I recently closed a transaction for a nice couple who buying a home in Edmonds. They had been working with a large bank for almost a month and they were not able to provide loan approval. My clients forwarded me their loan package from this bank and it was amazing to see what a poor job they did completing the loan application. So much information was missing or miscalculated with their incomes.  After reading this article in the Seattle PI stating that 25% of loan applications taken by large lenders were declined, I have to wonder how many of those applicants are self-employed borrowers in the same boat as my clients? I would also love to know the experience levels of the mortgage originators who were ap-takers trying to originator those declined loans.  I’m coming to the conclusion that many mortgage originators, processors and underwriters heavily relied on stated income loans for self-employed borrowers because they were easier to process. [Read more…]