The Mortgage Approval Process:
1 Initial Discussion / Discovery Call:
This is a 15 – 30 minute phone call to get to know you as an applicant and determine the best course of action to achieve your property and financial goals. We will discuss your financial situation, identify any potential hurdles and establish an action plan. Our aim is to assess your eligibility for a mortgage & determine your borrowing potential. If you seek reassurance, this initial step is key!
During this stage, we review your mortgage application, supporting documents, and credit reports to ensure they will successfully support a mortgage approval. We also identify the best lenders and rates that align with your specific needs, positioning you for a smooth approval process. This is the step that will usually take you the most time and effort. The “heavy-lifting” on your part will be locating and submitting the required documents to support a mortgage application. Once we have a complete application with supporting documents we are ready for pre-approval.
Initial Discovery and Application Preparation
Pre-Approval and Lender Underwriting
Final Steps: Lawyer Meeting and Closing
This will take 1 day or more depending on the complexity.
At this stage, you are not committed to any lender, even if we secure a rate hold. A pre-approval simply reflects a temporary condition for a specific loan amount and rate, as long as your financial situation and the market remain un-changed.
A pre-approval gives you the confidence to move forward, knowing your budget will help you & your realtor narrow your search and offers great negotiating benefit in an aggressive market.
This typically takes an average of 7-10 days from date of formal submission. When you have an accepted offer on a property, we submit your application and all supporting documents to the lender, who assesses your eligibility and conditions. The 4 key factors that lenders take into consideration are your income, your credit, your downpayment and property being purchased.
Receiving a Committment typically takes 1-4 days from lender approval. The lender issues a conditional commitment, outlining any additional requirements that need to be met for full approval. We work together to fulfill these requirements in timely manner.
About 2 weeks prior to funding your lawyer will receive mortgage instructions from the lender to prepare and register the mortgage with the Land Titles Office, and in the case of a purchase, to transfer the title of the property to you. You will be asked to set up an appointment to meet with your lawyer to sign papers, provide your down payment and closing costs, confirm adequate home fire insurance, and satisfy any remaining “solicitor conditions” (for example, to pay off a debt that you said you would pay off).
