If you were born before cell phones existed, you may remember Schoolhouse Rock’s hit “How a Bill Becomes a Law.” While we don’t have a cute animated mortgage dancing around, we’re hoping you can imagine one.

It all starts with an application. Believe it or not, we’ll spend the majority of the mortgage process (three of five steps) making your application the best it can be.

In the Apply phase, you’ve applied online and given us the highest-level look at what we can help you with and your financial picture. This allows us to start asking more detailed questions and narrowing in on a plan made just for you.

Once we’ve agreed on a general plan, your application moves onto the Review phase. Here, we’ll gather specific documents based on information already in your application. If you told us you’re self-employed, for example, we’ll have different document requests than if you have W-2 income. All of that then gets added to your application.