How We Got a Client Approved When No One Else Could

   So what did we have? We had a client who came to me via an agent from the very beginning. I had a great conversation with this client and his fiance. They were looking to purchase a house. He was the borrower, she was the co-borrower. She was looking to relocate and move back down here in about a year. And so that was going to work as his primary residency, but when I pulled credit and got into all the details, they didn't qualify. His credit scores weren't high enough to get them there.
   So, what did I do? I told him that we could use her as the main purchaser, have her buy it as a second home. There was very solid documentation of them, fiance, traveling back and forth to Dallas. So all of that made sense and was going to work from an underwriting perspective. That was going to require a 10% down product, but they were looking to only put 5% down. So, a couple of days went by, another week went by and I didn't hear from them, continued to check in with him in the agent. And ultimately, they said that they went with Rocket Mortgage because Rocket told them they could put 5% down, and yes, they would treat it as a primary residency just in her name.

   Well, guess what? We're about 15 days from closing, and they call me back. Oh my gosh. Rocket told them that it was going to be an investment home. Now they have to put 20 to 25% down. Yeah, not going to work for them. So what did I do? How did I fix this? Went back to my original assessment and original strategy, which was, "Guys, you're going to have to put 10% down, this is a second home. That's the only way to get this thing financed." They had a conversation, talked about it, and ultimately, that's what they're doing is they're putting 10% down, we're treating it as a second home, and we're going to get that loan closed on time for them.
   So, just some word of advice there guys, make sure that as loan officers just don't tell the customer what they want to hear, do your due diligence. Make sure you understand the whole scenario before you just get somebody excited about getting a loan with 5% down so you can get them in their pipeline. Look at it, tell them what it's going to be, and know your guidelines. Agents, just make be careful. Be sure that you're understanding the pre-approvals that are being issued, who's been issuing those pre-approvals, and consult with your clients and make sure that they understand, hey, local is better. All right? Cheers, take care. Enjoy the winter wonderland out there.