Seven Mistakes That Can Kill Your Home Purchase Before Closing

<p>Imagine spending six months searching for a home.</p><p>You finally find it.</p><p>The seller accepts your offer. You deposit the earnest money. The inspection is completed. The appraisal comes back. You give notice to your landlord, schedule the moving company and tell your family that you are buying a house.</p><p>Then, four days before closing, your lender calls.</p><p>There is a problem.</p><p>The lender discovered a new $900 monthly truck payment.</p><p>Or your employer says you gave notice because you are starting a new job after closing.</p><p>Or your bank statements contain a mysterious $25,000 cash deposit that cannot be properly documented.</p><p>Or the furniture you purchased for the new house pushed your credit-card balance high enough to change your credit score or debt-to-income ratio.</p><p>And suddenly, the mortgage you believed was approved must be re-underwritten—or can no longer be approved at all.</p><p>The buyer is shocked.</p><p>“I was already preapproved.”</p><p>Yes—but you were preapproved based on the income, employment, credit, debt and assets that existed when the lender evaluated you.</p><p>A preapproval is not a lifetime membership.</p><p>It is a conditional financial snapshot.</p><p>If the picture changes, the answer can change.</p>