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What you need to apply for a mortgage in Florida
Gathering these before underwriting asks is the single best thing you can do to keep a closing on schedule. Most delays are not credit problems. They are a missing document nobody chased for four days.
- Income: your last two pay stubs, plus W-2 forms for the past two years
- Tax returns: two years, personal and business, if you are self-employed or own more than 25% of a company
- Assets: two months of statements for every account you will draw the down payment from, including all pages
- Identification: a government-issued photo ID
- The contract: your executed purchase agreement once you have one
- Gift funds: a signed gift letter and proof of transfer, if family is helping
Send complete statements rather than screenshots or summary pages. An underwriter has to see every page, including the blank ones, and a partial statement comes straight back to you.
What happens after you apply
Within three business days we issue a Loan Estimate on the standard federal form, which sets out your rate, your closing costs and your projected monthly payment. Because every lender uses that same form, you can lay ours beside anyone else’s and compare line for line.
Then the file moves through processing, appraisal and underwriting. Underwriting usually returns conditions, meaning specific documents or explanations it needs before final approval. That is routine rather than a warning sign. Since a Florida purchase contract runs on a financing deadline, answer those conditions the day they arrive.
Two Florida-specific items to start early
First, insurance. Get a homeowners quote as soon as you are under contract, and a flood quote if the property sits in a FEMA-designated zone. Premiums here feed your debt-to-income ratio, so a high quote can change what you qualify for. Finding that out in week one is recoverable; finding out in week four is not.
Second, the condo question. If you are buying a condominium, the association’s finances get reviewed alongside your own, and that review takes time. Read the Florida condo mortgage guide before you write the offer.
Not sure which program fits? Compare every Florida loan program first, or check whether you qualify for down payment assistance.
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