Most homebuyers only see the front end of getting a mortgage: fill out an application, send in some documents, and wait to find out if you're approved.

But what actually happens behind the scenes when a loan isn't so straightforward?

In this episode of Educating Homebuyers, I sit down with Lance Everhart, someone I've worked alongside for most of my career and one of the smartest mortgage minds I know.

Lance has been in banking since 2004 and specializing in residential mortgage lending since 2009. He's also one of the first people I call when I have a complicated loan scenario and need another set of eyes on how we can get it done.

We get into some of the situations most homebuyers never see, including:

• Can you actually buy a house with a 610 credit score?
• How we can sometimes improve a credit score quickly with a rapid rescore
• Why having additional money in reserves can completely change an approval
• How variable income, overtime, commissions, and inconsistent hours are calculated
• Why the income you make isn't always the income we can use
• Why getting approved for a certain payment doesn't necessarily mean you should spend that much
• How changing property taxes and insurance can impact your payment after closing
• How we received an automated VA approval with an 83% debt-to-income ratio
• Bank statement loans, non-QM financing, and other creative options when traditional guidelines don't work

One of my favorite lines from the episode sums up our approach pretty well:

It's not always a “no.” Sometimes it's, “How can we get this to be a yes?”

That's also why I encourage homebuyers to start the mortgage conversation early. The more time we have before you find the perfect house, the more opportunities we have to look at your credit, income, assets, loan programs, and overall financial picture to put you in the strongest position possible.

If you've ever wondered “How did THAT get approved?!”, this episode gives you a look behind the curtain at how we actually evaluate and structure mortgage approvals.

🎙️ The Mortgage Secrets Most Homebuyers Never See | with Lance Everhart

Welcome to Educating Homebuyers.

Chapters

00:00 – What Really Happens Behind a Mortgage Approval
01:13 – Meet Lance Everhart
02:07 – Getting Into Banking in 2004
03:15 – Entering Mortgage Lending During the Financial Crisis
05:09 – From Big Banks to Specialized Mortgage Lending
07:00 – How We Evaluate a Mortgage Application
09:36 – Can You Buy a House With a 610 Credit Score?
11:16 – Turning a Mortgage “No” Into a “Yes”
12:27 – The Fastest Ways to Improve Your Credit Score
14:33 – How Rapid Credit Rescoring Works
15:22 – A Client Increased Her Credit Score Over 100 Points
16:40 – The Credit Utilization Rule Homebuyers Should Know
18:35 – Why We Look Beyond the Credit Score
19:08 – Why You Should Get Pre-Approved Months Before Buying
20:34 – How Variable Income Affects Mortgage Qualification
22:09 – The Income Mistake That Can Kill a Mortgage Approval
23:55 – Why We Require Documentation Before Issuing a Pre-Approval
26:11 – Can You Qualify for More House Than You Should Buy?
27:23 – Why I Don't Focus on Maximum Pre-Approval
28:26 – The New Construction Property Tax Surprise
30:32 – Why You Need Breathing Room in Your Housing Payment
32:11 – The Difference Between “Can You?” and “Should You?”
32:31 – The 83% Debt-to-Income Mortgage Approval
35:23 – When Conventional Mortgage Guidelines Don't Work
35:52 – Bank Statement & Non-QM Mortgage Options
36:55 – What We Know vs. What We Can Prove
37:20 – Final Thoughts