How to Get the Best Deal
on Atlanta Home Mortgage Loans
Here's
my advice in a nutshell. Shop on the Internet and then use a local lender you
can trust who can also match those rates.
Don't trust any advertised rates. There are always details they never
mention. They will say anything to make their phones ring. Once
they have you on the phone, they'll suck you in and sell you a product you
could have gotten anywhere else.
So, who can you trust?
I've been a real
estate agent for 10 years and have met a lot of loan officers. Many
are very good at what they do. Others, I wouldn't trust for a minute.
My four best recommendations are as follows because all four:
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Offer very competitive rates. They don't mess
around
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Get the job done. If they say you are approved,
you are approved
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Will get you the HUD-1 statement 48 hours before
closing
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Will attend the closing to make sure nothing goes
wrong
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Will give you a Good Faith Estimate that you can
trust
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Are really motivated. If they screw up, they
are off my list and no more referrals
Let all four give you a quote. It's a crazy, competitive market with
changes happening daily. If shopping, make sure you get quotes at the
same time and day.
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Cameron Stevens
770-423-2265
cell 404-966-2135
fax 770-428-1409
Bank of North Georgia
269 Roswell Rd.
Marietta, GA 30060 |
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Go to Cameron's website
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Gary Rosenshein
cell 678-471-2200
fax 770-234-6101
3535 Piedmont Road, NE
Suite 1050
Atlanta, GA 30305 |
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Go to Gary's website
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Steps to Getting a Great Mortgage
1.
Get a copy of your credit report.
A
federal
law was passed in 2008 that required the credit agencies to supply you
with a free credit report at least once per year.
As you'll see on the federal website, there is an
official site where you go to get your free credit report.
www.annualcreditreport.com It's
kind of a hassle going through and getting your report at all three credit
agencies, Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. They also don't give you
your credit score. They give you information about all of your credit
accounts but they make you pay to get their credit score. It's about
$6-$10 each. The problem is that the scores they give you aren't the
same scale that the lenders use and talk about. These scores they give
you are from 500 to 990. So it's kind of a waste of money. Usually
it's just a lot easier having a lender do a free credit report for you.
Just have one lender run your report and supply you with a copy. The
lender will also be able to translate the data and tell you what it all
means. Lenders pull credit reports all the time and usually don't charge
you upfront. 2.
Get a quote from an online lender. This will give you a
good foundation to make comparisons with. Make sure you compare apples
with apples. Make sure lock periods, credit score assumptions and impounds are
all comparable. I've tried Lending Tree and they give you four quotes that
are very difficult to figure out and compare.
Instead,
E-loan seems to make it very easy and straight forward. E-loan claims no
lender fees but they make up for it in the discount points they charge.
Use E-loan to keep track of rates. They have updated rates posted
every day. If a lender changes their quote on you and blames it on the
changing market, you will be able to verify this by keeping a daily print
out of the E-loan rates.
E-loan is now basically Lending Tree. So now I really don't have a
good on-line source to track daily rates. 3. Call a
few local
lenders who were recommended to you by someone you trust. A good loan
advisor is such a great value. They can make sense out of all the various
programs and advise you on what's best for you. When they see that you
have all of your financial documents in order and you have been shopping around,
they will most likely give you their most competitive rates from the get
go. 4. Make sure you
compare "apples with apples". The cost of the loan is not just the
interest rate. It's the combination of interest rate and the
associated lender fees. When comparing lenders, just
compare the closing costs that are lender related. Don't go messing
around other closing costs that the lender has no control over. We'll
deal with those separately and make sure we get the best deals for each
service.
-
Starting on January 1, 2010, All
lenders will be using the same Good Faith Estimate (GSE) forms.
This hopefully will make it easier to compare proposals. There are
also new regulations which will require lenders to honor their estimated
costs up to a certain limit. This is supposed to keep the lenders
from supplying customers with unrealistic "estimates".
I don't get anything by
recommending the above loan officers except the knowledge that I can trust them to give my
clients great service. (full disclosure: Greater Financial Services
does benefit my company, RE/MAX Greater Atlanta. But I don't get
anything personally. If they can save you money, use them. If
not, it really doesn't make a difference to me)
If you go with a random lender, you end up just
being another number. If they mess up your loan, you are just one of many
other loans they have in process. With my recommendations, if you mention
my name, thet know that if they don't perform, it just isn't your loan
they're losing,
but all of the future referrals I might send their way.
I've
seen many clients get suckered in with all of the claims of "no closing
costs" or some really low ball rates. I will admit, I'm always on the
look out for the best deals and often get drawn in by some amazing offer. But when I finally get someone
on the phone or get a good faith estimate statement, it always seems like the
seductive rates always seem to slip away. All of those things are just
hooks to get you in the door. Then when you finally see all of the
details, it's usually not any better than what a local lender with full service
can provide. If
you get a really low rate, make sure your "lock in" is in writing. Some
shady loan officer might be speculating that by the time of your closing the
rates will have gone down and he'll be able to honor those low rates. If
the rates go up before closing, the lender will find some sort of technical
detail to deny you the loan, not a nice thing to have happen when you have
everything all set up for the big move. If the lender is out of town
you'll never get them on the telephone. They won't care. You are
just one of many loans. Don't
get fooled about someone offering no closing costs. There is no such thing
as a free lunch. Banks have employees that must get paid. There are
definitely costs involved in originating a new loan. They either can be
itemized so you know exactly what you are being charged for or they can
be hidden by being incorporated into the loan rate or points. You might get "no
closing costs" but you'll be paying a higher interest rate or more points. If
you do happen to find a lender who really can offer some really low rates with
really low closing costs, be prepared for really little service. You'll
place a call and will get a different person every time who really doesn't care
if your loan closes on time or not. They get paid by the hour, not by the
sale. That's if you're lucky enough to get someone at all. Most
likely you'll get a computerized answering system that will walk you through a
series of confusing choices and leave you swearing at the phone. You get
what you pay for. Everyone's
risk tolerance is different. If I were just refinancing my mortgage to get
a better rate I might take a chance with an unknown lender with little
service. If it didn't close it wouldn't mess up my life. But
if I were selling my home and moving to another home and had things packed and
movers coming at a specific time, I sure wouldn't want to take a chance on my
loan not closing. No amount of savings would cover the stress and the
hassle of a delayed closing. Whatever
lender you choose, it really helps to get the loan process going early on in
your home search. That way, when you find a great home, you'll be in a
powerful negotiating position by being pre-approved. So
get pre-approved and then call us when you're ready to go find the home of your
dreams. Sincerely, Tim
Maitski
RE/MAX Greater Atlanta
cell 404-216-0472
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