Education center
Mortgage shouldn’t be confusing.
Guides you can finish, a calculator you can trust as an illustration, and a glossary for the words that get thrown around in underwriting.
Tool
Mortgage calculator
Estimated principal & interest, taxes, insurance, HOA, and PMI, labeled as estimates, never as a quote.
Process
How it works
Six steps from the first conversation to keys.
Featured
Start with these
Guide
First-time buyer guide
What actually happens between looking at homes and getting keys.
Numbers
How much home can I afford?
A monthly number is more useful than a headline purchase price.
Refinance
Should I refinance?
Review the information on this page, then contact a Hancock loan officer to walk through the options with you.
Costs
What are closing costs?
The fees and prepaid items required to close, separate from your down payment.
Process
Home purchase basics
What to count on from your agent, your loan officer, and yourself.
Documents
Mortgage checklist
A working list of what to gather for a purchase or refinance, and what not to change while the file is open.
Process
Prequalification vs. pre-approval
One is a conversation. The other is a letter sellers can take seriously.
Cash to close
Down payments
How much cash, from where, and what still has to show up at closing.
Browse
All guides
Guide
First-time buyer guide
What actually happens between looking at homes and getting keys.
Numbers
How much home can I afford?
A monthly number is more useful than a headline purchase price.
Refinance
Should I refinance?
Review the information on this page, then contact a Hancock loan officer to walk through the options with you.
Process
What is a rate lock?
A lock holds an interest rate for a defined window while the loan is processed.
Costs
What are closing costs?
The fees and prepaid items required to close, separate from your down payment.
Process
Home purchase basics
What to count on from your agent, your loan officer, and yourself.
Documents
Mortgage checklist
A working list of what to gather for a purchase or refinance, and what not to change while the file is open.
Process
Prequalification vs. pre-approval
One is a conversation. The other is a letter sellers can take seriously.
Credit
Credit and mortgages
How credit shows up in a mortgage file, without a fake minimum score on this page.
Cash to close
Down payments
How much cash, from where, and what still has to show up at closing.
Rates
Interest rates, explained
What a rate is, what it is not, and why this site will not quote one.
Homeownership
Life after closing
Servicing, escrow, and the unglamorous parts of owning the house.
Invest
Investment property basics
Occupancy, reserves, and why a rental is underwritten like a business.
Income
Buying if you are self-employed
More documentation, earlier conversations, fewer surprises under contract.
Popular
FAQs
Questions we hear every week
It depends on the loan type, occupancy, and your file. Some eligible borrowers put down relatively little on a primary home; investment properties usually require more. Plan for down payment plus closing costs plus a cash buffer. A Hancock loan officer can map this to programs that may fit. This is not a quoted minimum.
Glossary
The words on your disclosures
- APR
- Annual Percentage Rate. A broader cost figure than the interest rate alone, because it includes certain fees. Useful for comparing Loan Estimates. Still not a promise of your exact loan.
- Appraisal
- An independent opinion of market value used by the lender. It is not a home inspection and it is not a guarantee you got a good deal. If value comes in short, the file has to change: price, down payment, or program.
- Closing costs
- Fees and prepaid items required to close, separate from down payment: origination, appraisal, title, escrow, prepaid interest, and initial tax and insurance deposits, among others. Some can be negotiated or paid by a seller. None should be a surprise at the table.
- Credit report
- The record lenders pull (usually a tri-merge) to see debts, payment history, and scores. Mortgage scores are not the free number in a banking app. Hancock will not publish “the” minimum score on a webpage. Overlays differ by program and change.
- Debt-to-income ratio (DTI)
- Your monthly debt payments compared with gross monthly income. Housing payment is part of it; car loans and student loans are too. One underwriting test among several, not a personality score.
- Earnest money
- A deposit that shows a seller you are serious. Credited at closing when the deal funds. It can be at risk if you walk away outside your contract rights. Underwriting will want to see where it came from.
- Escrow
- Two different things people mix up: (1) the account your servicer uses to pay taxes and insurance from part of your monthly payment, and (2) the settlement process that holds money and documents until closing. Ask which one someone means.
- HOA
- Homeowners association dues, often monthly. They belong in the payment you have to live with even though they are not paid to the lender. Condos and some planned communities also require questionnaires that can decide eligibility.