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I'm looking to buy a house shortly. Online lenders such as Sebonic, Consumer Direct, Quicken, etc, seem to be about .5% lower than brick and mortar lenders such as Wells Fargo, BofA, etc. First time buying a house so not super familar with the process. I am interested, potentially, in some different types of mortages. Specifically, I would be interested in built in PMI as I plan to only put 5% down. I might also be interested in negative points to help with down payment.
Is there really a significant difference in B&M vs online?
If so, are there particular lenders I should look at for things like built-in pmi, negative points, etc, vs other lenders who will be less likely to do it?
I'm looking to buy a house shortly. Online lenders such as Sebonic, Consumer Direct, Quicken, etc, seem to be about .5% lower than brick and mortar lenders such as Wells Fargo, BofA, etc. First time buying a house so not super familar with the process. I am interested, potentially, in some different types of mortages. Specifically, I would be interested in built in PMI as I plan to only put 5% down. I might also be interested in negative points to help with down payment.
Is there really a significant difference in B&M vs online?
If so, are there particular lenders I should look at for things like built-in pmi, negative points, etc, vs other lenders who will be less likely to do it?
There are literally hundreds of lenders in Plano. Try face-to-face and see if your experience involves the education that you need, and should pay a premium to get.
Work with a real bank and a person that you can call my banker even has her cell phone listed on her answering machine and she will take calls on it until 7:30 p.m. at night
On a previous purchase we got ours through Lending Tree (aka Discover), and truthfully it wasn't that pleasant an experience. Communication was through phone and email, and without the ability to have face-to-face discussions (so that misunderstandings could be solved right then and there), it was a bit more stressful than we had experienced with previously-used brick-n-mortar mortgage departments.
We were drawn to online because of the tiny reduction in rates, but in the end, the miniscule dollars we saved weren't worth it.
Also, whether pure coincidence or not, that mortgage purchased online was sold and resold and resold again within a span of two years. Of course there's no guarantee that a brick-n-mortar won't sell your loan, but it was such a royal pain to deal with four different mortgage companies - new payees, new payment addresses, making sure the transition was smooth (double-checking that the right principle balance was correct). We didn't escrow taxes and insurance, but I can imagine that would have been a mess to make sure tax and insurance payments were made.
OnLine are fine. Go to bankrate and look at rates and reviews. I have bought/refinanced 3 times this way and the service was great. Note that after you get your mortgage finalized it will probably be sold to a different lender. This should not affect you in any way, other than they will direct your payments to this new company.
However, and this is a friendly warning, do not use something like lendingtree where they offer to find you the best rate. Your data gets sent out to multiple lenders and they will keep calling and emailing until you are beyond exhausted and annoyed.
OnLine are fine. Go to bankrate and look at rates and reviews. I have bought/refinanced 3 times this way and the service was great. Note that after you get your mortgage finalized it will probably be sold to a different lender. This should not affect you in any way, other than they will direct your payments to this new company.
However, and this is a friendly warning, do not use something like lendingtree where they offer to find you the best rate. Your data gets sent out to multiple lenders and they will keep calling and emailing until you are beyond exhausted and annoyed.
Thank you for sharing your experiences! Good info to know.
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