What Loan Officers Look for in an Ideal Borrower
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What Loan Officers Look for in an Ideal Borrower
When loan officers look for mortgage leads and the ideal borrower, there are a few essential qualifications that they look for. The process of buying a home can be made a lot simpler if you know how to work with a loan officer and get approved for your loan.
Loan officers are constantly finding new leads, whether it’s through word of mouth, research, referrals, or even from a mortgage lead generation company that connects them with people looking for a home loan. If you want to maximize your chances of getting approved for a home loan, it's best to look at it from the mortgage loan originator's perspective.
How Mortgage Leads Turn into the Ideal Borrower
When loan officers look for ideal borrowers, they are generally pretty picky because they don’t want to waste their time. If you fit the criteria, your approval process will be faster, and you'll take some of the worry out of the process of buying a home. Below is the main criteria that loan officers will look for in a borrower.
Income
A steady income is a huge signifier that you would be a qualified borrower. It shows that you have enough money coming in and can pay back the loan over time. Your income can come through an hourly wage, salary wage, commision, or even retirement, as long as it’s enough to cover the payment and still have plenty left over for other costs of living.
Debt
It’s okay to have debt, just make sure you’re working to pay off your debt in a timely manner. Lenders will look at your debt-to-income ratio, meaning they want to see if you make more or equal to the amount you owe every month. So as long as you’re able to make your current payments on time and save up enough to cover the cost of the loan plus living expenses, you should be in good shape.
Documentation
Lenders look for borrowers that come prepared with all of their paperwork filled out and documents in order. This helps move the process along faster and it’s less work for both of you down the road. Make sure to provide all the necessary financial documents (tax returns, bank account statements, utility bills, government IDs, etc.) so there aren’t any setbacks or delays when it gets processed.
Steps to Become an Ideal Borrower
If you currently aren’t an ideal borrower then there are steps you can take to ensure you get there.
Make a plan: Know exactly what you need to get the process moving and set a deadline for yourself to get started.
Talk to a lender: By reaching out to a lender, you can learn a lot about the process and get their insight on how to qualify.
Get pre approved: Pre approval will let you know the amount that you qualify for and steps you need to take next if you don’t get approved.
Fill out all of your documentation: You should gather all of the correct documentation and fill it out before you meet with your lender.
Pay down your current debt: Continue to pay off your current debt so you have more money in the long run and you show the lender that you’re a responsible borrower.
Save money: You should always spend wisely and add to your savings account on a regular basis. Ideally, you should have 3-6 months worth of payments saved up in case of emergency.
Once you’ve completed the steps above, you should be in good shape to connect with a loan officer. These steps will make the process easier and guarantee approval when you’re ready to buy a home.
Elevated Perspective Marketing
This guest blog is written by Abby Hackmann with Elevated Perspective Marketing, a lead generation and marketing company that has been in business for 25 years helping lenders find eligible, verified, and 100% exclusive mortgage leads.
