Inspection negotiations can change a purchase price and seller concessions fast. Learn why your processor needs the signed addendum before the appraisal is complete.

An adult child may be able to buy a home for an aging parent as a principal-residence transaction, even without living there. Here is how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac handle the exception, what needs to be documented, and why the borrower still has to qualify carrying both housing payments.

Same credit file, different calculations. FICO vs VantageScore 4.0 comes down to how each model evaluates balances, payment trends, collections, and credit history. Here’s what loan officers should understand before assuming a different score means a better result.

Fannie Mae VOE requirements now leave more discretion to lenders. Most wholesale policies probably won’t change overnight, but the updated wording could help when a file is stuck over a specific documentation requirement. Here’s what to ask underwriting to review.

Your mortgage processor should take work off your plate. Here’s how Make Sense Processing handles initial disclosures, client and third-party communication, closing documents, and the final handoff to your LOS.

FHA wants to change its property rules, from attic access and utilities to manufactured-home certifications and local standards. Here’s what’s proposed, where I stand, and how to weigh in. These are proposals, not current guidelines.

Starting December 1, Fannie Mae will require six months of reserves on a departing residence when your borrower has less than 12 months of property management experience. Leases are out and market rent is in, but the reserves are the change that will decide whether these files close.

Your underwriter keeps quoting a guideline that doesn't apply, and the email in your head has a few four-letter words in it. Send that, and you get the script. Here's what to send instead so a manager actually reads it.

Initial underwriting comes back asking about a child support deduction nobody put on the 1003. Here's how to ask about child support on the first call, what Fannie, Freddie, and FHA need to count it as income, and how it hits the DTI when the borrower pays it, with the guide language quoted.

One report for every property type, rent built into the order, and condition rated room by room. The value method didn't change. The file around it did, starting with your pre-approval.

Your processor takes a week off and your file gets an auto-reply. We put at least two processors on every account, so the backup who picks it up already knows you, your borrower, and exactly where the file stands.

Per Diem, Stipend, and Reimbursement Income for Mortgage files get misread when the paystub label becomes the whole analysis. “Stipend,” “per diem,” “allowance,” and “reimbursement” are payroll labels. Underwriting is trying to answer a different question: is this money the borrower can use however they want, or is it money the employer pays back because the borrower has to spend it doing their job? Start with the document, not the paystub The paystub tells you the payment ex