Step-by-Step Process When Purchasing a Home With
A Mortgage And You Are Working With The Best—A Mortgage Sister!
Step 1: Get Pre-Approved
Meet with your mortgage broker to review your qualifying details/pre-approval.
We do our pre-approvals in 4 clear and comprehensive steps:
- Introductory Call– this is about 15-20 min. In this phone call we will find out more about your situation, so that we can provide insight and the next steps.
- Application– this is our intake form. It is a user friendly online application that you can use on a phone, tablet or computer
- Document collection– these will be specific to your application, which we will request when we sent out the application link. We have invested in a secure portal for you to provide your documentation safely and conveniently.
- Meeting to Review your options and go over your purchasing power.
We will then provide you with a pre-approval letter and you can start house hunting with confidence.
We work with fantastic real estate professionals and will happily refer our trusted partners!
Step 2: Start House Hunting
- Work with a REALTOR® to find a home within your budget.
- Make an offer once you’ve found the one!
- Let your Mortgage Sister know immediately that you are “pending” with an accepted purchase agreement. Once we know you are pending we will let you know what additional documents need to be provided to submit for your mortgage approval.
💡 Tip:
Include your buyers conditions in the contract and ensure you have allowed sufficient time to be able to meet those conditions.
Discuss your conditions and the dates with your REALTOR® and refer back to your Mortgage Sister (mortgage broker) if needed.
When you need a mortgage loan to buy the home, you should include a financing condition in your purchase contract, as your lender will have to approve the property, possibly appraise the property and do their due diligence while reviewing your income, credit, and down payment documentation. This takes time and while they will always try to process your approval with the dates provided; during busy market seasons, it may take the lenders underwriting center longer to provide their approval when they are handling a large volume of files.
Step 3: Offer Accepted — Prepare Your Approval to Submit To The Best Mortgage Lender To Meet Your Financing Needs
- Send the accepted offer, MLS listing, and any other required docs to your mortgage broker.
- We will finalize the details of the application, and with your purchase contract, MLS and income documents we will be able to submit to the lenders underwriting center for your approval.
Your broker will submit and communicate directly with the chosen lenders underwriting center. Once the file is submitted it can take a few days for the underwriter to provide the commitment (which is the conditional approval). In busy market seasons, it can take even a few days longer as most lenders underwriting teams will be handling large volumes of mortgage requests.
Step 4: Receive your Commitment
The commitment is issued by your lender when they have approved your mortgage. It outlines the terms and conditions of the mortgage approval. If additional conditions have been requested, they will be listed on the commitment.
💡Tip:
Please be prepared to act quickly to new documentation requests. In the process of documentation review, conditions can change. While this can be frustrating; compliance and due diligence are a very necessary aspect of lending.
Step 5: Meet All Conditions
- Provide any additional documents that is requested in the commitment as conditions of your approval.
- Appraisals may be ordered (if conditioned by the lender)
💡 Tip:
Your broker will work with you to help you meet all conditions for final approval. With Mortgage Sisters West, we refer to this stage as “File or Broker Complete”. This stage indicates that you have met the lender conditions for your approval , so that your file can now be instructed to your lawyer.
Step 6: Final Approval.
Once all conditions are met, the underwriter instructs their funding department (including their legal department) to provide Mortgage Instructions to your lawyer. With some lenders, your lawyer will not be instructed until all previous underwriting conditions on your commitment have been met (Step 5).
This is when our heavy lifting in arranging your mortgage financing is complete and your file will then move to your lawyer to complete their conditions and to prepare for your closing date.
💡Tip:
If you are going to be out of town, please let your lawyer and broker know as signing appointments are required to be done in person and on Canadian soil. If you need a special exception you will need to be transparent about this early in the approval process.
Step 7: Insurance
Once you have officially purchased your property —by waiving all of your borrower conditions on your purchase contract— you’ll need to arrange the required and recommended insurance coverages. These are most common to be:
1. Home Insurance
2. Life and Disability Insurance
Step 8: Meet with Your Lawyer 🧑⚖️
- Your lawyer prepares the legal documents, Statement of Adjustments, and handles closing details.
- Their team will reach out to you to tell you what to bring to their office as well as to book your signing appointment where you sign your legal documents.
- You’ll sign your mortgage documents and provide the remaining down payment + closing costs.
Step 9: Possession Day! 🎉
- Your lawyer transfers funds to the seller’s lawyer, and the home is officially yours.
- You get the keys from your REALTOR® and move in!
Step 10: Welcome Package from Your Lender 📦
- A Welcome Package provides details about your mortgage, first payment date, and how to access your account online.
💡 Pro Tip:
Stay in close communication with your mortgage broker, lawyer, and realtor throughout the process. Quick responses keep everything moving smoothly!
Mortgage Sisters West- we love what we do!
We are mortgage brokers who serve all of Alberta, with a focus on our local Edmonton, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, Fort Saskatchewan, Spruce Grove, Stony Plain, Beaumont, Leduc and surrounding areas.
We are mortgage brokers franchised with our National Brokerage— Mortgage Architects, and can broker your mortgage in other provinces as well. We would love to work with you!
