You are approved, the offer is accepted, and closing is three weeks out. This is the window where people lose houses, almost always for avoidable reasons.
Your approval was based on a snapshot of your finances. Lenders re-verify before closing — often re-pulling credit and re-checking employment within days of funding. Anything that has changed can change the decision.
Do not buy a car
This is the classic, and it happens constantly. A new car payment changes your debt-to-income ratio, which is usually the exact number your approval was sitting against. People finance a vehicle to celebrate the house and lose the house.
The same applies to financing furniture, appliances or anything else. Twelve months interest free is still a monthly obligation on your credit report. Buy it after you have the keys.
Do not open or close credit accounts
New accounts mean new inquiries and new obligations. Closing old ones can raise your credit utilization and drop your score. Neither helps. The store card offering 15% off at the till is not worth it right now.
Do not move money around
Underwriters need to source your funds. Transfers between accounts, large deposits, cash deposits and payments from friends all create questions, and every question is another document request and another delay.
If you must move money, keep a clean paper trail and tell your loan officer first. Cash deposits are the worst offenders — cash is almost impossible to source to an underwriter’s satisfaction.
Do not change jobs if you can avoid it
Lenders want stable, verifiable income. A new job — even a better one — resets that picture, and moving from salary to commission or self-employment is especially disruptive. If a change is unavoidable, tell your lender before you resign, not after.
Do not miss a payment
On anything. A single late payment during this window can move your score enough to affect your rate, or your approval.
Do not ignore your lender
Underwriting will ask for documents, sometimes repeatedly, sometimes for things you have already sent. It is tedious. Answer quickly anyway. Most closing delays we see come down to a document that sat in someone’s inbox for four days.
The simple version
From accepted offer to keys in hand, change nothing. Same job, same accounts, same debts, same spending patterns. Be boring for three weeks.
If something does change — a job offer, an inheritance, a family gift, an unexpected bill — tell your loan officer and tell us. Problems disclosed early are usually solvable. Problems discovered by an underwriter two days before closing often are not.