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 three best recommendations are as follows because all three:
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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
-
Will get you the HUD-1 statement 48 hours before
closing
-
Will attend the closing to make sure nothing goes
wrong
-
Will give you a Good Faith Estimate that you can
trust
-
Are really motivated. If they screw up, they
are off my list and no more referrals
Let all three 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 770-500-3020
620 Hembree Parkway, Suite 100
Roswell, GA 30076 |
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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. In
Georgia, you can get a free copy of your credit report directly from each
of the three credit agencies twice per year. Experian Equifax
Transunion 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. 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.
-
Pick an interest rate and get the
total loan costs associated with that particular rate. The higher
the rate, the less the lender fees will be. Look how you actually
get money back when you go with the higher rates. E-loan quotes
lender fees mostly by points (one point is one percent of the loan
amount).
-
Total lender costs are on the HUD-1
on lines 800 to 822. Lenders have different names for all the
fees. It really doesn't matter what they are called or how they
are itemized. Just worry about the total. On the Good Faith
Estimate, you'll probably have to jump around in order to only pick out
the specific lender related costs. It would be nice if all lenders
would make their Good Faith Estimates correlate with the HUD-1 but
unfortunately, they don't. If in doubt, ask the lender which HUD-1
line number each fee would correspond with.
-
Remember, don't fall for the trap of
just looking at the bottom of the Good Faith Estimate where it says
"Total Cash from Buyer at Closing". There are too many estimated
closing costs that will be beyond the control of the lender. Shady
loan officers will under estimate things like insurance, title insurance
and taxes in order to make their Good Faith Estimates look better than
they really are.
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
404-845-0265
cell 404-216-0472
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The No Closing Costs
Gimmick!
If you're in
Atlanta, you've probably heard a radio commercial with a guy telling you
how he can refinance your loan without charging you closing costs.
He calls closing costs a scam and accuses lenders of ripping off
borrowers. He actually calls them predators. After hearing him day after day I began wondering if
maybe I should check it out. So I called the number and asked the
salesperson about refinancing my loan. I told him I had heard his
commercials and I didn't want to pay any of those nasty closing
costs. That morning I had checked with my usual lenders and knew
that the average 30 year fixed rate loan was at 5.25%. So I figured
that his company that was ranting and raving about not charging closing
costs would be able to give me a 5.25% rate along with them paying
"every dime of my closing costs". When I called, I was
told that the rate for a no closing cost loan was 5.875%. He
said for him to give me 5.25% he would have to charge me $5900 in closing
costs. I pretended to be outraged. " What? I thought closing
costs were a scam and a rip off? Any lender can charge zero closing
costs if they increase the interest rate. Why not raise it a bit
more and give me money back at closing?" Technically, what he
says in the ads is correct. Who knows, maybe his rates might end up
being a bit lower. But call me old fashioned, I just don't like
someone not telling me a key detail up front. What else isn't he
telling me?
The
reality is that there are costs associated with originating a loan.
You either pay for them with cash, roll them into the loan, or you pay a
higher interest rate. Don't take my word for it. Check it out
yourself. Here's the link to their site.
Lenox loans
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