Your loan officer will take your application either over the phone or in person. He will collect your financial information.... checkstubs, bankstatements, W-2's, Stocks, Bonds. If you are self employed he will need you taxes.

After he has collected all your information he is basically done. Most companies then have a processer do the rest of the work. Desktop Underwriting is becoming very popular. They just enter your information into the computer and your approval or decline takes a few seconds. The computer prints out a list of conditions to include in the file.

The processor now takes the list of conditions and places them in the file. This is usually when you get a phone call from the loan officer or processer saying they need something else.

The processor now schedules a closing at an attorney's (not representing you but the lender) or a closing company. . Some states require to close at attorney's, that's a whole other scam. The closing company orders a title search, this traces the line of ownership of the property. The processor should have collected all you loan conditions and sent them to the lender or underwriter. The lender then sends a final package to the closing company. They get everything ready for you to sign and they figure out how much to put into a escrow account for your taxes and insurance. Hint: You don't have to have an escrow account on all loans. Ask? Usually if you put down as little as 10% you don't have too.

The process is not that complacated but the number of people that are working on your file really increases a screw up. Here's a list of how many people might work on your file

1. Loan Officer

2. Processor

3. Appraisor

4. Underwriter

5. Closing department to send out final package

6. Title examiner

7.Closing company

Seems like a lot of people don't worry you're paying all of them.