What Strategy to Find a Good Mortgage With Good Rate (loan, interest rate)

[aheadofthecurve]

Hi Everyone. I'm considering a new house and would like to find the best mortgage with the best rate that I can. How strategy would everyone suggest to accomplish this? Are there any good websites with the best lenders? All comments are much appreciated!!!

[gbone]

Originally Posted by aheadofthecurve

Hi Everyone. I'm considering a new house and would like to find the best mortgage with the best rate that I can. How strategy would everyone suggest to accomplish this? Are there any good websites with the best lenders? All comments are much appreciated!!!

I would suggest the following:

• Educate yourself on the various loan products, including their upsides and downsides.
• Shop around. Go to various lenders and present them with the same questions you presented here. Compare answers and decide.
• The best rates correlate to your financial worthiness/credibility. The higher your FICO score the better. Larger down payment. Job stability. etc.

[cdelena]

I used a mortgage broker in the past and did better than I was able to find myself even with days of calls. Since the market continues to change I don't know if that is still the best method but for many the up front charge can still be a good investment.

[f_m]

Follow the rate trend to get a feel for the typical rates:
Graph the Trend from bankrate.com (tm):

Visit as many websites as you can that list rates so you can see what people are offering. However, when you look to use a mortgage broker, what you can get is going to depend on which broker you choose. So having comparative numbers is helpful.

If you want the lowest rates, then you will need to consider paying points for lower rates.

[davidhomes]

Depending where you are, there are many mortgage brokers here in this forum that would be glad to help you. I know we have NC, TX, CA and I am in FL. I think everyone here will treat you right and give you the best deal possible, but you do need to educate yourself first. Find out what fees are common and what they should cost you. Also keep track of the interest rate to make sure you are not getting an inflated rate just for an exchange of no fees.

[Daddys///M3]

Originally Posted by davidhomes

Depending where you are, there are many mortgage brokers here in this forum that would be glad to help you. I know we have NC, TX, CA and I am in FL. I think everyone here will treat you right and give you the best deal possible, but you do need to educate yourself first. Find out what fees are common and what they should cost you. Also keep track of the interest rate to make sure you are not getting an inflated rate just for an exchange of no fees.

Excellent advice. Too many prospective homebuyers do not educate themselves on the process. There are folks out there that actually put more research into buying a TV than a home.


By the way, we have NV as well.

[renriq02]

How about SC and NC lol

[davidhomes]

Alright, alright. My mistake. I was thinking off the top of my head and forgot you guys.

BTW, We also have NC and SC as well as NV here in case you missed that...

[VSB]

Originally Posted by aheadofthecurve

Hi Everyone. I'm considering a new house and would like to find the best mortgage with the best rate that I can. How strategy would everyone suggest to accomplish this? Are there any good websites with the best lenders? All comments are much appreciated!!!

My wife and I just had a conversation about this as we finally locked in our mortgage today:

1. Knowledge is power. If you don't know how to read a HUD-1, and understand what fees are junk, and what fees are compulsory, you'll be raked over the coals. I recommend Carolyn Warren's book, particularly if you don't know a thing about mortgages. I also bought Mortgage Confidential by David Reed but I tended not to refer to it as much as Ms. Warren's book. Finally, you will learn a lot by just shopping around, reading online, and perusing these forums.

2. Comparison shop. I sent one mortgage broker a note stating that I didn't think she was going to be competitive but I appreciated her time and effort. Within 1-2 hours she had a counteroffer that was priced better than the competitor. Unfortunately, she couldn't offer me a second mortgage product (the first could), so while she beat their offer on a 1st mortgage by 0.125%, it wasn't going to pan out in the end. I spoke to a lot of bankers and generally one mortgage broker.

What I found interesting was that this particular mortgage broker had been quoting me higher prices (e.g. 1% origination instead of 0.5%) and higher rates than I had been quoted elsewhere. This is what drove me to write her the note. When I revealed to her that competitors had her beat, her numbers suddenly looked significantly better. Don't be afraid to haggle. After that, I realized I had much more leverage than I had previously thought.

3. Get your latest credit report, and FICO score. Getting your credit report is free (annualcreditreport.com) and does not affect your credit score. If you go through the government-established website (above), then you can get your FICO score for a discount relative to the equifax website directly (I think it saves you $6 or so). You need to know your score so you can better negotiate the rate you deserve.

We locked in:

First mortgage: 4.875% at 0.5% origination, 0% points, typical fees. The only "junk" fee I was charged was $300 for "underwriting fee" which I didn't fight.

Second mortgage: 6.5% no fee, no prepayment penalty for a 10 year call balloon mortgage.

I was counter-offered 4.75% by more than one bank and broker, but no one could get me a decent 2nd, and the first bank was unwilling to give me a second behind someone else's first. Study your situation, you may need something unique. Overall, my blended rate is < 5.5%, which is great for what amounts to a jumbo loan.

[sathyakamaraj]

is it a good website to know national average rate

Mortgage Bankers Association

And how mortgage brokers are telling that rates may change for every 1 hour. Where can the home buyer find that rate changes?