Compare Mortgage Quotes

Refinance Rates for Today

Please enable JavaScript for the best experience.

In the mean time, check out our refinance rates!

Company Loan Type APR Est. Pmt.

mortgage shopping question

Posted on: 08th Aug, 2009 10:31 am
We are looking to get our first mortgage soon. I am wondering, what is the cheapest way to get a mortgage? mortgage broker? bank? I'm not talking about the interest rate, etc--I know I have to look for the lowest one. I'm talking about other fees that someone like a mortgage broker might charge for his services... What do we have to look out for? If I call someone, what do I ask? I know there are different fees, and I'm afraid someone is going to try to confuse me because I don't know what to ask.
Thanks!
It depends on which type of loan you require.
But in my view you should do review of things before directly going with broker.First you should conatct financial institute and gather information that will help you to take further decisions.
Also you can check with local lenders as per your requirements.
Posted on: 08th Aug, 2009 10:36 am
hi meshiloo,

welcome to the forum & best wishes for future.

you need to do a good market reseach. evaluate all the options. note that you can think about FHA loans. since these loans are guaranteed by FHA, they are cheaper
Posted on: 08th Aug, 2009 11:44 am
Hi meshiloo,

You can contact a mortgage broker and he can explain you about the fees that they charge you. It is true that there are different types of fees associated with mortgage. You can contact a few lenders and check out what type of rates and fees they charge. This will help you in deciding further about taking a loan. To know more about mortgage basics, check out the given page:
http://www.mortgagefit.com/mortgage.html
Posted on: 10th Aug, 2009 12:34 am
I am not sure how you can make a generalization that FHA Loans are cheaper? What will determine the best loan option is your overall credit profile and loan purpose.

What I would suggest you do is contact your local bank or credit union (assuming you have good credit) and complete a full application. Make sure when the loan officer tells you your credit scores you write them down. I would get back on the internet, apply online (or ask a friend or family member if they have someone they could recommend), take the complete application, do not have them re-run your credit just tell them what your 3 scores are and let them know that you are shopping around.

A loan officer can send you an accurate quote without running your credit, they will NOT be able to issue an approval until they can verify all the information, but if you have good credit and you were approved at your local bank, there should not be any additional challenges you will run into with a broker.

I like this method of shopping because it eliminates you having to give out your SSN to every person you want to get a quote from.

The document you want them to send you is the Good Faith Estimate along with the Truth and Lending Disclosure

Once you get a few quotes, you can post your situation here and people will tell you if you are being overcharged or its a good deal!

Best of Luck
Posted on: 18th Aug, 2009 10:09 am
jimmy, i can't agree with your thought about using a local bank/credit union. first off, it's a disservice to that insitution if all they're being used as is a conduit to another lender. why should they spend their time and money on a credit report and a preapproval only to see their potential borrower say "seeya" on the way to some other lender? i know i'd not be happy.

in addition, if i were approached by someone seeking a mortgage who told me about their credit report drawn by someone else, i wouldn't be able to issue a preapproval without pulling my own report anyway. and, of course, any mortgage-related "pulls" of a report within a brief period of time (say 14 days usually) has no effect on a credit score.

maybe lenders in other areas (or with other ideas) will neglect to get a social security number, but i don't want somebody calling me up to waste my time without disclosing vital information. not only that, i simply can't afford to spend my time doing business like that.

you are right about there being plenty of opinions available on this forum once someone tells us about their "deal-making." but that is another story for another day.

maybe brokers do business differently than we lenders do...could that be it?
Posted on: 19th Aug, 2009 12:17 pm
george,

i am not suggesting that the applicant "use" their bank or cu just to pull their own credit, what i am suggesting is that they go ahead and get an accurate quote along with their credit scores from their bank...compare online to other lending institutions. the disadvantages to having multiple companies pull your credit has nothing to do with your score going down, i was implying that their information would now likely become a trigger lead and they would start getting calls all day about refinance or buying a home.

the poster was asking how do i compare fees, not how to get approved. all things being considered, if an lo is aware of the 3 credit scores, ltv, loan type and property type, they can issue a good faith estimate. now any other information included in the loan application will not effect the rate or fees it will just effect their ability to qualify.

i would not want to call around to 5 different mortgage companies go through a 20+ minute application, have my credit pulled, become a trigger lead, have my email inbox and phone flooded with calls, just to find out the 3 out of those 5 lenders i gave all my vital information are not even competively priced...


my 2 cents, i can see why you would think otherwise
Posted on: 19th Aug, 2009 12:30 pm
i guess since i'm not in the category of those who worry about "trigger leads" and making calls all day i have a different mindset. i will certainly call someone back who has expressed an interest in obtaining a mortgage, but not excessively.

believe me when i say, please, that these calls annoy me to tears too, and i am continually purposely picking up the phone to tell these telemarketers to leave me alone.

i understand the need to find competitive pricing also...i think i misunderstood your initial note about the credit union, etc. maybe?
Posted on: 19th Aug, 2009 12:34 pm
George,

I do not buy internet leads nor do I call trigger leads..I was warning the poster that the more companies you give your ssn to the greater your chances are of becoming hounded by telemarketers
Posted on: 19th Aug, 2009 12:50 pm
It is really annoying when someone just calls you without citing proper reference and you land in trouble just for no reason, I have mde a policy for myself that I do not attend those calls whose numbers are not saved in my mobile phone, and if someone is really frustrating with continuous calls I just send them a small SMS telling them that I am really not interested with their product till the point they give me the reference from where they got my phone number.

SSN is really an impossible task for them
Posted on: 20th Aug, 2009 10:37 am
Page loaded in 0.107 seconds.