Dear Lender or Mortgage Broker,...
Dear Lender or Mortgage Broker,
I look forward to working with you to assist our mutual clients, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, with their home purchase. Please let me know if you need my help at any time during the process. At the risk of being too forward, I know that I certainly will need your aid with respect to the following:
1. As you know, Mr. and Mrs. Smith have a mortgage contingency in their contract. If they don't have a mortgage commitment by the date shown in the contract, they can declare the home purchase null and void. Of course, nobody wants that result. I know that you are working hard to obtain a loan for Mr. and Mrs. Smith by the mortgage contingency date, and I don't want to get in your way. However, I do ask that you (a) let me know as soon as possible if you need me to obtain any documents or information for you (such as a title commitment) and (b) let me know prior to the mortgage contingency date if the commitment won't be ready by that date, so I can ask the sellers for an extension.
2. In order to close on their home purchase, Mr. and Mrs. Smith need to know a "bottom-line" figure. This figure is the amount of money (in the form of a cashier's check) that Mr. and Mrs. Smith will need to bring to closing in order to complete the deal. Lots of homebuyers wake up in a cold sweat, worrying about whether they will have enough money for their closing. I hope we can allay our clients' fears by getting them a "bottom-line" figure well in advance, so that they can get their financial ducks in a row and obtain their cashier's check a day or so (rather than an hour or so) before closing. I would appreciate your help on this point. I am happy to prepare a closing statement, taking into account purchase price, credits from the seller, loan fees, and other closing costs to come up with a "bottom-line" figure, but I can't do this alone. Since you are the only one who knows the fees for Mr. and Mrs. Smith's loan, I will need a copy of these fees -- at your earliest convenience -- to do my job.
3. I will attend the closing for the home purchase, and part of my job will be to explain the loan documents (note, mortgage, etc.) to Mr. and Mrs. Smith. As you know, lots of time can be wasted at closings, waiting for (a) loan documents that haven't arrived, (b) loan proceeds (via a lender's check or wire) that haven't arrived, or (c) final consent from the lender or mortgage broker to distribute the loan proceeds. All this does is create bad publicity for your company in the minds of the buyers, sellers, realtors and attorneys in attendance, which obviously isn't good for your business. Therefore, I think it's very important that you (or someone from your office) take responsibility for making sure the closing goes smoothly. The best way to do this would be for you to actually attend the closing.
If you have questions about this letter, or need my assistance in any way, please let me know.
Sincerely,
Joel A. Schoenmeyer
Attorney at Law
Bookmark: 
