Home Buyer Info
Online Application Steps and Helpful Hints
Get Started: Select a type of loan
• The property you are looking to purchase must be located in Florida in order to utilize GTE
Financial financing.
• Purchase – This a typical mortgage, whereby the borrower is using the loan to purchase a
home.
• Construction – If you are considering building a new home, this may be a great loan option for
you.
• View all available GTE Financial Loan Options online.
• If you are interested in an FHA Loan or a Reverse Mortgage for those over age 62, please call
us to speak with a Mortgage Specialist at 813.871.2690 ext. 40407.
Get Started: Create an Account
• When you start a new loan application, you are basically you are creating an account for your
loan application.
• You can stop your application at any time and then log back in to complete or review the status
of an application. If your browser window closes or your computer actually shuts off for
example, no problem. You can always log back in.
• If you are already working with a Loan Representative, please specify them using the drop
down at the bottom of the page.
Step 1: About You
Under Borrower:
• If you select a ‘Marital Status’ of ‘Married’, you will need to mark ‘Yes’ for Joint Credit.
Under Current Address:
• When filling in ‘Monthly Rent / Mort. Payment’, please do not put the total amount of your
home price. Input your MONTHLY payment.
Tell us a little about you (Borrower Recap).
Add Borrower:
• If you selected a ‘Marital Status’ of ‘Married’, you would have marked ‘Yes’ for Joint Credit.
• Please look to the bottom of the page and click the ‘Add Borrower’ button and fill in the fields
with your spouse’s information.
Home Buyer Info
Online Application Steps and Helpful Hints
Tell us a little about you (Joint Credit Information).
Check Joint Credit Information:
• Make sure that your spouse or partner does indeed show up and then click ‘Next’ again.
• For Example, next to your name: Terry Smith, your co-borrower should show up > Jerry Smith
and vice versa.
• Make sure that your spouse or partner does indeed show up and then click ‘Next’ again.
• For Example, next to your name: Terry Smith, your co-borrower should show up > Jerry Smith
and vice versa.
Step 2: About Your Home
Make sure to provide information regarding the home you are looking to purchase, not your
current residence.
Down Payment
• Down payments typically range between 15% to 20% of • the total cost of the home. So, if you
were planning on buying a $180,000 home, if you were putting 20 percent down, you would be
putting $36,000 down. Did you know a down payment can be as little as 3.5% with an FHA
Loan? If you are interested in an FHA Loan, please call us to speak with a Mortgage Specialist at
813.871.2690 ext. 40407.
Borrower Closing Costs Paid by Seller
• Most of the time, the amount for this field should be $0, unless the person selling the house you
are looking to buy is covering some or all of your closing costs.
Property Location
• For many people, you may not know the exact information for the home you are looking to
purchase. If that is the case, please check the box next to ‘Not Known At This Time’ and leave
the ‘Address’ as ‘To Be Determined.’ You must specify a City, Zip Code and County however.
Property Type
• There are lots of names for property types like Single Family Detached or Manufactured
Housing for example. Review simple definition for each product type.
Homeowners Association (HOA) Dues
• HOA dues or fees are usually monthly fees used towards the preservation and management of
common areas within a community. HOA fees can vary depending on the Property Type, Home
Values etc. If unknown, average HOA fees in Florida are between $100 and $400 per month.
Home Buyer Info
Online Application Steps and Helpful Hints
Step 3: Employment/Income
‘Overtime’, ‘Commission’ and ‘Bonuses’ – you don’t have to worry about accidentally putting
a ‘Commission’ in the ‘Bonus’ field for example. There is some acceptable ambiguity between
definitions and answers. The main concern is getting a good idea of your total income, not really
the category it falls under.
Annual Overtime
• Historically, if you’ve been compensated for overtime, even though that may fluctuate from
year-to-year, enter an amount based on what you’ve earned in the past consistently.
Annual Commissions
• Commissions usually apply to sales. Sometimes commissions are in addition to your salary or
you may work off of straight commissions. Estimate an amount considering what you’ve earned
in the past consistently.
Annual Bonuses
A Bonus is typically a reward for a job well done, • for example a holiday bonus. If this is a
habitual source of income, estimate an amount considering what you’ve earned in the past
consistently.
Step 4: Your Assets
Assets are economic resources that could be converted into cash (Although cash is also
considered an asset). Assets include: Bonds, Certificates of Deposit, Checking Account, Gift Not
Deposited, Mutual Funds, Other Non-Liquid Assets, Retirement Funds, Savings Account and
Stocks.
• PLEASE NOTE: An asset DOES NOT INCLUDE a vehicle or property. Also, if
entering Retirement Funds as an asset, please enter an estimate equal to 70% of the
account’s current value.
Add Assets
• There only shows space for up to 3 assets. Click the ‘Add Assets’ button at the bottom to add
an additional asset.
Schedule of Real Estate Owned.
• This page will show up if you identified owning a property on the ‘Tell us a little about you
(Borrower and Current Address)’ page.
Home Buyer Info
Online Application Steps and Helpful Hints
• Check to see if your ‘Mtg Payments’ (Mortgage Payments) are accurate. That is your monthly
mortgage payment.
• If this information needs to be edited, click (edit) on the left-hand side next to ‘Owner’.
• You will need to identify the ‘Address’, ‘Property Disposition’ (Usually should be ‘Retained’)
and ‘Type of Property’ to move forward. The other fields are not mandatory and can be left at
$0.00. Fill in as much as you can though.
Step 5: Your Liabilities
Please review your liabilities for accuracy. A liability is just another word for debt. We
recommend reviewing all of the information appended to a specific liability by clicking (edit) on
the left-hand side next to ‘Owner’.
• If you have additional liabilities that do not show up, please click the ‘Add Liability’
button at the bottom of the page.
• If any debts appear on this page that do not belong to you or that account has been paid
off or closed, please check the ‘Omit’ box.
Step 6: Declarations
The word ‘Declarations’ is just a fancy word for ‘declaring’ or answering Yes or No to some
specific questions.
• For h. – ‘Is any part of the down payment • borrowed?’ This just means did you pay
your down payment with a credit card for example, anything other than cash.
• For i. – ‘Are you the co-maker or endorser on a note?’ Another word for a co-maker is a
cosigner, someone who assumes full responsibility for a debt if the borrower does not or
cannot repay a promised obligation. An endorser is the borrower. A note is a promise in
writing to pay a sum of money to another party either at a fixed or determinable future
time or on demand under specific terms.
Step 7: Government
This information is for government monitoring purposes with the majority of fields being totally
optional. Only identify what you feel comfortable providing.
Home Buyer Info
Online Application Steps and Helpful Hints
Step 8: Options From Your Loan Consultant
This is a critical page. Basically this page is a summary of all the information you provided. The
goal of this page is to select a ‘Loan Type.’ You will have to select a ‘Loan Type’ before you
can move forward using the ‘Continue’ button. This decision can change! All you are doing is
applying for a pre-approval of an initial amount and initial ‘Loan Type’, for example a $150,000
Fixed Rate mortgage. You can change the amount and the loan product later if you need to, but
that does not happen often. A Mortgage Specialist can walk you through that process. There is no
way to mess up. The worst that can happen is you have to re-apply. Select a ‘ Loan Type’ by
checking the box next to your desired loan and click next.
• Down payments typically range between 15% to 20% of the total cost of the home. So,
if you were planning on buying a $180,000 home, if you were putting 20 percent down,
you would be putting $36,000 down. Did you know the down payment can be as little as
3.5% with an FHA Loan?
• An FHA Loan, which offers home buyers a down payment as little as 3.5% is not listed
as an available option to select within our ‘Loan Consultant’ system; however we do
offer that type of mortgage. If you are interested in an FHA Loan, you will need to call
and speak with a GTE Financial Mortgage Specialist at 813.871.2690 ext. 40407. We
also offer a My Community Loan which can be a great option for a first time home buyer.
• In the 1st column, you can select multiple ‘Loan Types’. If you select at least 2 ‘Loan
Types’, on the right hand side of your screen, there is a ‘Compare Products’ button. Click
that button to review multiple ‘Loan Types’ side-by-side.
• To learn which ‘Loan Type’ is right for you, thoroughly review each column.
• 2nd Column from the Left – You can click on the various ‘Loan Types’ on the second
column in.
• 3rd Column from the Left – The available interest rates for that particular day per
product will be populated into that column.
• 5th Column from the Left – An ‘Origination Fee’ is like an activation fee, a payment
associated with the establishment of an account. It usually does not exceeds 1%.
• 6th Column from the Left – The ‘Summary of Charges’ is a good estimate of how much
money you will need to bring to your closing.
• 7th Column from the Left – ‘Closing Cost Details’ provides a comprehensive
description outlining how much money you will need to bring with you to your closing,
better outlining how we arrived at the total indicated under ‘Summary of Charges.’
• 11th Column from the Left – APR is an acronym for Annual Percentage Rate which
describes the interest rate for the entire year, rather than just a monthly fee. It is a finance
charge expressed yearly.
• Review all the available GTE Financial Loan Options and read descriptions of the loan with
advantages and disadvantages.
Home Buyer Info
Online Application Steps and Helpful Hints
Step 9: Referral
If someone referred you, we would like to give them credit! GTE Financial offers incentives to
individuals who have referred us.
Step 10: Application Disclosures
There is a link on the page labeled ‘HUD BOOKLET – SETTLEMENT COSTS AND
HELPFUL INFORMATION (2010)’. You will need to click on this link to open the document.
We recommend saving this booklet, as it includes some valuable information you may want to
reference later.
• Once you’ve opened this link, the ‘Viewed?’ box will be checked off. You won’t be
able to just click the box to signify you’ve viewed the booklet.
• In order to ‘Accept’ or ‘Decline’ using the blue buttons, the ‘Viewed?’ box will need to
be checked.
• Read through our available Disclosures containing important information regarding
mortgage loan applications.
• Once you click ‘Accept’ it will take you to a “time page” to signify that your
application is now being processed.
• This process can take up to 5 minutes, so if you need to walk away from your computer
for any reason, you navigate away from this page or even close the window, you can log
back in at any time using your Login ID and Password to view the status of your
application. You do not need to start over.
Step 11: Loan Status & Application Summary
THIS IS THE LAST PAGE IN THEPROCESS!
• If you receive a ‘Congratulations’ message in the top right, that means that your loan
application has been credit approved. If you do not see this message, that does not mean you
have been denied. A GTE Financial Mortgage Specialist will contact you within 48 hours to
discuss your application. Or, you can call 813.871.2690 ext. 40407.
• If you receive the ‘Congratulations’ message or even if you don’t, it is important to read THE
ENTIRE box in the right hand top corner with the scroll, labeled ‘About Your Application’ as
that will give you important instructions for moving forward.
• For those that are Approved immediately:
• Approval Letter’ On the Left – You should print this document. This will “prove” that your
loan application has been credit approved. You can show your REALTOR® or seller this
document to verify your approved status. If this is not active yet, these documents will be
emailed to you.
Home Buyer Info
Online Application Steps and Helpful Hints
• ‘Disclosures’ On the Left - You will receive an email when your disclosure paperwork is
available. You can then LOG BACK IN to your account using your Login ID and Password. The
Disclosure button will turn blue when it is available to click on.
• For those that are not instantly approved, a GTE Financial Mortgage Specialist will contact you
within 48 hours.
• One of the best features of this page is the ‘View Messages’. Basically, when you click on this
button, it will take you to an internal email system. You will get alerts when emails have been
sent to you and you can send emails as well. It’s a simple, fast and a direct way of
communicating with the GTE Financial Mortgage Team.