Underwriting Under Pressure
When a business has existed for UNDER 5 years you need this many years of Tax Returns for a FNMA/Freddie Loan.
What is 2 years?
The percentage of US homeowners who have mortgage rates below 5%.
What is about 69-73%?
This is the exact number of borrowers who swear they’ll “read every page” of their closing disclosure.
What is zero?
This is how long Fannie Mae makes you wait after a Chapter 13 when using DU… depending on whether it ended nicely or badly.
What are 2 years after a discharge and 4 years after a dismissal?
This is the marketing tool LOs always claim they’re “definitely going to use this time,” right before ignoring it completely.
What is Outreach?
When a business has existed for OVER 5 years you need this many years of Tax Returns for an FHA Loan.
What is 2 years?
The percentage of mortgages that Fannie and Freddie own?
What is 70%
This is the percentage of homebuyers who say they understand APR… and absolutely do not.
What is 98%?
This is the magical moment when a self‑employed borrower actually gets to use only one year of tax returns without the underwriter aging 10 years in the process.
What is when they’ve been self‑employed for 5+ years, income is stable or increasing, and DU/LP says “Sure, why not”?
This is the number of social media posts an LO creates after attending a “How to Grow Your Business on Instagram” workshop.
What is zero?
If a third party WVOE is in a file, this many days of Paystubs are required for an FHA Loan?
What is 0/none?
The percentage of homes in Phoenix metro that are owned by investors.
What is 20-25%
This is the scientifically proven number of seconds it takes a borrower to forget their interest rate after locking it.
What is 7 seconds?
This is the maximum Interested Party Contribution (seller credits) allowed on a conventional investment property — because investors apparently need to suffer.
What is 2%?
This is the marketing technique LOs rely on most, despite every expert telling them it’s not a real strategy.
What is just being nice?
A borrower must have received commission for this amount of time to be considered as qualifying income for a FNMA/Freddie loan.
What is at least 12 months?
This is the average annual mortgage rate from 1971-2025.
What is 7.74%?
This is the average number of times a borrower asks if rates will drop right after locking at the monthly low.
What is 14?
This is what a borrower needs if they want to use rent from their old home to qualify — you know, instead of just “trust me, I’ll rent it.”
What is 75% of market rent (1007/1025) AND either 30% equity OR a signed 12‑month lease plus security deposit/first month’s rent?
This is the reason most LOs give for not making videos, even though their phone camera is perfectly fine.
What is “I need a ring light, a script, a new haircut, and maybe a whole production crew”?
This amount of 30-day-late mortgage payments in the past 12 months disqualifies a borrower from an FHA Manual Underwrite.
What is 2x30 day lates?
As of late 2025, US homeowners owe roughly this much in mortgages.
What is $13 trillion?
This is the percentage of appraisers who “promise to be done tomorrow” when they absolutely won’t be.
What is 112%?
This is what an underwriter can do when a business had one giant, weird, “ignore that, it’ll never happen again” expense.
What is add it back to income with a CPA letter and documentation proving it’s non‑recurring (subject to AUS and guides)?
This is the type of social media post LOs create when they finally decide to “get serious about branding.”
What is a client testimonial?