New Underwriting Guidelines-Here we go again!

In the last several weeks lenders have been instituting a new policy.

Once a loan is submitted to a lender it typically takes about 5-7 business days for an underwriter to review the file and then provide a list of conditions they require (no matter what you give them they ALWAYS ask for something). The loan officer then collects the necessary documentation and resubmits it to the underwriter for sign off.
Going forward the underwriter will no longer review the resubmitted conditions on a loan until they have all the conditions, everything they requested which will also now include the TITLE. Typically once the loan has been underwritten and the Loan Officer receives a conditional approval the title is ordered. Now it must be ordered as soon as you take an application or you will lose valuable time in underwriting.

There can also now be a problem with Earnest Money Deposits. Here is a scenario.

The buyer makes an offer which is accepted. The buyer then writes a check (or two, if one was presented with the Offer to Purchase and one with the signing of the P & S) for the earnest money deposit.
It was always necessary to provide a copy of the cancelled check(s) before closing, verifying it came from the buyer's account and has cleared. Because of the new guidelines just instituted the buyer would now have to know when the check(s) were deposited because they will have to go to their bank as soon as possible and get a printout showing the check(s) has actually cleared. Since the underwriters will no longer review conditions until they have them ALL, including the Earnest Money Deposits checks having cleared, this can affect the closing date.

Realtors should consider having the buyer get one certified bank check for the down payment, have the bank print out a statement showing the withdrawal was made from the buyer's account, and make a copy of it, all at the same time. In this way your buyer will not have to wait to get proof any check cleared before the loan can be resubmitted.

On FHA loans get the HUD Amendatory form signed by everyone as soon as possible. This is also a standard condition on FHA loans so this can also potentially delay your closings.

Any documentation you need to obtain from the buyer or seller should be done as quickly as possible.
Loans are now taking a ridiculous amount of time to close and anything you can do to speed up the process should not be overlooked.