3 Questions You Need to Answer to Get a Mortgage

Posted by Allison Van Wig on Thursday, November 21, 2019 at 1:10 PM By Allison Van Wig / November 21, 2019 Comment

If you’re like most people, you don’t have cash lying around waiting to buy a home in Lakewood or Long Beach. Instead, you’ll need to get a mortgage loan from your bank or another lender.

And as part of that process, you’ll have to answer some questions. (Actually, you’ll have to answer a lot of questions.) These are three of them:

Have you changed jobs recently?
How much cash do you have on-hand?
What’s your life situation like?

Let’s take a closer look at each of these.

#1. Have you changed jobs recently?

Lenders want to see stability when they’re considering extending you credit, which means if you’ve recently changed jobs, you might have a harder time getting a mortgage loan. Sometimes people run into issues when a new employer pays differently from the last employer, too.

#2. How much cash do you have on-hand?

Lenders want to see that you have enough cash to pay for your down payment, closing costs and everything else related to buying a home. Keeping cash in reserve is also important to lenders.

#3. What’s your life situation like?

Big changes in your life - like divorce, for example - can make a difference in your loan approval. It’s a good idea to keep your loan officer in the loop so you can avoid major snags during the approval process (and avoid being denied at the last minute).