This Is the Biggest Thing I'm Dreading About Applying for a New Mortgage

I'm soon going to be applying for a new mortgage and I'm really not looking forward to it. While I'm very excited about being able to buy a new home, there's one thing I'm absolutely dreading about going through the mortgage loan application process.

My least favorite part of applying for a mortgage loan

The one aspect of applying for a mortgage that is really annoying for me to deal with is getting all of the extensive paperwork together.

For some people, applying for a home loan isn't a huge process because they are employees and get W-2 income (income from a salary that their employer reports to the IRS using a W-2 form). But I'm not one of those people.

Both my husband and I are self-employed, which tends to make mortgage lenders a lot more nervous -- even though we have owned our businesses for a long time. Since we don't have traditional sources of income, we are required to do a lot of extra work when it comes to applying for a mortgage loan.

Specifically, lenders ask us for things like year-to-date profit and loss statements, as well as a whole bunch of IRS tax forms to prove how much income we have made and what our business expenses are. In the past, we've also been asked for statements from bookkeepers or accountants who work with our companies.

We need to do all of this on top of getting the regular documentation together that lenders generally require of everyone buying a house, like three months of bank or brokerage statements and proof of sufficient funds to pay a home down payment.

All of this means we end up submitting tons of financial documents during the application process, which can take a lot of time to get together and send over.

Here's how to make the loan application process easier

If you are applying for a mortgage, whether you're self-employed or otherwise, you may find the process to be as annoying as I do -- especially if it's your first time getting a home loan and you aren't expecting all of the demands for documentation.

While there's unfortunately no real way to get around the fact that this process is a pain -- which is why it's the biggest thing I'm dreading -- I have found some ways to make it easier. Specifically, I try to get all of the documents together in digital form in advance of applying so I can quickly and easily submit the requested information when lenders ask me for it.

I've scanned in copies of things that I know lenders are going to ask for when I submit online applications, including my driver's license and my paper property tax bill from my county. I've also reached out to the home insurer for my current house to get digital proof of insurance, and have asked my accountant to provide me with all the required tax forms in digital form (these can come from TurboTax or online tax filing software too if you have it).

By getting everything ready and in one folder before I start the application process, I'll avoid a lot of stress and hassle later. It's still going to be annoying to submit so much documentation, but at least I won't have to search for it when the time comes.