Getting a mortgage doesn’t have to be difficult… well, okay – maybe it is not as easy as it was a few years ago to get a loan. But there are still things that you can do to make it as easy as possible.

Here are some simple things that you can do to make it easier to get financing:

Communicate

Be sure to speak often with your loan officer when getting a mortgage. It is important to tell your loan officer everything about your financial picture — don’t make him guess about where you are financially. Don’t lie about anything either – it will only hurt your chances of getting approved when it comes up (and it will).

Get Homeowners Insurance

When buying a home, one of the leading causes of delays has nothing to do with the mortgage process — it is getting home insurance. Be sure that you have your home insurance taken care of ahead of time.

Don’t Change Jobs

During the loan process, don’t change jobs unless you have to. Having a stable job history is one of the most important things when it comes to getting qualified for a loan as well.

Don’t Get New Debt

It may sound simple – but don’t go out and buy a new car while you are trying to get a mortgage. Acquiring new debt during the loan process is only setting you up for potential problems.

Don’t Make Moving Plans The Day of Closing

If you are supposed to close on a Friday, don’t set up the moving van until the day after closing — and on Friday maybe not until Tuesday. In an ideal world, allow a 5 day window between closing your loan and moving.

These simple steps won’t ensure that you will avoid all of the problems when getting a loan, but following them will help you along the way.

Still looking for help with your mortgage loan? The government has extended its Home Affordable Refinance Program for another year. The refinance program was set to expire in June, but the Obama administration hopes that a larger chunk of distressed homeowners can be helped.

Originally the government had hoped that about 5 million homeowners would be helped by the program. So far about 200,000 have gotten help with troubled mortgage loans.

Who knows if the new timetable will result in more people being able to stay in their homes. Some homeowners who thought they qualified for the program were unable to refinance because they were too underwater on their mortgages. Others gave up efforts to get help after getting little assistance from mortgage loan servicers that scrambled to keep up with the demand.

Hopefully mortgage lenders and loan servicers can make more progress with the extra time. They’ve had ample time to work out snags such as updating computer systems, adding more workers, and getting guidance on how to deal with second liens and other complications.

Homeowners who have been discouraged about getting help might want to make another attempt to contact their mortgage loan servicer to discuss their options.

I live in Arizona and pretty much every home within a 2 square mile radius of my home has dropped 50-60% in value since 2006.

Which means terms like loan modification, short sales and foreclosure pretty much dominate every neighborhood bar b q party at the local park.

Recently, I was at a neighborhood gathering and someone was telling their story of trying to get their loan modified but the lender wouldn’t budge, so they tried to short sell it but got denied and were about to have their house sold at auction in the near future.

I couldn’t help but wonder “I wonder if the lender really wants to foreclose” or if they just didn’t have the right help.

And I didn’t think too much more about it.

Until I saw that same person who had been told “no, no, no” again yesterday.

I was expecting him to tell me how his pending-foreclosure date was impacting his mental health but instead he had a smile on his face and opened our conversation with” you will never believe what happened – my lender approved my short sale!”

And then he told me how the lender that had told him “no, no, no” suddenly had a change of heart because his Real Estate Agent had gotten on the phone with the right person at the lender and made them understand that they had bad information and needed to re-evaluate.

Which was just a simple reminder:

When hiring people to help you with your loan modification, short sale or foreclosure – there can be a world of difference between the knowledge, skills and experience of each “expert”.

And when some just hear “no, no, no” and give up… some actually get to “yes” because they don’t give up.

And there can be a fine line between “no” and “yes” and that fine line can make all the difference.