Chitownproperty

Sale ain’t over till it’s closed — chicagotribune.com

You already knew that technically, your house wasn’t sold until you left the closing table and handed over the keys. But if you did sell your home in the past few years, you probably closed the deal mentally as soon as the buyer signed the contract.

Not so these days, as this article in the Tribune points out. The credit crisis means that buyers can have their formal mortgage application turned down at the last minute, even if they had already been pre-approved for that amount. Risks for the lender can shift based on the borrower’s income, credit, and the property’s location, and now that lenders are meticulously analyzing every mortgage, any one of those could unexpectedly derail a deal. Potential buyers would be wise to check with their mortgage broker or bank frequently throughout the purchasing process, and take action to shore up any weaknesses in their resume, like putting down a larger down payment.