Buying A Home
Nechie122
member
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Choosing a lender
We already have a preapproval letter from one bank, but our realtor said it's important to meet with other mortgage brokers to make sure we're getting competitive rates.
How many lenders did you meet with, when did you meet with them, and how did you choose them?
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Re: Choosing a lender
Eh, we were slackers and only did Wells Fargo at first since we do all of our banking with them. Then in our first bidding war we were told that the listing agent didn't like Wells Fargo and preferred a local lender, so we got a second pre-approval from that guy. We actually like the local guy better and will probably stick with him. He's been giving us better rate estimates than wells and he's always reachable.
You definitely want someone who is available on weekends in case you need to make an offer quickly. You could ask your realtor for a recommendation and see what that person says and ask friends for others.
We haven't met with anyone in person yet. With the larger banks (Wells) there isn't an in person meeting ever unless you go through a local branch. It's all online. When we get a verbal acceptance of an offer we'll schedule a meeting with the local guy and go from there.
You probably already know this, but take a look at fees and point requirements in addition to rates. Someone might give you 3.5% versus 3.75%, but there are other factors to consider.
We met with maybe 5-7 different ones. It was quite stressful trying to figure out the best deal. In the end we looked at their rates and the PMI (some of them allow us to do an one time payment of PMI in a large sum instead of including it in the mortgage). There are a lot of other factors to consider as well.
We also discovered the ones who were prompt at replying and helped us out a lot. But at the end what matters is that you're getting the best deal possible. I remember feeling guilty for going with a different lender while we really liked the other one (because people were nicer). But we had to remind ourselves that this will be US who will be paying this for years to come.
Sort of piggy backing on this as we are about to being the pre-approval process. Did you get pre-approved with all 5-7 or did you pre-approve with one and then do the shopping around once you get to the stage where you are applying for a mortgage?
I originally thought to shop around for rates/fees during the pre-approval (get pre-approved at multiple banks)so once we found a house, we'd already know who to put an application in with but my realtor suggested to just get pre-approved with their mortgage officer and worry about the shopping around later. I guess I just felt like I didn't want to be rushed around trying to figure it all out after an offer has been made (and the clock is ticking) but I'm not familiar with the process so perhaps that's the way you are suppose to do it