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The super-mega homeowner thread
bowen
Sup?Registered User regular
Sup?Registered User regular
So I'm looking into purchasing a house. I know the ins and outs of the procedures, I know what I need to do, my problem is I need to know some companies that give out loans. I'd try my local banks, but they have been spectacular at giving me shitty rates on things like car loans and the likes, so, does anyone have any recommendations for a bank/mortgage company to go through?
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
bowen on
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You'll definitely want to spend a little time investigating your options, because the lender is a great resource. If you get the right one, they'll be eager to help you with all sorts of things since they want you to get to the "house successfully bought" stage so they can make their money, too. If you're in the DC/Virginia area I'd be glad to recommend the group I went with, can't remember where you are.
Quickenloans SUCKED. They offered me ridiculously terrible loan rates and almost no customer service.
We refinanced last year and it was a complete and utter fucking nightmare. The processor we were working with would ask for the same paperwork three or four times, and then when we would ask about the status she would ask for the same paperwork again. That was three months of back and forth bullshit there...and three months after it got escalated to the manager. I think our first contact was the first week of April, and we ended up finally closing the last day of September. From some people I've talked to, our experience was typical for any of the big places.
The only plus was that they dropped our rate from ~3.75 to 3.5 (30 year, FHA) for no cost because they didn't want us to walk - our personal banker got involved so she pushed it up the chain as a high priority.
I could go on for pages about how horrible it was and all the things they did that were just ridiculous...like calling my new manager six times over a three month span to verify my employment, or screwing up home owners insurance in our escrow after I specifically told them 'this was a problem the past three times we set a closing date, get it right the first time."
Let's just say I'd recommend somewhere else.
But, check with your local credit unions. They typically have the lowest rates and some of the best customer support. When my Wife & I got our mortgage, and when we refinanced our mortgage through credit unions. They were extremely helpful, the rates were very good. Also, follow up was always with the same person that we could go into the office and talk with if we needed to.
Also, as a bonus. Any time you can take business away from a national bank its a good thing. Even if its just a drop in the bucket.
I’m the FASTEST there is, best not try it
It’s not about the ending, it’s about the JOURNEY
Isn’t that nice? Wait til you get to know me!
Which forumer am I?
Not really. I skimmed the rates in the area (Quicken, other major banks, etc) and they were about the same or higher than Bank of America. Since we were already with Bank of America (we landed with them after being sold about five times in late 2008 / early 2009) and had our checking / savings there already I just had our personal banker get the process started.
It WAS probably was the best bet, because our personal banker and other business is probably the reason they bought us a point and then dropped us another .125 instead of calling my bluff on walking away. We ended up with 3.5% / 30 years, so once we finally got through the headache, it was worth it.
We got FHA at under 4% and our down payment/closing costs were very, very low.
Are they national or local to you @amateurhour ?
I can't seem to pull up a website for them.
They may be local.
I also wondered if there was a homebuying thread stashed away somewhere around here, as it would be great to follow along and see what we might be missing.
@ceres I'm fine with making this a general first time homebuyers thread or I can make another.
I'd say 90 days is average once you get the ball rolling though.
I also got in on a sweet deal through a local non-profit that was given government funds, so I got $15k for that, which covered the down payment, and some of the principal.
https://www.wellsfargo.com/mortgage/lift
Do that, if you can.
I don't mind, as long as it stays on topic. Might want to change the OP to reflect that.
credit union was a slightly lower rate and it won't be a giant anonymous corporation if things hit the fan.
Yeah I don't have an agent yet, most of the ones I talked to don't even want to really talk until I get preapproved.
This is like a circular redundancy kind of thing I'm feeling.
One thing I'm curious about, is the pre-approval stuff pretty much what you're going to get for the loan, or is it an estimate of some kind? We got pre-approved for 235k at 3.25% (targeting a 200k house), which would be pretty sweet, but I'm not sure if the final rate could vary.
credit union was a slightly lower rate and it won't be a giant anonymous corporation if things hit the fan.[/quote]
Yeah I don't have an agent yet, most of the ones I talked to don't even want to really talk until I get preapproved.
This is like a circular redundancy kind of thing I'm feeling.[/quote]
So, I'm having a house built. Prior to that, I was pursuing a loan through a mortgage broker, who'd gotten me pre-approved. I ended up financing though the home builder, but my mortgage broker was a wonderfuly helpful, straight-shootin' guy.
Mortgage brokers get a bad rep because of the housing bubble a few years ago - so I'm still wary of them, but this one was a friend of the family, and good people. He helped me with eveything - from understanding local and state laws on real estate purchases, and explained every single line item for the total cost of the loan (it took two hours just to do that) - all without me paying a single dime for his time. I also got monthly payments at certain percentage rates, so I knew if I bought a house at X price with Y interest rate, what my monthly payments would be - very helpful for figuring out affordability. If I were to get a loan through him, [i]then[/i] he gets paid, but I never recieved a high pressure push for anything to finance through him.
If nothing, it could be worth sitting down with a reputable broker, and explain your finances and what you're looking for. They can then walk you through what loan vehicles are ideal, and solicit approval rates through their channels. They might have the best offer, they might not, but they're wired in.
I would try and find a bigger realtor then. the one we went through helped us do everythign, find a loan /preapproval etc.
my advice is that instead of having a cap of purchase price, figure out how much the monthly will be after taxes etc. we were actually able to afford a house outside our range since the payments worked out. so defintiely look above you price range
Home Inspection and Wind Mitigation
http://www.FairWindInspections.com/
The pre-approval letter shows your real estate agent/broker that someone did some due diligence in finding out if you're credit worthy, but final approval is dependent upon further due diligence being done by whomever is going to underwrite your mortgage. Here's (1, 2) a bit more info on that.
I bought 8-9 years ago and pre-approval was sufficient for us to make an offer on a house (contingent to passing a home inspection of course). I wasn't "approved" (there was no loan commitment) until the underwriters did additional research verifying I was a good risk and also making sure the house appraises at or above the contract price. Things that don't matter for pre-approval (like recently coming into a pile of money so your bank balance is now $20K over what it normally was over the past couple years) might matter for final approval, and if that's the case or in case family is gifting you the down payment, then you may want to discuss with the mortgage broker or their rep to make sure everyone knows what's going on.
I found my broker through Bankrate.com as well and everything went fine. Beat the Wells Fargo rate I was offered by almost 1% (which is several tens of thousands of dollars over the life of my loan).
If nothing else, it'll point you to some of the bigger national brokers and local guys you maybe won't find any other way.
Yeah, my pre-approval came in like 66% higher than what we were looking to spend. Don't use the number they give you - set a budget early on and only adjust if you can't find anything acceptable in your price range.
I've never needed pre-approval before having an agent take me seriously, but that might be due to them all being personally recommended. Usually the important thing is figuring out a realistic budget for yourself on what you can afford in a monthly payment. I suppose if you think you have awful credit, or a poor chance of being lent money, maybe you would want a pre-approval first, but really I think if you set yourself a realistic budget based on payment (and taxes, don't forget taxes) per month at 4% (yes that's high, but it will help you narrow down your target) and talk to an agent with this information in hand you should be fine to get started on the process.
I got my mortgage through a broker, that then sold it to Citimortgage. Citi was fucking awful to deal with, but my rate at the time (through the broker) was very good.
Hardest part so far is finding a lender.