beginning the loan application with NVR
Even though it wasn’t required to work with NVR, we wanted to start off the loan application process with them because of the incentive that they provided. At the time that we signed the purchase agreement, NVR was to provide us with a $6000 closing incentive if we worked with them.
The overall process was quite smooth! We were given the opportunity to meet with the mortgage loan originator at her office or at the model home that we usually meet our sales representative in our community. My boyfriend and I spent some time gathering all of the necessary documents and printed them out so that the process went smoothly and quickly for our loan officer.
One of the trickier documents for us to get accurate information on was our proof of employment letter and contact information. For one, my company name had changed about two months in of my employment and the proof of employment letter did not include the subsidiary company that I was a part of, only the parent company. I also couldn’t find the correct contact information in case our loan officer needed to call for proof of employment. The work verification number that my company provides us wasn’t working correctly, unfortunately. My situation was also tricky because I had gaps of employment due to being in school, but since I had proof of my graduation, they were able to document that and notice that I did not have gaps of employment after graduation.
One concern we had was whether both of our names should be on the loan or if it would be better if only one of us take on that responsibility. Since I recently graduated from college, I had accrued some debt that caused my credit score to be less than my boyfriend’s, meaning that I would pull our average credit score down a bit. Our loan officer was patient and willing to help us go through both scenarios to see if there was a difference. She also played through a few different scenarios to see what the outcome could look like. By going through these different types of scenarios, it helped us feel more confident and better prepared for the future in the case that some of these scenarios happen.
Pro Tips
Come prepared with all the requested documentation, whether it is uploaded online through their portal, or with paper copies when meeting with your loan officer. For us, we printed our documents to provide to our loan officer and also saved a PDF version in a folder for future reference in case it was needed again.
If you can, pull your credit history to prepare yourself with the questions your loan officer will ask to make sure your history is as you expect. You can get a free annual credit report from annualcreditreport.com! Due to the pandemic, the three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion are now offering free weekly online reports through April 2021!
Have your loan officer help you work through different financial scenarios. For example, what happens if you are able to put down an extra 5% at closing? What does paying down your PMI look like in the grand scheme of things? This could help with your budgeting before you close! You can also use NVR’s loan payment calculator to see what your monthly payments could look like if you play around with the loan amount, the interest rate, and your loan term.
