Are  you under a tight time line to get a mortgage done?

In many markets across the US, there are actually bidding wars going on right now for houses and when competition is fierce, it is more important than ever to make sure that you have the best offer – or at least one that stands out.

And one way to make your offer more attractive to a seller (often times, in the hot markets the seller is actually a bank) is to put in your offer that you can get your loan closed fast.

But getting your loan closed fast is not just up to your loan officer, you may be surprised at how much you can speed up the process — just by having your documentation ready and being ready to run down lender requests.

Have Your Documentation Ready

When applying for a loan, there is a pretty standard set of documents that you will want to have ready. Depending on what kind of loan you are applying for, you may need additional documents handy, but here are the basics:

• Last 2 years tax returns
• Last 2 years W2′s
• Last 2 paystubs
• Last 2 months bank statements
• Copies of any account statements such as 401k, savings accounts, etc.
• Copy of a divorce decree (if divorced)
• Copies of your Social Security card
• Copies of your Drivers License

If you are planning on getting a VA loan or a USDA loan, there will be documents that you will need in addition to those listed above, but the above list pretty much applies to all loans.

Be Ready For Lender Conditions

After you have organized and given your loan officer all of your initial documents above, at some point your loan will be submitted to underwriting. After the underwriter reviews your file, they will issue a conditional approval – or basically a document that says essentially “I will approve this file if you get me ____________”.

And the “_________________” part could be one thing or twenty things — conditional approvals come in all shapes and sizes.

And this is where you can speed up the whole process — be ready to get the “____________________” as soon as possible to your loan officer.

Speeding Up The Mortgage Process: You Are Key

Just by having all of your initial documents ready and hustling down the “________________” on your file, you might be pleasantly surprised at how much faster your loan can get closed.

So in the end… it is all up to you.

And your loan officer of course.