Clear To Close In 2 Weeks Or Less Mortgage Process

This BLOG On Clear To Close In 2 Weeks Or Less Mortgage Process Was UPDATED And PUBLISHED On February 17th, 2020

I run into situations where a home buyer contacts me to tell me that they have just got denied for a mortgage loan. Borrowers go a last minute mortgage denial from a lender at the last minute and need to know how fast I can get them approved and closed.

• I often get about a dozen requests like these every year
• The most recent rush request I had, I had the mortgage loan closed in 14 days from the day I received the signed completed mortgage application and the requested documents back

In this article, we will discuss and cover how to get a clear to close on a mortgage and close in less than 3 weeks.

How The Mortgage Works

Every lender handles their mortgage approval process differently and their timeline is different.

• Some lenders will take longer to process and underwrite a file than others
• For example, lender A may take 3 to 5 business days to process a loan submitted to the underwriter
• It may take an additional 5 to 7 days for the underwriter to review it and issue an approval
• Just these two processes alone are 2 weeks into the mortgage process
• The appraisal needs to be ordered after conditional approval from the underwriter
• The appraisal process can take another 7 days
• After getting a conditional approval, it may take a day or two if not more to gather all the conditions and provide it to the mortgage processor
• The mortgage processor then submits it back to underwriting
• This may take another 5 to 7 days for them to review conditions
• If all the conditions are met, then a clear to close can be issued
• But the chances are there may be another round of conditions
• If another round of conditions is requested by the mortgage underwriter, then it will take another 5 to 7 days for the underwriter to re-review the new sets of conditions that have been requested
• The mortgage approval process can take a while

Mortgage loan closings can get delayed if the mortgage process does not go smoothly.

The Turnaround Times From Pre-Approval To CTC

Ask mortgage loan originator what the turnaround times are for processing, approval, and conditions. Clear To Close In 2 Weeks Or Less is possible on all files as long as the processor and loan officer has packaged up the file correctly without missing documents and/or missing pages of documents. Clear To Close In 2 Weeks Or Less needs borrower’s cooperation of borrowers as well.

• Ask how long their company takes to process mortgage at their company
• Every mortgage lender has different turnaround times
• Some mortgage companies will process a mortgage loan the minute the completed mortgage application and required documents are provided to the mortgage loan originator
• Other mortgage companies will time stamp the completed mortgage package and will be placed in a bin
• Might take anywhere between 24 hours to 72 hours before the mortgage processor gets to the mortgage loan package
• Once the mortgage processor has completed processing the mortgage package, it then gets submitted to the underwriting department
• It may take anywhere between 24 hours to 72 hours before it gets assigned to an underwriter
• If the underwriter issues a conditional approval, the conditions is what can delay the clear to close
• The underwriter will send the file back to the processor with the conditional approval
• It is the mortgage processor’s job to provide all the conditions
• The mortgage processor will then gather all the conditions requested from borrowers and submit them back to the underwriter
• If all the conditions are met, then a clear to close will be issued

If there are any missing documents and/or pages from the documents requested, then it gets kicked back to the processor and this is where delays happen.

How Can A Mortgage Application Get A Clear To Close In 2 Weeks Or Less?

To get a clear to close and funded in two weeks or less is never a guarantee but definitely doable.

• Everyone’s cooperation is needed and no delays on conditions can happen
• To do a 2-week close, borrowers need to cooperate with satisfying conditions when requested
• First, all mortgage loan documents must be complete with no pages misssing

All of the following documents cannot be out of order or have missing pages:

• two years tax returns
• two years W-2s
• 60 days bank statements
• recent paycheck stubs
• other documents must be complete with no pages missing and processed in one day

On day two the processor will submit the mortgage package to the underwriting department and make sure it gets assigned to an underwriter:

• At the same time, the processor will order a rush on the appraisal
• This should take no more than three days
• By day three, we should get a conditional approval
• Conditions should be minimal

While waiting for the appraisal, the mortgage  processor will work on conditions such as the following:

• title
• insurance
• other internal items necessary to prepare for the closing

Once the appraisal gets back, the mortgage processor will submit the final conditions as well as the appraisal back to the underwriter for a clear to close:

• The underwriter will take 24 hours to review the final conditions and issue a clear to close
• Once we get clear to close, we should be able to schedule the closing the following day
• If we get clear to close early in the morning, the mortgage loan can close and fund the same day

The above is a real case scenario and situations like these happen.

However, delays can happen in the event if the underwriter comes back with additional conditions that need to be satisfied, the appraisal comes back with issues, or there is a cloud on the title.

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