The paperwork, sorted once instead of chased for weeks.

Document gathering causes more delay in a mortgage than underwriting does, and almost all of it's avoidable. The pattern is familiar: a generic checklist arrives listing every document any borrower has ever needed, the borrower sends what they think applies, review uncovers a gap, another request goes out, and a week disappears in three rounds of correspondence that a single properly scoped list would have prevented. The problem isn't the volume of paperwork. It's being asked for it in instalments.

The Ones People Get Caught By

A few items catch people out repeatedly and are worth knowing about in advance. Deposits that don't obviously correspond to your income need a paper trail, so a private car sale or a family transfer requires explanation and evidence rather than merely a balance. Gift funds have specific requirements, including a letter and evidence of the transfer, and the money frequently needs to arrive before closing rather than at it. Self-employed borrowers usually need business returns as well as personal, and often a current profit and loss. All statements must be complete, including the pages that appear to be blank, because a page marked four of five with the fifth missing gets rejected on sight. Knowing which of these apply to your situation before you start is the difference between one afternoon of gathering and three weeks of back-and-forth.