Also.. aside from irrelevant things like curtains, you can take out money from your 401k from work to use to your primary residence if you have access to it and need to. Many companies match your contributions to a certain point.
Another big this is when think you're ready to get preapproved soon, DO NOT move money around that cant be easily explained. And it's better just not to have to explain. Try to keep your "books" as simple as possible for the prior at least 3 to 6 months if you can.
Example, you found THE house and its a little out of your preapproval range, so you got 10k cash laying around or your parents want to pitch in 10k...underwriting will want to know where it came from. If its a gift from your relatives or something then you're volunteering them to divulge all their bank statements too. Maybe yours wont care but many other people out there would not be happy to have to do that. If it's your 10k cash that you threw in...you best have a paper trail or you may hit a wall in your loan process. And don't go and buy a vehicle or furniture on credit until you've actually closed on the house. That could break your loan on closing day. Don't let that happen.
