4 Ways Mortgage Lenders Can Help You Buy a Home

In the long home-buying journey, lenders are often pegged as the bad guy—the villain who holds the purse strings and decides whether (or not) to loosen ’em up and grant you a mortgage.

OK. Let’s take a step back. This bad rep is mostly a bad rap. Because the reality is that lenders make homeownership possible for the majority of Americans who do not have the ready cash to buy a home. And even if you’re a less-than-ideal home buyer, because of bad credit or lack of a down payment, they can actually help your loan go through.

Here are five ways lenders can assist you on the path to homeownership, and some recommendations as to how you can make the most of this relationship.

1. Lenders can get you pre-approved

If you know you’re ready to buy—before you’ve even seen the inside of a single house—it’s wise to head to a lender to get pre-approved for a mortgage, pronto. This means lenders check your financial history and determine how much money they’re willing to loan you to buy a home. “You want to apply before you’re entirely under the gun,” says Steven Bogan, regional managing director for Glendenning Mortgage Corporation in Haddonfield, NJ. “If you wait until you’ve made an offer on a house, you could run into problems.”

Pre-approval is proof to home sellers—and yourself!—that you won’t have problems getting the loan you need, once that special house comes your way. It is best to seek a pre-approval at least a month or two in advance, Bogan says. Requirements for approval in a post-housing bubble world can create headaches even for stellar borrowers.

But don’t start too early. Pre-approvals are only good for 30 to 60 days, so make sure you’re really ready to hit the pavement and start looking for houses. Still, don’t stress if your pre-approval expires; getting it re-upped isn’t a big deal.

“We usually just need to run your credit again, maybe get an updated pay stub or bank statement, and you’re good to go,” says Bogan.

2. If you can’t get pre-approved, lenders can show you how

So what if you apply for pre-approval and get denied? It hurts, but don’t worry—the pre-approval process isn’t a one-shot deal. Most lenders will be happy to work with you, even if you aren’t pre-approved right off the bat.

“The majority of lenders will give buyers a step-by-step path they need to follow to get up to approval,” says Bogan. And that usually involves boosting your credit score (more on that next).

3. Lenders can help you boost your credit score

One of the most common reasons home buyers don’t get approval is a lousy credit score—the all-important numerical summary of how reliable they’ve been paying off debts, from credit cards to college loans. You want a simple equation? The lower your score, the less likely you are to get a loan. The good news is that you can take action to boost your credit score. A credit repair company will show you the ropes, but will charge for those services.

You’ve actually got a free credit-boosting guide at your disposal: the lenders who just passed you up for a loan. In most cases, they’ll be happy to show you what you need to do to boost your credit score. And while it usually takes a few months for the credit bureaus to record these changes, lenders have another ace up their sleeve: They can do a “rapid re-score” that corrects and updates info on your credit report in a matter of days.

4. Lenders can help atypical borrowers

Many home buyers are employed, earning a regular W-2 income—a generally safe bet for lenders. But If you’re self-employed, a contractor or running your own business, and your income is more prone to valleys and peaks, a good relationship with a lender can help you cut past reservations about your loanworthiness. “Basically, we’re just going to look at the last two years of tax returns, instead of W-2’s and pay stubs,” says Bogan.

However, Bogan does recommend applying even earlier if you’re a non-W-2 wage earner, since there is more paperwork and more of an investigative process into your earnings. And unlike everyone else, you’ll need to consider your timing. “Say, for example, 2016 tax returns are almost due, and it was a great year incomewise. It would probably be in your advantage to wait until after you’ve filed your taxes to apply for a mortgage,” Bogan says.

No matter what your situation, though, to get the best help, you’re actually going to have to call. “You absolutely want to talk with somebody in person,” says Bogan. So skip the online forms, and ask your friends and family (or your Realtor®, if you have one already) to recommend someone you can sit down with to get the process rolling.

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