Nathaniel Fried
The single most important agenda item in getting one’s first mortgage is to work with the right lender. It’s critical that the lender have sufficient experience and knowledge, as well as having access to the widest possible number of programs. This is a necessary first step.
The best way to find this lender is to talk to a successful real estate agent. A good agent will necessarily have several dependable lenders with whom they consistently work: their business depends upon it. Furthermore, a referral to a lender from a Realtor will carry far more weight than would a phone call out of the blue: the lender will want to maintain their good relationship with the Realtor, who is likely a very good source of business and income for them. The first-time borrower can draft off of the inertia from that relationship. It basically means instant VIP status.
The worst way to find a lender is from a newspaper or online ad. Most of these advertisements are in place to generate contact information and then are immediately sold to the highest bidder (and then sold again and again and again). A contact with one of these advertisers will result in a deluge of phone calls, usually made by a telemarketing loan officers sitting in phone banks spread somewhere throughout the country. They cover a massive volume of potential borrowers and exist in a numbers-game focused world – not one focused on customer service and the typically high-information-needing first-time borrower. And their rates and fees are usually not better (and are sometimes much worse!) than the local professional that would be referred by a local Realtor.
Contributor: Michael Hausam from hausamgroup.com
