If you are a borrower who is eligible for the first time home-buyer credit or the “move up credit” you must close before June 30, 2010, NO EXCEPTIONS!  If you loan is not already in process it is highly unlikely that you can get into process at this late date and close, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.  If you are in process you should be checking in on:

Hvae you recieved your initial commitment letter?  If so carefully review the conditions on it and be on the lookout for these common conditions:

  1. Appraisal-has it been ordered, received, and reviewed by the underwriter for acceptability? 
  2. Are there any mandated repairs called out for on the house by the underwriter or the appraiser?
  3. Title Work-has your mortgage broker received the title work to the house?  In New York this can be a time consuming mission.  The sellers attorney prepares title, and arranges for “clean title”.  The Seller’s attorney “hands off” the title work to the buyers attorney who reviews it for the buyer and also simultaneously prepares title insurance policy.  This title insurance policy and title work is “handed off” to the bank attorney who reviews the documents and submits it to the bank or broker for review by the bank underwriter.  Any old estates that were not properly cleared, leases etc can cause a delay by the seller in providing clean title.
  4. Have you reviewed the commitment letter for any conditions (documents you the borrower need to provide) i.e. bank statements, letters of explanation etc.?
  5. Have you bound your home owners insurance and obtained a paid receipt and policy binder showing the bank as mortgagee?

There are many more items that could be on an approval, and the above are just a guide of some of the possible open items.  You should check in with the processor whom is handling your file and see how things are coming.  Please remember that most banks require that ALL documents called out for on the commitment letter must be in place before they will be reviewed by an underwriter, so just one document missing can hold your file up from final review.  Also many times in “final review” a document that was submitted in this stage could cause additional questions to arise, that could take some time to answer.  The moral of this posting?  Call your processor and see where your file stands….