Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

[LuxLiving]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

Here's a Rent vs. Buy calculator - I'm not vouching for this lender though because I know NOTHING about them.

http://www.hfamerica.com/calculators/rvb_cl.html

[CRFSaver]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

MY father retired spending most of his life as a lending officer and the last 15 years as a real estate appraiser. He always told my sister and I you only get a loan from 3 places, a bank, a bank, and a bank. Guess where I would get a mortgage? LOL BTW credit unions count as banks in this case...

[disneysteve]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

MY father retired spending most of his life as a lending officer and the last 15 years as a real estate appraiser. He always told my sister and I you only get a loan from 3 places, a bank, a bank, and a bank.

Why? What is his problem with mortgage companies?

[creditcardfree]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

Here's a Rent vs. Buy calculator - I'm not vouching for this lender though because I know NOTHING about them.

http://www.hfamerica.com/calculators/rvb_cl.html

Thanks for this. I was wondering if we should possibly rent or not, but we will be there at least three years if not longer. Based on my inputs and the calculator says we would be better off buying a home.

[creditcardfree]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

Why? What is his problem with mortgage companies?

I'm curious about this too. I think my husband tends to be more traditional and a little leary of the internet, so I could see us heading in that direction. I'll let you know when I know.

We just listed our house for sale with a realtor last night. The neighbor next door put their house up last week!! So I hope it at least brings some traffic!! Both are houses are pretty nice, but they are different. Neighbor wants to bet whose sells first!! Hmm...not really a betting person, but I should pick mine, right?

Wish us luck...the market is so slow.

[Great to be Debt Free]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

I agree that rates and fees are important, but so is service. There are so many pieces that have to come together. I was really happy with Countrywide last year when we used them. The guy I delat with was really fantastic and did a lot to help me understand everything I needed to know (DH had purchased our other house before we started dating, so it was my first time with the process). Unfortuately, he's not there anymore and we'll be moving again soon. I was hoping to work with him again -- customer service is SO important to me when there are so many overwhelming things going on (like a move across country ).

Best of luck to you!

And good luck with your house sale- creditcardfree. Just remember, declutter as much as possible and remove excess personal photos of you and fam. People need to be able to picture themselves in your home and its hard to do when you don't recognize anyone in any photos! (You prolly know all that...can't help myself -- I just read Homesellers Checklist)

[creditcardfree]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

I agree that rates and fees are important, but so is service. There are so many pieces that have to come together. I was really happy with Countrywide last year when we used them. The guy I delat with was really fantastic and did a lot to help me understand everything I needed to know (DH had purchased our other house before we started dating, so it was my first time with the process). Unfortuately, he's not there anymore and we'll be moving again soon. I was hoping to work with him again -- customer service is SO important to me when there are so many overwhelming things going on (like a move across country ).

Best of luck to you!

And good luck with your house sale- creditcardfree. Just remember, declutter as much as possible and remove excess personal photos of you and fam. People need to be able to picture themselves in your home and its hard to do when you don't recognize anyone in any photos! (You prolly know all that...can't help myself -- I just read Homesellers Checklist)

I'm a big believer in customer service as well. I hate to get bad service...so you do bring up a valid point. That's how I picked our real estate agent. I know she will be awesome to deal with.

I do know all about the decluttering process, ect. I'm so decluttered it almost looks like we don't live here!! The closets may be a bit full still but they are neat. Personally I don't remember looking in closets and cupboards when I looked at houses, it seemed too nosy!!

[creditcardfree]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

Our house has sold in one week!!! I had two offers to pick from. One was over list!! I took that one!

So our realtor has suggested and given me a name with someone at Countrywide mortgages, just waiting for a call back.

House hunting trip planned in the next couple of days. We are on a roller coaster!
Thanks for all the advise. If there's anymore I'd be glad to hear it.

[mom-from-missouri]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

Don't use CITI bank. We did a refinance with them, nothing was as promised. Everytime we called for info, we got someone in India, who spoke very poor English. They approved us (we have a letter) for one amount, but denied sending us the letter for that amount, said it was for a different amount. Then, they didn't close when they were supposed to, because our file got left on Asmire's desk, and he had been transferred to a different division.....Finally we closed, 1 month later than promised. They sent a traveling notary to our home, who said he needed documents we didn't have, and we not told we had to have for him--such as a certified copy of my husbands first wifes death certificate and a copy of our marriage license. We had our copy, but we wern't about to give him our orginals. was a nightmare.

[boefixepa]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

I would suggest keeping your own escrow rather than letting the mortgage company do it for you. If you have too, just open another saving account and transfer the money needed into it each month. That way you earn the interest and you never have to worry about your mortgage payment going up. You can keep tabs on the insurance and property tax. I think the fact that mortgage companies even do this is testement to how poor america's savings habits are...apparently we can't even save for once a year bills???

[LuxLiving]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

Congratulations CreditCardFree on your house sale!! Let us know how the details work out!

[risknothing]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

A friend of mine just use ING Direct, they are offering a $695 closing cost deal right now.

[creditcardfree]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

I will check into ING Direct, too.

The woman from Countrywide is looking into VA loans for us as well, since my husband is Army Reserve. We didn't get a VA loan in the past...not sure why. There is a funding fee that they automatically roll into the loan. I'm having her run numbers on all the different scenarios...so I can see the differences.

We have money to put down, but she was almost discouraging me from doing this. I guess the loan amount would be larger...bigger commission from her. Just because you can get a 0 down loan, doesn't mean you should take it!! I think that right there is another testement to how poor America's finances are!!

[Ima saver]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

I might be strange, but the mortgage on our land payment is "in house" meaning that they cannot sell it. I pay a little higher rate, but I can walk in there anytime and pay extra on the principal, which I have done every month. I have paid off $40,000 in 18 months because of that.

[creditcardfree]

Re: Deciding on a new Mortgage Company

Yes, I really need a company that will allow extra principal payments without incident. I know someone mentioned an issue with that. It is so nice to be able to pay debt off quickly and early.