# Underwriting

Underwriting is treated as an interconnected process and meaning field. The chapter moves from grounded mechanisms to incentives, risks, history, relationships, mapshifts, and human consequences.

## Core traversal

- [Ability to Repay](../nodes/processes/ability-to-repay.md) — Ability to Repay tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Qualified Mortgage](../nodes/processes/qualified-mortgage.md) — Qualified Mortgage tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Credit Report](../nodes/processes/credit-report.md) — Credit Report tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Credit Score](../nodes/processes/credit-score.md) — Credit Score tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Debt-to-Income Ratio](../nodes/processes/debt-to-income-ratio.md) — Debt-to-Income Ratio tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Housing Expense Ratio](../nodes/processes/housing-expense-ratio.md) — Housing Expense Ratio tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Income](../nodes/processes/income.md) — Income tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Assets](../nodes/processes/assets.md) — Assets tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Employment](../nodes/processes/employment.md) — Employment tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Reserves](../nodes/processes/reserves.md) — Reserves tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Gift Funds](../nodes/processes/gift-funds.md) — Gift Funds tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Cash to Close](../nodes/processes/cash-to-close.md) — Cash to Close tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Manual Underwriting](../nodes/processes/manual-underwriting.md) — Manual Underwriting tests whether the promised payment can be supported by the borrower's resources and obligations
- [Loan-to-Value Ratio](../nodes/processes/loan-to-value-ratio.md) — Loan-to-Value Ratio tests whether the property can support the legal, physical, and market assumptions of the loan
- [Combined Loan-to-Value Ratio](../nodes/processes/combined-loan-to-value-ratio.md) — Combined Loan-to-Value Ratio tests whether the property can support the legal, physical, and market assumptions of the loan
- [Property Eligibility](../nodes/processes/property-eligibility.md) — Property Eligibility tests whether the property can support the legal, physical, and market assumptions of the loan
- [Occupancy Classification](../nodes/processes/occupancy-classification.md) — Occupancy Classification tests whether the property can support the legal, physical, and market assumptions of the loan
- [Project Review](../nodes/processes/project-review.md) — Project Review tests whether the property can support the legal, physical, and market assumptions of the loan

## How to read this chapter

Follow claims and cash flows separately. Ask who holds authority, who supplies information, who receives benefit, who carries risk, and what changes when time or scale changes. Keep sourced fact, industry practice, synthesis, interpretation, and symbolic expression distinguishable.

## Mapshifting prompts

1. Change the unit of analysis from property to right, loan, cash flow, role, record, neighborhood, or institution.
2. Change the clock from closing day to thirty years, one market cycle, one building life, or several generations.
3. Change stakeholder and ask which previously invisible cost becomes central.
4. Return to the human map before choosing a move.

## Sentinel handoff

Legal, regulatory, fair-lending, historical, financial, cultural, and jurisdiction-specific annotations remain separate from Engine Output. They inform contextual use without flattening the graph.
