When you’re ready to engage Call The Underwriter on a deal, the very first step is submitting a term sheet. Think of the term sheet as the lead domino in the entire process—once it’s submitted, everything else flows from there.
The term sheet gives us everything we need to:
- Reach out to the borrower,
- Collect their application, credit authorization, and income documentation, and
- Set up the loan terms and fees correctly so we can underwrite the file efficiently.
Sometimes investors try to gather borrower documents or details ahead of time to be helpful, but in practice, it’s actually easiest and fastest if you submit the term sheet first. Below, I’ll walk you through what’s included in the term sheet, how we use the information, and why each section matters.
1. Lender Contact Information
This section is straightforward. We ask for your:
- Name
- Company name
- Email address
- Phone number
We use this information to communicate with you throughout the deal as questions come up and milestones are reached.
2. Borrower Information
This section starts with an important question: Have you done an initial pre-screen of the borrower to determine whether you expect them to qualify?
Pre-screening is a critical step that sometimes gets missed. If you need guidance on how to do this properly, there’s additional information on the Call The Underwriter website.
We then ask for contact details for:
- The primary borrower, and
- Any co-borrower, if applicable
Once the term sheet is submitted, we use the borrower’s email address to directly request their loan application, credit authorization, and income documentation.
3. Subject Property
Here we collect details about the property securing the loan, including:
- Occupancy type (owner-occupied, investor, or second home)
- Property address, and
- Property type (single-family, mobile home, raw land, or other)
While most of the loans we underwrite are owner-occupied, we also work with investor properties and second homes, so this distinction matters.
4. Loan Terms
You may or may not already be under contract when you submit the term sheet, but we still need the core loan details, including:
- Purchase price
- New loan amount
- Lien type (first, second, wrap, or multiple loans)
- Earnest money deposit and down payment
- Interest rate, loan term, and principal & interest payment
While lien type does not impact our underwriting analysis, it’s very helpful for downstream communication so we understand the structure of the deal.
We input all loan terms into our loan origination system to confirm accuracy. In many cases, this process surfaces inconsistencies—such as a P&I payment that doesn’t match the stated rate or term—which allows us to quickly clarify and avoid issues later.
Additional items in this section include:
- Lot rent (for mobile homes)
- Estimated property taxes and insurance, and
- Whether the loan will be escrowed
At this stage, tax and insurance numbers can be estimates. We can always update them later, but we need placeholders in order to calculate escrows and produce an accurate Loan Estimate and total PITI.
5. Fees and Closing Information
Finally, we gather information about fees and closing logistics, including:
- Whether you are passing the underwriting fee to the borrower (we strongly recommend this, and most clients do),
- Whether you want us to prepare the mortgage or deed of trust documents (available in all 50 states for an additional fee),
- Any monthly servicing fee being paid by the borrower (also recommended), and
- Any loan origination or miscellaneous fees that should appear on the Loan Estimate.
There is also a Special Notes / Additional Information field. This is an important section. If your deal has any unique characteristics, special instructions, or additional contacts you’d like us to keep in the loop, this is the place to note it.
What Happens After You Submit the Term Sheet
Once your term sheet is submitted, several things happen automatically behind the scenes.
First, we email your borrower custom, deal-specific links to complete their loan application, credit authorization, and upload their income documentation. These links are tied directly to the term sheet you submitted, which allows us to keep all data for the deal organized and connected on our backend.
You’ll also receive the initial invoice for $199, which covers the first phase of the underwriting process.
At the same time, the file is set up in our backend system so that once all required information is received from the borrower, we can immediately begin underwriting without delays.
The term sheet allows us to move quickly, accurately, and compliantly on your deal. Once it’s submitted, we take it from there.
If you’re ready to submit a term sheet, you can do so here:
TERM SHEET
If you have any questions, just email us at team@calltheunderwriter.com and let us know.