Eight lines
Seven stops. Two of them are federal waiting periods that nobody can shorten, and knowing that in advance is most of the difference between a calm closing and a bad week.
Where the time actually goes.
What you are trying to do, what you own, roughly what you earn, and whether anything about your file is unusual. Fifteen minutes of this rules out four or five of the eight lines before anyone pulls a credit report.
The router narrows it. A person confirms it, because a program that looks right on paper can fail on the property, the county limit or the documentation, and those are the things a form does not know to ask about.
Income, assets, identity, and the paper trail behind any large deposit. Self employed files run on two years of returns, or on bank statements if you are taking a Non-QM route.
Underwriters ask for things in waves. That is normal, and it is not a sign anything is wrong.
A conditional letter based on a verified file. It is stronger than a pre-qualification, which is based on what you said. It is still conditional, and it is not a commitment to lend.
An appraisal, plus whatever the program adds on top. FHA has minimum property standards. VA has Minimum Property Requirements and its own appraisal. USDA has an eligibility boundary that has nothing to do with the building.
The file goes to an underwriter who tests it against the program rules and comes back with conditions. Clearing them quickly is the single largest thing you control in the whole process.
Federal rules set the rhythm at the end. A Loan Estimate has to reach you within three business days of a completed application, and a Closing Disclosure has to be in your hands at least three business days before you sign.
On a refinance secured by your principal residence there is also a three business day right of rescission after signing, so funds do not move on the day.
You will see closing times advertised as a number of days. We are not going to give you one, because this is a design demonstration and any number here would be invented.
What is true generally: the parts that take time are documentation, the appraisal, and underwriting conditions. The parts that cannot be compressed are the two federal windows at the end. Everything else varies by lender, by market and by file.
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