Buying my first home... any tips on choosing a Mortgage banker/broker?

[Schema Thing]

I don't know where to start. Do I go straight to a bank, or do I go through a broker?


A couple of details: I'm purchasing the house from my mother at a good but fair price, and I'm self employed. My income for the past two years fits the calculations just fine, but before that it was probably not quite enough.


Thanks for any advice in advance; I'll check the thread at lunch!

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. Closing my house today. Be prepared to document EVERYTHING!

It has been one of the most stressful events in my life. If I were you, the first people I would talk to are the folks you currently bank with. Good luck. Just be aware that it is going to be a lot of work but in the end, it will be worth it.

Edited to add, buy a fax machine, you are gonna need it.

[Schema Thing]

3. thanks for the advice!

I'll look into a fax machine.

My current bank is BofA, so I'm hoping to avoid using them.... but I guess I should see what they offer.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

5. Join a credit union. They actually care!

A few years ago I lost my job and got to a point where I just could not make my loan payments one month. I had literraly pulled every rabbit out of every hat I could find. I called my credit union and told them the position I was in. Know what they told me? Skip your payments for a few months, we will tack it on to the end of the loan. Call us when things get better. Try THAT with BofA.

[woodsprite]

2. Congrats on buying your first home!

My husband and I didn't have a preference when we bought our 2nd house. Our realtor had a mortgage company that shared their office building and was in the center of our town. They had very competitive interest rates and it was very convenient to be able to do business all within one building. One less worry for us when we were working with school deadlines, getting out of paperwork from a deal that fell through, getting our new paperwork and the paperwork on our old house figured out, etc. Since this was a bigger 'brand', I'm kind of surprised (but very glad) that they have not sold our mortgage in the 10 yrs we've had our house. Was disappointed recently now that we're dealing with the mortgage company face-to-face again (due to Hurricane Sandy damage), that they are no longer affiliated with our real estate agent and don't have an office in our town anymore. It means anything we do takes at least 1.5 to 2 hrs - even if it's dropping off an insurance check to be put in our escrow account.

For our first house, we went with the absolute lowest price ARM mortgage we could find (fresh out of school and just starting jobs). It was a company I hadn't ever heard of and we found by going through the mortgage rate listings in the newspaper. I don't know if it makes a difference or not, but it seemed our mortgage was sold at least 8-10 times in the 18 yrs we had the house. We were always having to get used to new payment procedures, etc. and it was a pain in the butt.

Best of luck!

[Schema Thing]

4. Thanks, woodsprite.

[trof]

6. Yep. Go to bankrate.com (link)

https://origin.bankrate.com/mortgage.aspx

Plug in the required info and they'll show you a list of lowest rate mortgage lenders.

[SheilaT]

7. I bought a home four years ago,

and I got my loan through the mortgage person recommended by my realtor who was in the same building. It was relatively painless, but I was also putting 20% down.

Only recently has my loan been sold, from MetLife to Bank of America. Either way, I do electronic payment.

[David Zephyr]

8. Congratulations.

It's still the best rung on the ecumenic ladder for working class folks. If one can, one should try to own. Rents will always only continue to go up.