Mortgage Broker Houston Reviews
In addition to finding an excellent Houston Realtor, it’s also important to find a great Houston mortgage provider to make your home buying experience as seamless as possible..
Following are a few tips on how to get a great deal on a mortgage and work with a great mortgage broker. If you’re looking for some specific recommendations on good ones to work with, please email me at Paige@HoustonProperties.com
1) Start early. The best advice I could give you is to make sure you start the pre-approval process as early as possible. Get your information together, contact multiple parties to get quotes and start the pre-approval process long before you need to use the pre-approval letter.
2) Look for a Houston mortgage provider who has a good track-record of closing at the rates they quote in the beginning of the process. Since amended mortgage regulations took affect in January 2010, the process to get a loan is much more stringent than it was several years ago.
Many of the Internet lenders will promise good rates, but when it comes down to closing, they’ll end up saying something like, “Oh, I just found out that I you don’t qualify for this rate because of X or Y. I’m sorry, and I know that you have committed to closing on your house in 3 days from now, but we can get it done for this other rate instead.” Often, on the Internet, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
If you or someone you know doesn’t have a relationship with a mortgage provider, it’s often hard to find out the answer to this question – so look for good referrals and recommendations from people who can answer this question for you.
3) Work with a mortgage provider who over-communicates. If, in your initial communications with the person, they’re slow to respond or don’t provide you with the information you need, move on to someone else. If they’re difficult or “too busy” upfront, it is a likely indicator they won’t be serving your needs well during the closing process.
4) Get multiple quotes on the front end. Build relationships with several people, as you may need to turn to a different provider at some point in the middle of the transaction.
5) Work with someone where you have “leverage.” With about 50% of my closing, at some point, the financing process has become difficult for some reason. It’s important that you “matter” to the mortgage provider, so they go above and beyond to work on your case.
You don’t want to be dropped to the bottom of the pile as it could cause you stress, missed deadlines, penalties and potentially a lost home purchase. Do you have a large account with your bank? Do you have a long standing personal relationship with the banker? Has your Realtor worked with the mortgage provider on other transactions? You want to make sure that you (and your agent’s) phone call is returned promptly.
6) The moment your mortgage broker changes loan providers, make sure you know about this change THAT DAY. Make sure you don’t experience a “Bait and Switch.” A number of providers are claiming that they’ll provide underwriting in-house. In a few transactions I’ve had during 2010, the provider switched to an external underwriter in the middle of the transaction.
This caused delays, problems, lack of communications and higher rates. Make sure that you get in a commitment IN ADVANCE whereby if you are suppose to have internal underwriting, and they switch to a 3rd party, you’re notified the same day. Most Houston home buyers who haven’t been through this process in 2010 wouldn’t know the importance of asking this specific question until it’s too late.
7) If you suspect there are delays or “potential problems” in the process, immediately start a strong conversation with a 2nd mortgage provider. In many cases I’ve seen, there are small indicators of a problem: slower response times, more vague answers, new information requests that aren’t explained.
None of them by themselves are a problem. It’s not until weeks later that I or my client found out this supposed “done deal” couldn’t be done and we had to scramble to restart the process with someone else. However, if the client had started a “back-up” process with someone else when there was the first indication of a problem, it would have made the transaction go much more smoothly.
If you’d like a list of quality Houston mortgage providers, please contact me at paige@houstonproperties.com.
Since a home is one of the largest investments that most people ever make during their lifetime, it’s important to work with great advisors during the process!
