These are the files that get declined somewhere else and land on my desk. A denial almost never means the loan is impossible — it usually means that lender ran out of programs. Here is what actually happens with the hard ones.
Before the mortgage side, I sold over 1,000 homes here in the Capital District. These answers come from someone who has sat in the agent’s chair at the closing table — not a banker reading you a policy manual.
Yes, and bring the denial letter. A “no” almost never means the loan is impossible — it means that lender's shelf ran out. Most banks carry five or six programs. Between FHA for scores as low as 500 (10% down under 580), bank statement, ITIN, foreign national, DSCR, asset depletion and the rest of the Non-QM shelf, I'm working from a much longer list.
I'll also tell you straight if the answer really is “not yet,” and exactly what would have to change. The only file I can't help with is the one I never see. Here's how some of those turned out.
Sometimes, and it depends entirely on why. If the problem is the property — appraisal, condition, a condo project that failed review — a different program often fixes it fast. If the problem is the borrower, we restructure, and that takes longer than a week.
First call: tell me what they told you, and send the last document they asked for. Then I'll tell you whether this is a rescue or a rebuild — not a hopeful yes to win the file and an apology on closing day.
A low appraisal isn't automatically a dead deal. There are four real moves: renegotiate the price, bring the difference in cash, file a formal reconsideration of value with better comparable sales, or restructure the loan so the lower value still works.
What you do not do is panic and cancel on day one. We look at the comps the appraiser actually used first — sometimes they missed a sale two streets over.
Yes, and here is the honest list of what does it: financing a car or a couch mid-process, changing jobs, an undisclosed debt surfacing on the final credit refresh, a large deposit with no paper trail, a property or condo project that fails review, or a program guideline that moves under you.
Almost all of it is preventable. Between pre-approval and closing, the rule is boring on purpose: no new credit, no job changes, no unexplained deposits, no emptying the account you documented.
#Usually not, but it has to be handled and not hoped away. Underwriting cares about environmental risk and whether the home is insurable. Typical paths: the seller decommissions or removes the tank, a holdback is escrowed for the work, or a tank test and soil report clears it.
These are everywhere in older Capital District housing stock. The ones that close are the ones where somebody raised it before the offer.
Very common on older homes here, and very solvable if we start early. The appraiser has to report whether the addition is legal, legal non-conforming, or illegal. Conventional financing can sometimes value it as-is; FHA and VA are stricter, and some towns want the permit closed before they will issue a CO.
The timeline, not the rule, is what kills these. A permit that takes six weeks to close does not fit inside a 30-day contract nobody warned about.
On FHA, VA and USDA loans, water potability and septic clearance are requirements, not suggestions. Options: the seller repairs it, funds are escrowed to repair it after closing where the program allows, or renovation financing pays for a whole new system and rolls it into the loan.
That last one is the move most buyers never hear about — a failed septic can be the reason a good house is cheap.
#It depends on whether the second unit is legal and how the appraiser classifies it: a one-unit home with an accessory apartment, or a legitimate two-family. That single line on the appraisal changes your program, your down payment, and sometimes your approval amount.
Worth knowing the upside too — on some programs, rent from an accessory dwelling unit can help you qualify rather than just sitting there as a nice feature.
#Enormously. A modular home is built to the same code as a site-built house and finances like one. A manufactured home needs its HUD tags, a permanent foundation, and a program that will take it. Anything pre-1976 generally isn't financeable at all.
Listing sheets get this wrong constantly. It is worth confirming before you fall in love, because it decides which programs even exist for the property.
They will — just not with a standard mortgage. Renovation financing (FHA 203k and conventional HomeStyle) lends against the after-improved value, so the loan pays for the roof, the kitchen, the furnace and the new septic as part of the purchase.
One loan, one closing, one payment. This is the single most underused program in the Capital Region.
No. FHA guidelines allow scores down to 500 with 10% down, and 580 with 3.5% down — individual lender overlays vary, and that is exactly why the answer differs depending on who you ask.
Sometimes the smarter play is 60 to 90 days of targeted work first, because the payment difference between a 560 and a 620 is real money. That's what the Credit Game Plan is for. Either way, you'll get a number and a plan instead of a brush-off.
#Welcome, you're most of the self-employed Capital Region. Bank statement loans qualify you on 12 or 24 months of deposits instead of your returns. If your money is in assets rather than income, asset depletion converts a balance sheet into qualifying income.
A lender who says your returns disqualify you is telling you about their product list, not about you.
#Yes. ITIN loans are built for buyers who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, and they don't require citizenship or a green card. Thin credit or no score is workable with alternative history — rent, utilities, phone, insurance.
If you're a non-resident buying here, that's a different product: foreign national financing, qualified on assets and often without US credit at all.
#Often yes, and faster than most people expect. A delayed-financing cash-out can be based on the original purchase price rather than making you wait out a seasoning period — so the cash you used to win the deal goes back in your pocket and gets used again.
Auction buyers, flippers and off-market buyers use this constantly. Timing rules are strict, so the conversation happens before the purchase, not a year later.
Several ways to do it: qualify carrying both payments, count documented rent from the departing home, pull equity with a HELOC before you list, or use NAF Cash to make a cash offer on the new house and sell the old one after you've moved.
Buying first is how you avoid moving twice and making an offer nobody wants to accept. It just has to be structured deliberately.
On investment property, yes. DSCR loans qualify on the property's rent rather than your personal income, and LLC or S-corp vesting is standard — you personally guarantee the loan, but title vests in the entity. That is why serious investors use them even when they'd qualify conventionally.
On a primary residence, no — different product, different rules.
#Probably. The unusual pile is most of my week: 1099 earners, retirees with assets and no paycheck, buyers two years out of a bankruptcy, non-citizens, investors with ten financed properties, people buying a camp with no year-round road, people buying 40 acres and a barn.
Start with Special Situations or run the Program Finder, then call me and we'll skip the part where you explain it three times.
Four things, in order: stop opening new credit, get your balances under roughly 30% of their limits, leave your savings alone so it can be documented, and find out your actual number instead of guessing.
Do those for 60 days and the difference in what you qualify for is usually measured in tens of thousands. The Credit Game Plan lays it out, and a 15-minute call tells you which of the four matters most in your case.
#That's the job. You don't need to arrive knowing whether you're an FHA buyer or a HomeReady buyer — you need someone to put two or three real structures side by side with actual payments and let you pick.
The Program Finder gets you close in about two minutes. A 15-minute call gets you the rest, with no credit pull and no application.
#Fifteen minutes, no credit pull, no application, no pitch. Worst case you learn something and I don’t get your business.
Brian Marchand · Sr. Loan Consultant, New American Funding · NMLS #481563
Works on files other lenders have already declined for buyers and homeowners in Albany, NY and the Capital Region. Licensed in New York State. New American Funding, NMLS #6606 · 18 Computer Dr E, Suite 103, Albany, NY 12205.