House Buying Timeline

From accepted contract to closing date in most markets is 30-45 days.


Most good realtors will want you to talk to a lender so they do not waste their time on a borrower that does not qualify. I would start talking with a lender after the new year, maybe around Valentines day or slightly before. The good ones will make sure your credit report looks good( these are good for 120 days) this gives them a little time to fix blemishes if there are any and let you know what fits in your budget payment wise and cash to close wise.

Then start the initial steps of looking at those houses in your price range in the neighborhoods you are looking at. Find an experienced buyers agent realtor to represent you that works in that area. If you have a hard set date by June, 1 I would make it a goal to start making offers on houses around spring break/first of April. You will more than likely want to have an accepted offer by Tax day 2021 to make sure you close by that date.

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We will likely use a physician loan so we will have to find a lender there.

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A couple of things to take note:

1) Physician loan wise, if you're a 1099 contractor, most lenders will require 2 years of income data before they will approve you for a loan OR you need to have a contract stating a salary guarantee.

2) White Coat investor - LINK - has a list of physician mortgage lenders by state. I've used SunTrust and now Synovus for my two loans. What's important is to make sure that the loan officer you are dealing with has experience in physician loans. I've had loan officers from the same bank tell me I didn't qualify, but usually, the physician loan officers will talk to the underwriters to see what exactly they want to suffice the loan requirements and can be flexible at times in this regard. They want your business.


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In general:
Pre-qual letter from a lender (2days- 2weeks to obtain) --> house hunt --> offer --> Finalize financing from the same lender or another lender who might can beat their rates.


As stated above, usually recommended that you reach out to a lender/multiple lenders first to get a pre-qualification letter. Most lenders can turn around your app within a few days-2 weeks if you are quick to provide them all of the required documentation to give you a pre-qualification letter, which you can use to support your offer.

Most will also tailor the pre-qual letter to your property and offer price. i.e. You are pre-qual'd for 750k, but the house your offering is at 500k -- When you ready to make an offer, you can get a new prequal letter that shows the 500k and not the 750k, so that way it's less obvious that you could afford more if you wanted.

as mentioned, Once your offer is accepted, typical closing periods are 30-45 days.

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What is the difference in a physician loan? Is it just the fact that physicians have large student loans? I would think no matter what occupation you are that the standard debt to income requirements would be the same in underwriting.

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No PMI regardless of the down payment, ability to get a LTV 100% - i.e. 0% down payment if desired. Due to large student loans, most will allow higher than usual debt to income ratios (around 40-50%).

Where are y’all looking to buy?

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