Mortgage broker recommendation? (insurance, refinance, loans)

[balor123]

A friend of mine from another state whose wife is a mortgage broker says a good broker should offer the following:

"No point, no fee, no cost. All fees (including appraisal, attorney, lender insurance premium) are paid by mortgage broker."

So far the brokers I've spoken to here seem to add a few thousand in fees to the mortgage. Any recommendations for one that meets these criteria?

[FalconheadWest]

Almost all lenders/brokers can do what you're asking, but you're going to get a higher rate for it. If par is 3.25% for Convention 30 year fixed, to get everything paid for, you're probably looking at something like 3.875%. You pay for it one way or the other, either out of pocket, rolled into your financed amount, or within your interest rate. NOTHING is free.

[txgolfer130]

Attempting to compare requirements and "fee's" from one state to another is apples & walnuts.

As mentioned you can either pay origination or rate. But you're not going to get both. If I give you close to PAR, I have no room to pay for fees. If I give you PAR + .75% I can pay your fees, and a nice closing fruit basket.

If you want fees covered, ask your realtor to negotiate it. In Texas there are certain things sellers are required to pay for. There are certain things that are required to have here in Texas than other states. Title ins for example.

good luck.

[verybadgnome]

Avoid Capstar. Their underwriters require everything but a blood/tissue sample. I had to insure not just my house but the land beneath it.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Avoid Capstar. Their underwriters require everything but a blood/tissue sample. I had to insure not just my house but the land beneath it.

You can probably change that coverage now. Legally I don't think they can require you to insure for market value, just for replacement/rebuild value. Besides your mortgage has probably been sold to another bank by now.

[owlman]

I just refinanced 3 months ago but since rates keep dropping I'm doing another no-cost one now. (i don't know how long I will keep this house so I don't mind a higher rate) Figure I might as well, it's free to me. Somebody's losing money here (must be the gubmint for buying the original mortgage and first refinance ). It's a golden age for appraisers and title companies...

[austin-steve]

Originally Posted by balor123

A friend of mine from another state whose wife is a mortgage broker says a good broker should offer the following:

"No point, no fee, no cost. All fees (including appraisal, attorney, lender insurance premium) are paid by mortgage broker."

So far the brokers I've spoken to here seem to add a few thousand in fees to the mortgage. Any recommendations for one that meets these criteria?

Uh, then ask your friend how his wife makes money? Is she working for free. Also, you need to separate "prepaids" from the actual "loan costs" which show up in the 800 section of a HUD1 settlement statement.

The others are correct. The borrower pays for loan costs either up front or through an inflated interest rate. Nobody originates loans for free.

Steve

[pmiranda]

Moderator cut: mtg recommendations by DM only
Of course, as everyone has mentioned above... nothing is "free". Any refi has costs, and they're going to either get rolled into the amount to be financed or the lender will generously cover them in exchange for a higher rate that will cost you more in the long term. It's simple math.

OK, simple if you use Excel to do the heavy lifting, and I highly recommend you use it to work through the numbers. Make your own spreadsheet to check out how they got their numbers in the Good Faith Estimate. Practice on the numbers from your previous loan to see if you understand it. Don't be too quick to trade a slightly lower payment for an increased cost over the term of the loan. It's fine if that's what you want to do, but be aware of what you're doing.

[Pfhtex]

I love how people allege that the definition of "fair" is "free." Meanwhile realtors are still making 3% on each side.

People who go with the cheapest lender on the block deserve the level of service that comes with that.

[balor123]

No one said anything about fair and it's certainly not free. The bank is paying for it through the rate, even if it's the best rate on the market. I don't know what the compensation looks like and it's not clear that even if the compensation is low for this mortgage that the broker is losing out. They could, for example, be counting on future refinance business.