Santa Or The Grinch? Which Do You Want With Your Mortgage?

Santa versus The Grinch represents so many different scenarios in life, good versus evil, positive versus negative, tortoise versus the hare…..an on time mortgage transaction versus a delayed one. Huh? Wait. What does Santa and The Grinch have to do with the mortgage process?

Since its the holiday season, I thought I’d use Santa and The Grinch to demonstrate how a mortgage transaction can go astray, or how it can happen smoothly and on time. It is not only up to the mortgage lender, it is up to every single party to the transaction to participate. Here is an idea of what I am talking about:

Making Loan Application:

The Grinch is too busy, self important, and urgently doing other Grinchy things. He will have to wait 3-5 days to fill out his loan application, plus he needs a few days off for a preplanned vacation.

Santa would drop everything, and be aware that he is under contract with a large deposit at risk, and the day his offer was accepted would complete his loan application at a pace quite brisk. This way he would ensure he would not be the reason for delay, not by one day, not in any way.

Returning the loan disclosures:

The Grinch thinks the loan disclosures are cumbersome, lengthy, and take too much time to review. He’ll do it when he can, and that will have to do.

Santa would sign everything right away, realizing the appraisal cannot be ordered until the disclosures are returned. In this transaction he will not be the reason that anyone gets burned.

Sending in the supporting documents:

The Grinch thinks all this paperwork is unnecessary and absurd; he likes to make his own rules while flipping the underwriter the bird. He sends in bank statements with missing pages, illegible pay stubs, and sends it all in stages.

Santa understands the economy is tough and the rules are severe. He will send in W2’s, bank statements and pay stubs, and will send them in on flying reindeer. All the documents are legible and complete, in one package, bound together quite neat.

Appraisal inspection:

The Grinch listing agent is busy, important and has no time.

But the Santa listing agent would meet the appraiser at the drop of a dime.

I think you get the rest…

The bottom line is that when you wait 3 days to make loan application because you are too busy, and you wait 4 days to return your loan disclosures, and wait 2 more days to send in complete supporting documents; you do not get to be upset with anyone that settlement will be delayed by a day. I know of countless loan transactions where Grinch’s want lender’s to perform miracles and work faster, because they went slower.

If you engage in an important transaction like a home purchase, then be just that, engaged. It needs to be a priority, you need to put it first, you need to be responsible and take it seriously. Otherwise, when the day before settlement arrives who should be considered The Grinch when you are told your settlement will be delayed, the movers must be rescheduled, you must put your belongings in storage because the people that bought your home are still moving in your place on time, you must call the utility companies and reschedule those, and on and on. Is The Grinch the lender, or is The Grinch in the mirror?