ever give me.
Besides who wants to be assigned ‘homework’, a casual chat is much more enjoyable and productive for both sides.
Perhaps most important of all, it gives you a greater sense of what the Broker you are dealing with is all about.
Fast & Complete answers the same day you want them!
Thanks for your time!