Residential Mortgage - Finding The Best Home Mortgage Lender
Carrie Reeder
There are a lot of lenders out there—some great and others that can be difficult to work with. And here’s the good news—they all want your business! Before agreeing to a contract with just any lender, you should make an appointment with (in person or by telephone) and ask them some important questions. Doing so could make the difference in a wonderful experience and one that you’d rather forget.
If you are in the process of applying for a mortgage loan—either online or off—then you should ask the following questions to every lender that you are considering.
• What are my loan options? Some lenders specialize in only fixed-rate mortgages and you couldn’t get an ARM if you begged. It’s important to know your options up-front.
• What is the interest rate? You can easily go online and find the competitive interest rate on any given day, and you should ensure that your chosen mortgage lender is offering you one in line with the market.
• How many points will I have to pay to guarantee that rate? Just because someone offers you a great interest rate, that doesn’t mean there won’t be strings attached. Be sure and ask if the interest rate they quoted you is contingent on your buying points.
• Will you charge an application fee? This can vary drastically from lender to lender, and in some cases the fees are negotiable.
• What happens if I pay off my loan early? Some lenders will include a pre-payment penalty in their contract, actually penalizing you for paying off your loan early. If one is included in yours, try to negotiate around it, or look for another lender.
• Can I lock in my rate? Be sure to ask specifics about this. Will it be possible to lock in a rate at the application stage, or will you have to wait until you’ve been approved? After you’ve locked it in, how long is it good for?
• Will I be assigned a person that I should call with questions? It is vital that one person is familiar with your application and loan documents so you don’t have to explain yourself every time you call with a question.
• How long will it take you to approve a loan? With the Internet and other modern advances, there should no reason that a lender can’t process your loan in a jiffy. If a lender appears to be slow, you should take it as a red flag.
The best way to find a good lender is to use a home mortgage loan company online
that will give you multiple offers from different lenders. You want to let
lenders compete over your business. To see our list of these types of
recommended mortgage lenders, visit: Recommended Home
Mortgage Lenders
About the Author
Carrie Reeder is the owner of ABC Loan Guide, an informational website with articles and the latest news about various types of loans.
The latest information and news on Mortgages:
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March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Commercial mortgage-backed bond returns are accelerating as the Federal Reserve ends support for the $700 billion market, showing growing confidence that loan defaults won?t derail the economic recovery.
GMAC's mortgage arm will be tough to unload (Detroit Free Press)
ResCap, the mortgage lending subsidiary of GMAC, "has been a millstone around the company's neck" in the words of GMAC Chief Executive Michael Carpenter. But disposing of ResCap without crippling GMAC's automotive lending business or adding to GMAC's $17.2-billion debt to the U.S. Treasury Departmen...
More consumers pay credit card, but not mortgage (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
CHICAGO ? U.S. consumers are starting to look like a frugal, debt-fearing lot as they pay down billions of dollars in credit-card obligations. But an alarming trend is emerging: A small but growing number of people are skipping mortgage payments in favor of paying their credit card bills.
Will mortgage rates rise? Fed action only part of the picture (Everett Herald)
Question: We have been hearing that mortgage rates will go up after March 31st because the Federal Reserve will stop buying mortgage bonds. Is this true? How does that work?
More consumers pay credit card, but not mortgage (The Scranton Times-Tribune)
U.S. consumers are starting to look like a frugal, debt-fearing lot as they pay down billions of dollars in credit-card obligations. But an alarming trend is emerging: A small but growing number of people are skipping mortgage payments in favor of payin
Yahoo! News Search Results for refinance
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As the economy slowly begins to recover, changes are takingplace in the housing market that experts said indicate the besttime to buy a home or refinance an existing mortgage may benow.
Refinance may limit financial flexibility (Bankrate.com via Yahoo! Finance)
Reduced financial flexibility may be the price for a home refinance that lowers your mortgage rate.
Refinancing bonds to save Consolidated 5 $450,000 (The Times and Democrat)
The Orangeburg Consolidated School District 5 board unanimously passed a resolution to refinance general obligation bonds that will save the district about $450,000.
Florida Hurricane Insurer Offers $2 Billion of Tax-Exempt Bonds (Bloomberg)
March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Florida ?s government-owned Citizens Property Insurance Corp. , bracing for an ?above-normal? hurricane season, plans to sell $2 billion in tax-exempt bonds as early as this week.
Centro Selling Queensland Mall as Investors Quit Fund (Update1) (Bloomberg)
March 15 (Bloomberg) -- Centro Properties Group , the Australian developer that posted a A$3.5 billion ($3.2 billion) loss last year, is selling its Surfers Paradise mall after failing to attract investors to replace those withdrawing funds.