How to navigate mortgage application landmines during a pandemic

Boy, that was fast!
In a matter of weeks, year-over-year home price appreciation rates in two big California metros made a U-turn, escrow contracts shrunk and millions of jobs have disappeared. The future for our housing market is bleak and lending is getting murkier by the day.
Economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic has already woven its way into home values with declines found in the Los Angeles-Orange County metro area, according to data compiled by the American Enterprise Institute.