Mortgage Pre-Approval and Home Loans in Louisiana

I'm Jeff Moran, NMLS #483943, licensed to originate mortgages in Louisiana through C2 Financial Corporation.

Louisiana closes real estate differently from every other state I lend in, and not by a little. The rest of the country inherited English common law. Louisiana's property law is civil law, and the vocabulary is not decoration — it changes who runs your closing, what form your documents take, and whether you can sign remotely.

If you have bought a home anywhere else, this is the page worth reading before you write an offer.

Start with the pre-approval

Do the qualifying work before the address. A documented pre-approval means income, debts and credit have actually been reviewed rather than estimated, and it means problems surface while they are still cheap.

You can run the first pass anonymously, before I know your name — see your numbers — and what a real pre-approval involves covers the rest. No letter from anyone is a loan commitment; final approval depends on the property, the appraisal and full underwriting.

Louisiana is not an attorney-closing state

This surprises people who assume the South closes through lawyers. Several states nearby do. Louisiana does not require it.

State law contemplates loan proceeds being delivered for disbursement to a notary public or a licensed title company at the execution of the act of sale or act of mortgage. A title company with properly licensed personnel and a commissioned notary can conduct and disburse your closing. An attorney is not categorically required.

But a Louisiana notary is not what a notary is elsewhere. In most states a notary verifies identity and witnesses a signature. A Louisiana civil-law notary is authorised to receive conveyances and, broadly, written contracts. They are a substantive actor in the transaction rather than a stamp at the end of it.

You can shop. The Louisiana Department of Insurance tells consumers directly that they are not required to use a suggested title company or closing agent, and that they may choose their own title-insurance and settlement providers — subject to the purchase contract and lender requirements. That is an unusually explicit consumer right, and it is worth using.

The authentic act, and why it decides your closing day

Here is the piece that has real consequences and almost never gets explained.

Louisiana recognises two forms for a document: an act under private signature, and an authentic act — executed before a notary and two witnesses. A sale of immovable property can be done either way under the Civil Code.

In mortgage lending, lenders commonly require authentic form, because Louisiana's expedited foreclosure route depends on authentic evidence. Which form your particular documents need is a decision for the closing professionals, not something to assume.

And it is the reason "Louisiana allows remote closings" is a misleading sentence.

Louisiana has permitted registered notaries to perform remote online notarization since 2022. A Louisiana notary may be in an authorised parish while you are somewhere else entirely.

But remote online notarization cannot create an authentic act. So where your loan requires authentic form — which many financed closings do — the remote route is not available for that instrument, and you are signing in person before a notary and two witnesses.

If you are buying in Louisiana from out of state, ask about this in week one. "Can I close remotely" has a different answer here than almost anywhere else, and it depends on the form your documents take rather than on the technology.

Parishes, and two sets of public records

Louisiana records land instruments by parish, not county. That is the well-known difference and it is the least consequential one.

The one that matters operationally: conveyances and mortgages are traditionally kept in separate public records. A document that has to be filed in both is charged separately for each. Recording charges are set by a statewide statutory formula based on pages, with indexing for a set number of names included and additional charges beyond that.

The formula is statutory rather than a vendor's invention, which is worth knowing — it means the charge is not something to negotiate, only something to anticipate. I am not printing the amounts; they are statutory figures that get revised, and the closing-cost estimator prices them live against your scenario.

What Louisiana does not charge

Worth stating plainly, because buyers coming from several other states expect it.

No general statewide real estate transfer tax, and no statewide mortgage recording tax was identified. Louisiana does not have the equivalent of Georgia's intangible recording tax or Minnesota's mortgage registry tax. A refinance records a new act of mortgage and ordinarily requires cancellation work on the old one, producing statutory recording charges — but not a value-based state tax.

One caution rather than a claim: local charges are a different question. At least one parish imposes its own documentary transaction tax, and I have not been able to source a statewide compilation proving no other locality does. Your closing provider prices the actual parish. Do not assume the absence of a state tax means the absence of every local one.

Title insurance and who pays

Louisiana title rates are filed by each insurer and reviewed by the Department of Insurance, rather than one uniform schedule shared by every company. Regulated, and competitive among providers — which means comparing can matter, and the Department explicitly encourages asking which services are included in the premium and which are billed separately.

Whether a reissue or refinance discount applies depends on the selected insurer's current filed rules and proof of the prior policy. It is worth asking for specifically rather than assuming it exists.

On who pays: the Louisiana Real Estate Commission's residential purchase agreement puts act-of-sale costs, abstracting, title search, title insurance and financing costs on the buyer unless the parties agree otherwise in writing. That is a contract default, not a law, and it is negotiable.

An owner's policy itself is optional — the lender will require a lender's policy protecting its own position, and the owner's policy is the one protecting your equity. Louisiana requires that a purchaser be notified when a lender's policy is issued at a purchase closing and no owner's policy was requested, which exists precisely because people did not realise they had declined it.

What this means practically

• Ask whether your documents require authentic form, and therefore whether remote signing is available. This is the single most Louisiana-specific question on your file.
• Budget for closings recorded in two sets of records, charged separately.
• Ask the parish about local transaction taxes. No state tax does not mean no local one.
• Use the right to shop the title and settlement provider — the state tells you plainly that you have it.
• Ask about a reissue discount if there is a prior policy on the property.
• Read the contract's cost allocation. The standard form points the costs at the buyer.

Where to start

Run your numbers — no credit pull, no account, nobody calls you. Rates for your scenario, your debt ratio, and closing costs priced for Louisiana rather than a national average.

When you want the letter behind you, here is what a real pre-approval involves. And if you are moving to Louisiana from another state, what actually changes when you cross a state line is the wider picture — this page is the Louisiana half of it.

Common questions

Do I need an attorney to close on a house in Louisiana?

No. Louisiana does not require a lawyer to conduct a residential closing. State law contemplates loan proceeds being disbursed by a notary public or a licensed title company at the execution of the act of sale or act of mortgage, so a title company with licensed personnel and a commissioned notary can conduct the closing.

What is an authentic act in Louisiana?

A document executed before a notary and two witnesses, as distinct from an act under private signature. Lenders commonly require authentic form for mortgage instruments because Louisiana's expedited foreclosure procedure depends on authentic evidence. Which form applies to your documents is decided by the closing professionals rather than assumed.

Can I close on a Louisiana home remotely?

Sometimes, and less often than the technology suggests. Louisiana has permitted remote online notarization since 2022, but remote notarization cannot create an authentic act — and many financed closings require authentic form. Where that applies, signing happens in person before a notary and two witnesses. It is worth asking early if you are buying from out of state.

Does Louisiana have a real estate transfer tax?

No general statewide real estate transfer tax or mortgage recording tax was identified, so Louisiana does not have an equivalent to the intangible or registry taxes some other states charge. Statutory parish recording charges still apply, and at least one parish imposes its own documentary transaction tax, so local charges should be confirmed for the specific parish rather than assumed absent.

Who pays for title insurance in Louisiana?

The Louisiana Real Estate Commission's residential purchase agreement places act-of-sale costs, abstracting, title search, title insurance and financing costs on the buyer unless the parties agree otherwise in writing. That is a contract default rather than a legal requirement, so it is negotiable, and a seller contribution can be requested.

Can I choose my own title company in Louisiana?

Yes. The Louisiana Department of Insurance tells consumers directly that they are not required to use a suggested title company or closing agent and may choose their own title-insurance and settlement providers, subject to the purchase contract and lender requirements. Because rates are filed by each insurer rather than set uniformly statewide, comparing providers can genuinely matter.

Why does Louisiana use parishes instead of counties?

Louisiana's civil-law heritage produced parishes as its political subdivisions, and land instruments are recorded by parish. The more consequential difference is that conveyances and mortgages are traditionally maintained in separate public records, with separate charges when a document must be filed in both — an operational reality that surprises clients relocating from common-law states.