Buying a home
The pre-approval Realtors around here trust.
A Home State pre-approval means a banker has looked at your file and intends to close it. Sellers in McHenry County and the Fox Valley know that. Get one today, then shop like you already have the keys.
- No credit impact to get started
- Pre-approvals usually the same day
- Down payments from $0 to 3%
- Closings in as few as 9 days
- Your loan officer answers their own phone
How it goes
Five steps, one building.
- 1
Get pre-approved
Fifteen minutes online or one conversation with a loan officer. No credit impact to start; a full pre-approval usually comes back the same day.
- 2
Shop with confidence
Sellers and Realtors in McHenry County and the Fox Valley know a Home State pre-approval means the loan will close. Your loan officer is on call while you write offers.
- 3
Lock and process
Once you're under contract, we lock your rate and a processor in our own office gathers documents and orders the appraisal.
- 4
Underwriting, one call away
Our underwriters sit near your loan officer in Crystal Lake, and on speed dial for our Appleton team. Conditions get cleared in conversations, not ticket queues.
- 5
Close on the contract date
We close and fund from our own building. Typical purchases close in about 30 days. When a deal has needed nine, we've done nine.
Purchase programs
Compare programs, or let us help you choose.
Run the numbers
What will the payment be?
We start with a typical McHenry County property-tax rate, since taxes here run higher than most buyers expect.
Taxes & insurance assumptions
Estimated monthly payment
$3,124
- Principal & interest
- $2,149
- Property tax
- $850
- Home insurance
- $125
Loan amount
$340,000
Total interest (30 yrs)
$433,651
Estimate only. Actual payment depends on your credit, property, taxes, insurance, and loan program. Not a commitment to lend.
Questions
Before you ask.
- How much do I need for a down payment?
- Less than you think. Conventional loans start at 3% for first-time buyers, FHA at 3.5%, VA and USDA at 0%, IHDA and WHEDA add down-payment assistance in Illinois and Wisconsin, and our Community Bank LTV program offers $0-down structures for qualified buyers in the communities we serve.
- How long does a pre-approval take?
- Usually the same day. Start online and a loan officer reviews your file personally, or call and we'll do it in one conversation.
- Where do you lend?
- Our home turf is McHenry County, Illinois and Wisconsin's Fox Valley, with offices in Crystal Lake and Appleton. We lend in all 50 states, and many clients finance a lake house up north or a winter home on the Gulf Coast through us.
- What if my situation is unusual?
- That's what a portfolio lender is for. Self-employed, buying before you sell, a property with acreage, a recent credit event with a good explanation: bring it to us before you assume the answer is no.
Where we lend
Two home turfs, and everywhere else.
Most of our purchase loans close within twenty miles of Crystal Lake or Appleton, but we lend in all 50 states.
- Crystal Lake
- Cary
- Algonquin
- Lake in the Hills
- Huntley
- McHenry
- Woodstock
- Johnsburg
- Wonder Lake
- Harvard
- Marengo
- Fox River Grove
- Barrington
- Lake Zurich
- Elgin
- St. Charles
- Appleton
- Neenah
- Menasha
- Kaukauna
- Oshkosh
- Green Bay
- Racine
- Kenosha
- Waterford
First home? Read the Illinois first-time buyer guide.
Next step
Get pre-approved today. Shop this weekend.
Start the application online, or call and ask for the mortgage department. Either way, a real human in Crystal Lake or Appleton takes it from there.