Ask the Readers: How Do You Choose a Mortgage Broker?
Published on - May 15th, 2009 (Modified on - December 31st, 2009) (by J.D. Roth) For most of us, buying a home is the largest purchase we’ll ever make. There can be a lot of pressure to get things just right; you don’t want to pay more than you have to. A good broker or lender can help — but how do you find a good broker or lender? That’s what Erin wants to know:
My husband and I are in the market for a house as first-time homebuyers. We’ve done our research about the process of obtaining financing, and all the advice says to shop around for a mortgage. But how do you go about finding lenders or brokers to compare?
Web searches turn up hundreds of lenders and brokers in our major metro area, but I haven’t found a good consumer resource for evaluating them on things like customer service and borrower experience. Our realtor has a list of brokers that his clients have recommended, but it’s not a long enough list to really shop around with. We would generally prefer to have a mortgage through a local institution if possible and if it makes sense compared to other options.
What’s the best way to do this?
One way to research mortgage rates is through sites like Shoprate and Money Rates. These resources can help you locate great mortgage rates from around the country, including most major metropolitan areas.
But perhaps the best way to find a good broker is to seek recommendations from family and friends. Obtaining a mortgage isn’t just about finding the best interest rate (thought that’s probably the most important factor). You also want to find somebody you can work with and trust. Personal recommendations can offer color and nuance that you just can’t find from a website.
When I shop for mortgages, these three factors are most important to me:
- Good rates. Many first-time homebuyers don’t realize that even a small change in interest rates can make an enormous difference in the monthly mortgage payment — and, especially, the total cost over the life of the loan. A great mortgage rate should be the top factor when choosing a lender, but it’s not the only factor.
- Low fees. It’s also important to consider what sorts of fees each lender charges. These, too, can have a significant impact on the cost of a mortgage, but I’ve found that many people ignore them. (Probably because the cost of the mortgage is so large that people don’t bother to question charges that seem so small in comparison.) Be sure to get a good-faith estimate whenever a lender or broker provides a quote.
- Gut feeling. You should always trust your gut. If the broker seems shady, find someone else. It’s great to have somebody you enjoy working with, somebody who seems like a member of your “team”, somebody you trust.
You may have other specifications, for example if you are looking for low down payment fha loans, you’ll need to find out whether your particular broker is FHA and HUD approved to offer these types of mortgages.
When Kris and I bought our first home in 1994, we found our broker at random through the phone book. We didn’t bother to shop around. In 1998, we refinanced our home after finding a lender on the still-young World Wide Web. We chose the company because they had the best mortgage rates. When we bought our current home in 2004, we asked friends for recommendations, and ended up using a local broker who worked hard for us.
What about you? If you own a home, how did you choose your mortgage broker? Did you shop around? If so, were you just looking for the best rate? Or did you base your decision on other factors, too? If you were shopping for a new mortgage today, how would you choose a broker or lender?
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I just went to the bank yesterday to get pre-approval and before I did that was wondering the exact same thing. So I went old school: I chose the bank I currently have a checking account with. Lucky for me, he passed the gut check and the rate was good too (5%).
Of course, this was just for pre-approval, but still.
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We chose our credit union who had the best rates and the lowest fees. And they don’t sell their mortgages to 3rd parties. We love our credit union and wouldn’t deal with anyone else.
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What a timely post. We are in the midst of a refinance (We’re submitting the paperwork today) and we are using the same broker that we used last year when we bought our house. Our broker was a recommendation from our real estate agent. We talked with him as well as many others, but he had the best rate for us, when considering the fees. With some of the other lenders we talked to, I felt like *I* knew more about mortgages than they did. With our current broker, every question was answered with a confident answer that made sense. He also had the best rates, so we went with him. He is also local, which helped with our comfort factor.
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JD – why should somebody use a broker rather than find a mortgage themselves?
Brokers promise to ‘find the best loan for you’.
Well, unless I’m missing something, the best loan is the one with the lowest APR.
Here in the UK, you can search through a list of rates on the Financial Services Authority website (fsa.gov.uk).
That’s what I did – I found several mortgages that were cheaper than what any broker offered me.
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A old good friend from high school. He dropped out of college and went to work for his dad, who was a loan officer. He has been doing it for about 13 years. I try to refer my friends to him.
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Mortgage “brokers” are a dying breed in my humble opinion.
Personally, I prefer dealing with a local hometown banks or credit union. Not only do they offer better customer service, their rates are generally better than those offered by larger national banks.
When we were shopping rates for the refinancing of our home, I prepared a little “package” (including our credit reports, bank statements, debt statementments, paystubs, tax forms, etc) and literally went door to door at the local banks in town until I found the one that offered the lowerest interest rates and least expensive closing costs.
Always check rates at your local banks as well as going “national”. Smaller banks will compete for your business. Although there is a chance that your mortgage will be sold to a national company, at least partion of your hard earned money will stay within your local community.
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When I was shopping for a home, I looked at quite a few mortgage companies. I first compared rates from big banks, then took a look at some smaller local brokers. Ultimately, I ended up going with ING Direct (www.ingdirect.com). They offered me the best rate and by far the lowest closing costs. The problem with 3rd party brokers is that you’ll be paying them commission, whether you know it or not. Brick and morter banks tend to have very high closing costs. At Wachovia, they estimated my cash at closing to be around $3000-$4000. At ING Direct, I paid about $700 total. Also, since I do all my banking with them, payments are very convenient. It’s been 3 years so far and I’ve been very satisfied with them.
Also, recently, I went through a rate reduction with them. Instead of doing a full blown refi, I was able to pay $750 and get their best rate today, which was 1.25 points less than what I was paying. No extraneous paperwork, just wrote them a check, signed an agreement and it was done — I’m saving over $100/mo.
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I highly recommend trying to find a referral. But not from your real estate agent.
Our first broker we worked with a few years ago was suggested by our agent. He wanted to put us in a no money down interest only arm when I wanted a 30 year fixed with 20% down.
DO NOT BE AFRAID TO CHANGE BROKERS IF YOU ARE UNCOMFORTABLE WITH THE ONE YOU HAVE!!!!!.
We didn’t listen to his advice which has probably saved us nearly 100k given the current market and found another broker via a coworkers referral.
http://www.broadcastthoughts.net/2009/04/my-solution-for-bad-mortgage-brokers.html
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I just refinanced, and I called every local bank that I thought would have a good rate, and filled out every search form on sites like bankrate.com. Of the 11 banks I had contact with, only 5 would even tell me what the estimated closing costs would be. There was huge variation from Quicken loans at $5000 closing to Enterprise Bank at $1000. Watch those fees carefully.
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I agree with some of the other comments in that referral is key. Just like any other decisions regarding someone handling your money (although its indirect), it is most important that you are comfortable. With that said, rates are important, fees are important, but above all it will be your gut feel. Do you connect with the broker, do you trust the broker and does the broker understand your situation?
With that said, before you go into buying something you should really understand the value of buying a home. I own several investment properties right now and use some simple math to ensure that purchasing a house makes since based on the rent you can get for that property. This way of thinking can also be used for simply answering the question rent or buy?
We wrote a blog post on just that – http://www.twentysomethingsense.com/2009/01/rent-vs-buy.html
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I just bought about a month ago, used my credit union, low fees, decent rate, little to no stress.
My real estate agent didn’t like them too much since they do stuff a lot different than banks apparently, but honestly, I didn’t care, it worked out without a problem.
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I think rate is very important but important questions that I would ask, especially as a first time home buyer are as follows:
How are you paid? Do you have a fiduciary duty to me?
Besides the issue of the broker, an important question in the mortgage process is what company is going to service my loan? If you are obtaining your mortgage through your bank, does the bank service the loan or will they sell it? Our primary home mortgage is with Wachovia and it is serviced by Wachovia and the level of customer service is awesome. Two of our real estate investment mortgages are with CitiMortgage and the service sucks and its almost impossible to get a question answered.
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My mortgage broker is the state of Pennsylvania. I took advantage of a first-time homebuyer’s program that the state offers through Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency. This restricted the fees associated with closing and gave me a special rate.
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Rate and closing costs are important to ask about, but it’s still pretty easy for a lender to conceal the true costs of a loan. There are some other questions you should be asking:
- Are there any prepayment penalties? Sometimes, the lowest rates are only available if the investor knows you will be locked into the loan.
- How long is the rate locked for? Many brokers will get a lower rate by choosing a 15-day rate lock, and then charge you thousands of dollars to “extend” the rate until the loan is closed.
- What is the APR? The APR includes the impact of fees, and I’ve received offers for loans with a rate of 4.875% but an APR of 5.7%.
- Does the estimate include all points, taxes, and fees? Always get a Good Faith Estimate.
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We shopped around online and at several branches in our area, and quickly found that, once we read the fine print, every rate we found was no more than 1/4% away from the rest.
We were all set to sign up for an account at a credit bureau to save 1/4% off the best rate our own long-time bank (Citizens) would offer, but then I did some math… for that 1/4%, I would have to keep a minimum balance at two banks to avoid fees, not just one… and our new account at the bureau would only be accessible during limited hours, or through three ATMs.
But by going with the slightly higher rate and sticking with our own bank, we got bumped up to a higher level of account with more benefits and no monthly fees; we got the convenience of only having to deal with one establishment; and, that 1/4% was really only a few dollars a month difference, well worth saving the hassle.
Over the life of the loan, the amount you put down, and not paying PMI, are a much bigger deal than shaving another tiny bit off of your rate.
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I bought my first home two months ago and used a broker via a friend. The company was Wells Fargo and I was able to get my interest rate at 5% (paid down a point) with 3% down. I had no idea I would be buying a house so soon – especially at my age (22) and in the state of New Jersey with very high taxes.
I would call it a success story in being frugal!
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Step one is to get educated on mortgages and lending practices.
If you are well-educated on something, you are empowered to do your own research.
I have consistently found the best rates and terms on Bankrate.com.
One final note is that simply calling mortgage reps and asking them questions is part of the learning process.
The best education is self-education, which is most often a result of experience. There is a vast difference between knowing and doing…
“Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.” ~ Oscar Wilde
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We just refinanced through my hometown (small town) bank even though we’re about an hour away from there. They have low closing costs – about $1400 – low interest rates – lower than all the major banks we looked at – and i know that if I call them up I can talk to someone who knows who i am.
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My first home was a referral from our realtor who also happened to be my parents’ neighbor and someone I had known for 15 years – i.e. we trusted her.
My second home was the same – referral from the same realtor. Second home refinance was through Lending Tree – we picked the lowest rate/closing cost option. It worked OK, but we did just miss our lock period and got a slightly higher rate – it was their fault but they wouldn’t budge.
Current home was a referral from my mother-in-law who was a realtor at the time. No complaints.
We just applied with 2 different brokers for our next house just to compare rates. Both were a referral from my wife’s aunt who is a realtor.
Bottom line is the rates are mostly going to be the same – whoever you deal with. The thing to watch is the other fees like application fees, appraisal cost, etc. as those can vary. Also find someone you are comfortable dealing with and takes the time to understand what YOU want, not what they want to sell you.
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We’re in the middle of refinancing also. We sort of lucked into our mortgage. We were researching FHA 203(k)loans and found a local mortgage company that was experienced in doing them. At first it was a little tough to find someone experienced with the ins and outs but some deep we searching and phone calls paid off. He (and his company) has made everything much easier than we thought it would be. He has a customer for life now. Although low rates and fees are important; great customer service from people who know their products are very important to me too.
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We want to refinance our house, I made a lot of research on the internet, and found AimLoan.com to be one of the internet direct lenders with the best upfront information about every detail of either financing or refinacing. And their rates are good too. I also check them with the BBB and they are ok.
The Federal Reserve Board also has a page, Looking for the Best Mortgage, and they give you a Mortgage Shopping Worksheet with all the question you need to ask your broker.
http://www.federalreserve.gov/pubs/mortgage/mortb_1.htm
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Zillow (Zillow Mortgage Marketplace) has a tool that you can put your information into anonymously and get a list of people who would lend you the money, and at what rates and fees. This could be a good starting point. You can see who would give you the best rate without leaving your phone number for 500 brokers to call around the clock. If you see someone you want to call from that list, you call them and start the deal from there.
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We asked friends who had recently purchased a home to find a broker. We liked her because we were able to tell her “This is the maximum we want to pay a month. Tell us what we can afford and the lowest interest rate we can get.” She did. The credit union we bank had no tools to help us figure that out and just did some back of the envelope calculations that did nothing for my confidence (but our CU is a wretched joke). Same for the smaller banks.
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I know it’s a bit off subject, but my realtor referred me to a non-profit called NACA (Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America)as a first time homebuyer. Their rate (and the wonderful option of an interest buydown) beats EVERYTHING else on the market (including my favored credit union that I was pre-approved for and FHA). I had been to two brokers & didn’t feel comfortable with either one and am very grateful I waited to find this program. The ceiling on the purchase price might be low for some areas but I found it to be plenty high enough for my target price range. The program is in most major metropolitan areas & growing rapidly. If you’re a first time homebuyer I suggest you check it out if you have the patience to go through the program!
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I think this is an area where the buyer is at a terrible disadvantage. We had a terrible experience with the mortgage broker at our bank (found out he was later fired). This is a job that doesn’t require much education, really minimal certification requirements, where a lot of money can be made….all ingredients for manipulation and deception.
I now know many people who are mortgage brokers (see above qualifications for why a lot of people go into this). Many have offered to do re-fis for me with good terms. I’m not interested, but who knows….The broker is not your friend.
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I went to my credit union (Belvoir FCU in Woodbridge, VA), and was very happy with my experience. They had good rates but not the lowest, but offered to match the rate that I had found on another local bank’s website. So, I get to stay with the familiar financial institution that I trust and get a low rate… it was really a no-brainer.
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I was very pleased with my mortgage broker on a refi last month (from a referral, and I underwent extensive comparison and search activities). I ended up with the following:
4.625%
30 year fixed
No Points
total fees in the 2K range, don’t recall specifically
I haven’t seen a better deal out there from the forums and friends I know that refi’d; he totally hooked me up.
Importantly, it was hassle free, we were in different states so everything was done remotely, he actually returned calls and emails the same day (I’ve heard horror stories about lack of response vs. lock timing before), he behaved ethically and the good faith estimate was right on.
I listed out some other considerations, how to conduct a net present value analysis when confronted with multiple refi options and importantly, my mortgage broker’s contact info. If you like the spreadsheet I utilized, just drop a line in my contact form and I’ll send it to you as well to save you an hour in generating an NPV model.
http://www.darwinsfinance.com/net-present-value-why-you-should-use-it-in-everyday-life/
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We went with our local credit union for our mortgage — we could have gotten a slightly lower interest rate via a LendingTree partner, but I’d rather deal with someone I know and a bank that hasn’t been caught up in the sub-prime mess.
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A while back, Get Rich Slowly, linked to my site about the 8 Questions to ask your lender. My post provides insight, from a mortgage lender point of view, on the questions you should ask wehen selecting who to work with. Committing to work with a mortgage lender can be a big decision that can impact you for years to come. Making sure you not only get a good deal but someone you trust is very import. Check out the post on my blog – Lending a Hand:
http://www.lendingahand.com/2008/11/questions-to-ask-your-lender/
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Lending Tree worked well twice for me. Once you receive your initial offers (I believe there are usually 4 or 5), you can follow up with each one to get a lower rate/closing costs. Some offers are firm; others are willing to deal. I had two different brokers who kept undercutting each other until finally getting a great rate with minimal closing costs. It’s like buying a car, if you enjoy that experience. The only downside is that you get quite a bit of junk mail for a while. The companies with which I dealt weren’t household names, but my first mortgage was immediately sold to Countrywide; the second was immediately sold to Chase.
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I’m planning to go with No Cost Refinance. I refinanced Late Dec 2008 and working on No Cost loan again for 4.875% (No Escrow without Escrow waiver Fee)
I have spoken to many brokers and lenders and finding one who low rates takes time. But, time I put in paid of well.
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Regarding the best way to find a mortgage broker, one thing I would recommend people NOT do is to use the real estate agent for a referral. Although it is illegal for the realtor to take kick backs from a lender in return for business, there are other factors in play. When a realtor does business with a specific lender, he or she is hoping that the lender will cut a break on interest rates, fees, etc when it’s time for the REALTOR (or the realtor’s family) to get a mortgage. It’s called returning the favor. There are ways to achieve the same end result. Before all the realtors out there flame me, I know what I’m talking about because I worked alongside the industry and count many realtors as personal friends. We talk!!! I don’t begrudge them doing their thing, of course, but (as I’ve learned myself) the buyer should do as much research as possible. Look for and talk to the local “stars”. They stand out time and again for a reason.
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Credit union all the way! Best service, lowest fees, and easy to work with.
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We just went through getting a new mortgage and had a good experience with Guaranteed Rate. They work differently than a mortgage broker. Although you “lock” in a rate (I never understood this random practice), if rates fall, you still get the opportunity to lower the rate for free before the closing — which we were able to do. The last time we got a mortgage, we worked with a broker, locked in a rate, rates fell before the closing, and she said she was unable to do anything about it without us starting the process again and paying more finance charges.
In any case, you still have to like and trust who you work with — in our case, we had a several recommendations for a certain person at Guaranteed Rate, and the company seemed to work a little differently than a typical mortgage broker (maybe a little more nimble somehow? they operate differently and have lower associated costs) but we were pleased with the outcome.
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Tried 2 mortgage brokers when I bought my home and 1 more when I bought a rental property. None of them was able to get me a better rate than what I got by just calling up a bank…any bank.
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We just bought a new house and went to our credit union where we’ve been members for a quarter century. Big mistake! They use an outside mortgage broker for loans and we were assigned a horrible one. The time before that when we bought our last house, we went to bankrate.com and picked one based on rate. It wasn’t even in our state. The guy (who we never met) was fabulous.
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Oh, in the case of my home, the mortgage brokers’ rates were HIGHER than what I got at the bank with which I signed. And no, the bank didn’t charge me stupid fees, I’m allowed to double my payments and make annual prepayments of 15%, and they even waived the certified check fee for the down payment to the builder. When I make my final payment on Dec 15 of this year (1 year and 2 months early), they won’t be charging me any mortgage discharge fees.
In short, I don’t think mortgage brokers are needed.
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What would be an interesting article would be one about how to avoid paying scammy real estate agents tens of thousands of dollars to participate in their scammy industry.
As far as I can tell (having never actually purchased property myself), the real estate agent industry is essentially built around controlling access to real estate ads, and then charging you absolutely ridiculous rates to be able to even see which homes are currently listed for sale. They make finding listings nearly impossible for the general public, then they offer to drive you around to see some houses (which you could just as easily do yourself if you own a car, and the ads were available), and then they charge you 6% when you actually buy a house, essentially for doing nothing other than providing you with the list of houses currently for sale. Six percent is a lot of money when the house costs $500k.
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Rate is #1 followed closely by mortgage options (prepayment/lump sum anniversary etc)
First thing I do is find a broker through word of mouth. I then ask for my best package. Once I have that, I fire it off to my bank. I ask them to beat it. Once they do, I fire that back at the broker and ask them to beat that… and so forth back and forth until the best deal is reached.
My last renewal I had 2 brokers and my bank competing for my business.
That’s how you get things done
Relationships mean nothing, despite what they will have you believe. Once you begin your term. You just pay your monthly obligations and nobody sends flowers to each other. Very little reason to even speak to them for the next 5 years.
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My wife and I have used our local credit union (Redstone Federal Credit Union; redfcu.org) for as long as we’ve had bank accounts, so they were sort of a default choice.
I shopped around a bit, but no one gave me a compelling reason to go anywhere else. Having our mortgage on the same online banking system as our savings, checking, and credit card is nice, too.
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“The Mortgage Professor,” Dr. Jack Guttentag (whose real estate columns you may have seen in your local newspaper) has created a list of what he calls “Upfront Mortgage Brokers,” brokers who disclose their fees in writing – upfront – and also disclose the wholesale prices (rates and points).
http://www.mtgprofessor.com/upfront_mortgage_brokers.htm
If the broker gets a rebate (kickback?), it is sent to the borrower.
See the page for all about UMB’s and the list.
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@Adam – I have to agree with you completely. We formed a network – 4 of my neighbors were trying to refinance. Everyone had contact with 3-4 brokers and lenders.
So, we played hard to get to match the best rate. It doesn’t really matter if they are nice to you or they value your business. You have you numbers and ask them to beat it. If not keep moving.
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Getting a Good Faith Estimate is very important when comparing one lender to another. It details the where all the closings costs are coming from.
I have been posting free Mortgage Advice & Credit Adive for awhile, and encouge peolple to look into what others have to say before making your final decision on which lender to work with.
4.6% is available today on 30 year fixed rates. It all depends on the closings costs you are being charged.
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If you have any friend that works for a large establishment ( one with > 1000 emplyoees) ask them to post your requirement on their company’s mailing lists. Most companys nowadays have mailing list where employees can exchange referrals. You can even ask the colleagues, whom to avoid or their opinion on a given professional or service.
I work for one such company, and I regularly see people asking for mortgage agents and all other service providers. In fact, thats how we found our realtor and we have been really happy with his work.
Keeping your eyes and ears open is essential, and you don’t need to trust anyone blindly. But if somebody is recommended by people who are in almost similar situation. There’s usually good reason behind that. Same goes for the professionals who fall on the “Avoid at any cost” list. I would be really reluctant to give my business to somebody who is denounced by one of my colleague for whatever reason.
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When I bought my first house 5 years ago I followed my mother’s recommendation and used a mortgage broker. I had already been pre-approved from my current bank at 5.875%, but I didn’t know what I was doing and used a broker. He found me the fabulous rate of… 5.875%. I got to pay him about $2700 for submitting my application to a single bank and getting me the same rate I would have gotten on my own. I sold that house two years ago when I moved, and bought a new house. The second time around I kept my money and went with my own bank
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The first mortgage broker we met with was a friend of a friend. She was new in the biz and obviously had no clue. She kept trying to sell us those scary mortgage products that are blowing up in people’s faces all over – teaser rate, balloon payment, negative equity – because that’s what her boss wanted her to sell. I had a hard time respecting her after that.
Then we did a new-homebuyers class offered by a local non-profit. They have lists of participating providers whom they can vouch for. I called several off the lender list – banks and brokers – and only one person was really helpful, so we went with her. We got a good rate, all the fees made sense, and we felt comfortable working with her. We went back to her for our re-fi and if anything had a better experience than before. Since then my sister has gone with her, and I recommend her to anyone buying or refinancing.
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Anyone who tries to charge you a premium in exchange for “forming a positive relationship, and being easy to deal with” is a HUGE waste of time. Honestly, you barely ever talk to these people, there is no need for anything more than hard numbers. They can take their ‘positive relationship’ nonsense and shove it.
Look for the best numbers, shop them around. That’s all that matters. You will not be talking to these people much, if at all, once the deal is done.
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Agree completely w Adam at post #39: relationships mean NOTHING. We did something similar to what Adam did… but we played ING Direct (a well-known, Dutch, virtual bank/mortgage/insurance firm) against our long-term bank. Even if our banker (nice girl, we liked her plenty) had sobbed, we’d still have gone with the best overall deal… which ended up being ING Direct. They had great educational tools on their website, and we played around with them for ages, checking out the effect of lowering the amortization period and adding lump sums and so on. Can really inspire you, those tools!
For illustration: 4 years and 2 months into our first mortgage, we’re 4 years and 1 month away from paying it off. We chose a 15 yr amortization and weekly payments. However, we’ve made nearly as many additional payments against the principal as we’ve made total payments. Plus we’d saved a 29% downpayment. Same frugal habits apply to saving a downpayment as to paying off the mortgage early… focus on the dream/ small pleasures / rare treats / reduce-reuse-recycle / take care of your health.
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Yes, it makes sense to use Bankrate to find the best of mortgage brokers. The site packs an ample amount of quality financial information.
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We went the personal referral route. In fact, our friends who first referred our loan officer weren’t able to use her due to an issue with their grant program but liked the lender so much felt good referring them. We had another pair of friends who had used her and highly recommended her. We initially had talked to a lender with our bank, but they came across as completely incapable. I called the recommended lender and after a few minutes on the phone felt completely at ease about her abilities. I was also pleased that it was a local bank. We got a great rate, wonderful service and will be happy to pass on the recommendation to any of our friends that ask.
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