The documents your lender will ask for, listed by program, plus longer guides for the situation you are in.
Every Houston lender asks for the same four things: proof of who you are, proof of what you earn, proof of what you have, and proof of what you owe. What changes is how you prove the income. A W-2 borrower brings pay stubs and tax returns. A self-employed borrower brings bank statements instead. An investor buying a rental brings the lease and nothing personal at all. Pick the situation below that sounds like you and you get the actual list.
It depends on how you earn your income. Pick the one that sounds like you and you get the actual list, plus the part that usually slows people down. Everything here comes off a page on this site, nothing is guessed at. Not sure which program fits you? Find your program in two questions.
If you are on a W-2 and your income documents cleanly, this is the list to have ready before you apply.
Three things hold up a W-2 file more than anything else, and they are bank statements with pages missing, a large deposit that does not match your normal payroll and has no paper trail, and a job or industry change in the middle of the process. Send every page of every statement, including the blank ones, and write a short note explaining anything unusual before an underwriter has to ask for it.
Read conventional loans in Houston, or the full conventional document guide. Buying with FHA instead? See FHA loan requirements.
If your write-offs make your tax return show less than you actually earn, this is the list that replaces it.
The CPA letter is what delays these closings, because most people wait until underwriting asks for it. Request it before your first call.
Read bank statement loans in Houston, or the full bank statement program checklist.
If you are paid on 1099 forms rather than a W-2, this is what a lender asks you for.
The lender totals the gross income on your 1099s and applies a fixed expense ratio to it, so you are not documenting every deduction line by line, which is the part people expect to be hard and is not. What does slow it down is a deposit that does not tie back to a 1099, so have a short explanation ready for anything unusual in your account.
Read 1099 mortgages in Houston or bank statement loans in Houston.
Your personal income is not part of this file, so most of the list is about the property rather than about you.
Association dues are the quiet one. They sit inside the PITIA that the rent is measured against, so a property that would otherwise clear the ratio can fall under it once high monthly dues are counted, which is worth running before you make an offer rather than after. On a refinance, lenders also want the property seasoned for a minimum number of months before they will place a new loan on it.
Read DSCR loans in Houston.
You do not need a Social Security number or a US credit history, so the file gets built from what you do have.
Alternative credit is where these files stall, because a bank reference letter from an overseas bank takes longer to get than anything else on the list, so start that request first. If you have rental history, verification of it helps the file, and a non-resident co-borrower needs their own documentation appropriate to their residency status.
Read foreign national loans in Houston or ITIN loans in Houston.
Medical careers start in a way a standard underwrite does not expect, so your contract usually matters more than your pay stub.
Practice debt sitting on your personal credit report is the one that surprises people. Fannie Mae guideline B3-6-05 lets us exclude it with 12 months of canceled company checks or business bank statements showing the business made those payments with no delinquencies in that window, and a practice under a year old simply cannot document that yet. It is solvable, but you want to know about it before you write an offer rather than after.
Read doctor mortgages in Houston or physician mortgages across Texas.
These go deeper than a document list. Each one walks through a full situation from where you are now to the closing table.
Everything you need to go from "thinking about buying" to pre-approved. Credit scores, down payment options, documents, and a step-by-step timeline.
Get the checklist →For business owners, contractors, and freelancers. Documents you need, how income is calculated, and the 5 mistakes that cause denial.
Get the checklist →Zero down payment, zero PMI, and reusable for life. See how VA loans compare to FHA and conventional, plus the documents you need to get started.
Get the checklist →One lender said no. That does not mean you cannot buy. Alternative programs, down payment assistance, and what to prepare before your next application.
Get the checklist →Bank statement loans for nail salon owners, restaurant owners, and auto shop owners in Houston. Real numbers and bilingual service in Vietnamese and English.
Get the guide →Not sure which checklist is right for you?
Call Brandon at 832-997-1527 or book a free 15-minute call.