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The documents, terms, and moving parts every borrower should understand first.
Page by page through the LE — what each fee is, which ones you can shop, and which numbers should make you ask hard questions before you sign.
They sound interchangeable, and some lenders use them that way — but one is a guess and the other is a vetted, conditional approval — not a commitment to lend. Here's what each actually means, and which one a seller cares about.
Approval isn't a one-time snapshot — lenders re-check before closing. The financial moves that can sink a deal in process: new debt, inquiries, job changes, big purchases, and undocumented money.
Student loans rarely disqualify you — it comes down to the monthly payment a lender counts in your DTI, and the surprising way $0 and deferred payments get handled.
Your down payment doesn't have to be all your own savings — but the source matters. Why gifts are usually fine, unsecured borrowed money usually isn't, and where the line falls.
Cash kept at home can't be used as-is, because a lender can't see where it came from. How sourcing and seasoning work — and how to turn 'mattress money' into qualifying funds.
You agreed on a price; the appraisal comes back different. Why your loan is based on the lower of the two, what a low appraisal means, and the options to close the gap.
Your rate didn't change — your escrow did. What's really in your payment, why escrow climbs, how an escrow shortage hits twice, and the new-build surprise that catches first-year owners.
Support payments cut both ways — received, they can be income; paid, they're a debt. Whether you have to disclose them, how each affects your DTI, and the cases where an ending obligation gets excluded.
Buying in a new area adds wrinkles local buyers never face — mostly around whether your new income holds up and whether your intent to live there is believable. How offer letters, transfers, and occupancy work.