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It begins... [long, sorry]
Hello!
I've been lurking here a little bit because we found out right around New Year's that DH got a new job in another state. We've been wanting to buy a house for a while, but we've been renting because we currently live in the NYC area where all we would be able to afford is a shoe box. But now that we're moving a few states up, we can afford it! We just got a buyer's agent, and we're going to drive up for our first house-hunting session in a couple weeks! Very excited about it! We'll be first-time home buyers.
We've done a ton of research, so I think we know all of the major advice and wisdom. And I've read some here, too, so thanks! Any more bits of "What I wish I knew then" advice you have would be great!
There is one thing we're not sure about. It seems like the best mortgage rates are from the online, national lenders. We thought that would be a good idea because these days, pretty much as soon as you close, your lender ends up selling your mortgage off to another company anyway, so it's not like you're going to be working with the same bank for 30 years. But our realtor said we should go with a local bank because they send an actual person to the closing who can trouble-shoot better than a national lender doing everything by email. Makes sense... but, is the one-day convenience of having a person at the closing worth a few points higher rate on our 30-year mortgage? I can see both sides of it... not sure which would be better. Any thoughts?
Re: It begins... [long, sorry]
You'll just need to get quotes from both local and national banks and compare the fees with the interest rate. We went with Wells Fargo because our mortgage guy there was amazing, the rates were very similar to other banks and honestly I felt like a lot of other people blew me off. This guy answered all my questions and said that he has never had a loan sold (which wouldn't bother me if it was). We do not have any Wells Fargo banks here but we do have a Wells Fargo mortgage place and so we met with the guy in person a few times and he was always available via email as well. He did come to closing and was super helpful getting some updated documents to the title company in time for closing. I've recommended him to two or three people so far because he was so helpful for us during the whole process.
I would say go with whomever you feel most comfortable with but I don't think you can make a general assumption that big banks will be less helpful than local banks. You'll just have to look at the actual cost of the loan and the interest rate you will be paying for the next 30 years.
Are you getting real quotes from online lenders after you've submitted a full application, had credit run, etc? Or are you just comparing to advertised rates?
I ask because a lot of lenders advertise low rates, but to get that rate you may have to pay discount points or other fees. Make sure you compare the APR of each loan, not just the note rate, to get a true comparison.
These days lenders require so much paperwork that I think it is much more helpful having someone local that can talk you through the process and explain what's going on vs. someone working out of a call center that doesn't have the time to make the experience personal.
I recommend renting - for 6 months or so in your new location to get a better feel for the location and just what neighborhood/school district etc you would want for long term. Then look.
I highly recommend credit unions for their mortgage rates. Stay local - you can always try playing one bank against another for a better rate if you are a highly qualified borrower (top credit scores, good income, no/low debt.
We're in the process of getting real quotes from some of the local banks. We just talked to them a couple of days ago and they are getting back to us slowly. We haven't yet gotten a real quote from the online banks. It's just the advertised rates that look appealing.
We thought about renting for a while before we buy, but we've been watching the market for so long now, we're afraid that it's going to start bouncing back any month now, and we won't be able to afford the kind of house we want. We know a few people who live in the area and talked to them about good neighborhoods and school districts, and we spend a ridiculous amount of time on Zillow. So I think we're going to jump right in.
We've moved 4 times in 5 years, and we've pretty much had it with the transient lifestyle; we want to settle down. I want this to be the last time I pack up all my belongings and move for at least a decade!
This exactly.