Miscalculated income nearly derails purchase

Property: Single-family home in Santa Rosa. Price: $420,000. First loan amount: $320,000. First loan terms: 4.25 percent 30-year fixed, no points, Freddie Mac. Backstory: Persistence pays off. In this case, determination assists a buyer who was told her income did not meet requirements. After six months of making offers, the client (who was working with a mortgage broker) was not able to qualify and was ready to do anything to turn things around. After she found her dream home, she was informed the broker had miscalculated her selfemployment income. In a final act of desperation, the client was prepared to turn in her car as an early lease return to get her expenses within an acceptable range.

The client’s Realtor contacted First California’s Paul Olbrantz, who met with her the same evening. Olbrantz was able to determine that the 70-year-old’s retirement account could be used for an income distribution account. Due to a recent change to Freddie Mac underwriting guidelines, the borrower simply required proof the monthly distribution is set up, rather than the previous rules — which required three months of receipts.

The client called her retirement account adviser on Monday and had the paperwork done. The application-to-preapproval step took only three days, and she got her offer accepted on a house within the loan parameters five days later. From application to closing, the entire process took 21 days, even with the bank holiday of Veterans Day and a long Thanksgiving weekend, for a total of only 14 business days. Even a driveway repair didn’t slow down the process; a contractor was sent to the house and the repair was made at no cost to the client to keep the wheels in motion. Paul Olbrantz, First California Mortgage, (707) 494-7017, polbrantz@firstcal.net.