Technical > Home Improvement > Mortgages

Mortgages

I used a mortgage broker recommended by our agent. Rates and closing costs were competitive and it was very easy. Other than that, I'd have used our credit union or shop around. But we needed simple and quick as we needed the loan turned around in just around a month.

$1 closing costs are almost always offset by rolling into the loan or upping the APR.

reply to Dodge
I just bought my house in early November. I used Quicken Loans, mainly because I was moving from Pennsylvania to Florida. I am happy with how it all went. Everything went down as it was all spelled out and there weren't any "gotcha" moments or surprises to speak of.
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So put me on a highway, and show me a sign.
And take it to the limit one more time...

reply to Dodge
Preapproval does not guarantee that you'll get the mortgage. What they do is take your monthly income, multiply by 28%, and say you're preapproved for a monthly payment and property taxes of that amount, as long as you put down 20%.

There you go. That was simple. When you actually apply, they can go as high as 35%, depending on your circumstances (credit history and job history are important).

A formal preapproval is really to set the buyer's mind at ease and make it more likely that they'll accept your offer. Look at banks in your area; they usually have the rates and payment information online. Pick one with good rates and get their preapproval.

reply to Dodge
I wanted to work with a real person in my area. So I when I went for a mortgage I chose a local bank--as in a LOCAL bank, not just a local branch of a national chain.

I was very happy with my loan officer, she stuck through (3) different homes where we had to back out after inspection process. She was invaluable about providing local insight, advice on the realtors, etc...

My loan was not the absolute lowest rate, and the closing costs were not the absolute lowest, but they were very competitive at the time.

When I went for a HELOC I used another local bank for that, again it was very nice to be able to deal with local people and a local organization.

reply to Dodge
Who do you do your banking with? You should consider starting there. When we started house shopping a few years ago, we were easily pre-qualified and pre-approved by our bank due to the number of accounts and amounts in them. As others have said, being pre-qualified helps your realtor because nowadays most sellers and their agents won't consider you as a buyer without it. Having the pre-qualification and/or approval gets your realtor in the door.

reply to Dodge
Another +1 on using local people.

You're going to be sharing a lot of sensitive details with the loan company. Shop around, but I would only want to work with reputable people.

Get a good realtor and they'll almost always have someone they can recommend. It's in their best interests to hook you up with someone who has a good track record of drama-free closing.

I made the mistake of calling some of the companies who listed really low rates when I was looking to refi. Some of these outfits robo-called me relentlessly for weeks! I wasn't about to give my business to scum like that.
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AT&T U-Hearse - RIP Unlimited Internet 1995-2011
Rethink Billable.

reply to Dodge

As you can see, my local commercial bank has better rates than my local credit union:

Term   Bank     CU
----  ------  ------
10yr  2.625%  2.875%
13yr  2.700%   N/A
15yr  2.750%  2.875%
20yr  3.375%  3.375%
30yr  3.500%  3.500%

reply to djrobx

reply to Dodge
Credit Union, your not just getting good local service, your also helping your local community and employment and for others to get this in the future.

Even if you have a pre-approval, its always contingent on getting all the verifications done, a pre-approval is all based on what you provide and nothing else.

reply to Bob

Term   Bank     CU
----  ------  ------
10yr  2.625%  2.875%
13yr  2.700%   N/A
15yr  2.750%  2.875%
20yr  3.375%  3.375%
30yr  3.500%  3.500%

reply to Dodge
You can get pre-approval from anywhere. I'm in the home buying process now (closing is on the 30th) and got my pre-approval from Chase only because I could fill out the form online and have the results emailed to me quickly.

After the whole bidding process was over and I knew how much of a mortgage I needed, I actually shopped around and ended up choosing the company my realtor recommended. In my case that was Rate One Inc, which is located in Tennessee. I myself live in Michigan, and while the whole process was over the phone/email, I never had a lick of trouble with them. As a matter of fact, the owner of the company and her staff have been an enormous help. I'm quite certain large banks or even the medium sized CU I belong to wouldn't have done what she did, such as writing a letter to the seller letting her know my loan was ready to move so she could stop worrying about the fact that I'm running under an FHA.

FWIW, my credit union only offers 15-year fixed mortgages and 5-year balloon. No clue why they wouldn't offer 30-year fixed given that they're the most popular and the standard.

No. She did it because it IS approved, underwritten and waiting.