Every document you'll be asked for

Underwriting is a document-gathering exercise. The files that close in three weeks are not the ones with better borrowers — they are the ones where the documents arrived quickly.

Scan these into one folder now and you remove the main source of delay.

Everyone

• Photo ID — driver's licence or passport
• Two most recent pay stubs — covering 30 days
• Two years of W-2s
• Two months of bank statements — every page, including the blank ones
• Two years of tax returns — all schedules, if you are asked

If you're self-employed or 1099

• Two years of personal and business tax returns, all schedules
• Year-to-date profit and loss statement
• Business bank statements — 12 or 24 months if using a bank statement program
• Business licence or incorporation documents

More detail on how this income is actually read in the self-employed section.

If you're newer to the country

• Passport with current visa stamp
• I-94 — most recent printout from the CBP website
• EAD card, front and back, if you have one
• I-797 approval notice, if applicable
• Employment verification letter confirming you are in good standing

If family is helping

• Gift letter, signed, stating the funds are a gift and not a loan
• Donor's bank statement showing the funds
• Transfer record — the wire or transfer confirmation

The gift funds guide covers the overseas case, which has extra steps.

Three things people get wrong

Sending screenshots instead of statements. Underwriting needs the full statement as the bank issues it — with your name, account number, the institution's name, and every page. A screenshot of a balance is not a statement, and it will be sent back.

Moving money before closing. Any deposit that is not obviously payroll needs to be explained and documented. Transferring savings between your own accounts is fine but creates work. Do it before you apply, not during.

Changing anything about your employment. Starting a new job, switching from W-2 to contract, or taking an unpaid leave between approval and closing can undo the approval. Tell me before you do it, not after.

A word on "why do you need this again"

You will occasionally be asked for something you have already sent, or for a document that seems irrelevant. Usually it is because underwriting has raised a condition and needs a specific form of the same evidence.

It is not busywork, and it is not a sign something is wrong. Almost every file gets conditions.

Start the process and I'll send you a personalised list rather than this general one.