Mortgage company recommendations (Phoenix: sales, coupons, insurance)

[nolagirl]

Hey,

We will be moving to the area soon and planning to buy a house. Can you tell me about your exeriences good and bad with the mortgage companies. We are trying to determine who is good, and who to avoid as well. We would also prefer to use a company that doesn't sell the mortgage to another company.

We currently use National City and have been happy with them, anyone have any experience with them in in AZ?

Thanks for your help!

[sablebaby]

I have a great mortgage broker. But, trying to find a company that doesn't sell may be difficult. They sell them without you knowing and pretty quickly I might add.

[nolagirl]

Can you share his/her name and the company he/she works for?

[sablebaby]

Originally Posted by nolagirl

Can you share his/her name and the company he/she works for?

Sure, his name is Brian Cardenas and he's with Antigua Capital Funding. His number is 800-590-4959. He's an awesome guy and will spend time answering any questions.

[sierraAZ]

Originally Posted by nolagirl

Hey,

We will be moving to the area soon and planning to buy a house. Can you tell me about your exeriences good and bad with the mortgage companies. We are trying to determine who is good, and who to avoid as well. We would also prefer to use a company that doesn't sell the mortgage to another company.

We currently use National City and have been happy with them, anyone have any experience with them in in AZ?

Thanks for your help!

I was very happy with National City Mortgage. Was particularly surprised when they agreed with no problem whatsoever to do something that was sort of a favor (don't wanna mention details, but let's say... they technically didn't HAVE to do it). Btw, the local office refused to do it, and I got help on the 800 number, so my non-Phoenix location doesn't matter in this very positive experience.

[ptbrennan]

I wouldn't worry so much about your home loan being sold, as this is pretty standard. I highly recommend, however, that you educate yourself about the different types of mortgages, buy a financial calculator, and contact multiple lenders to shop their available options and regard for your needs.

Using basic TVM equations, you will find the best options for your mortgage (based on how long you expect to own the house), as well as be able to evaluate your lender's honesty and expertise. From my experience, even good lenders will try to sell bad products to you because they don't always understand the "finance" side of financing. Most are just sales people.

[TimtheGuy]

Originally Posted by nolagirl

Hey,

We will be moving to the area soon and planning to buy a house. Can you tell me about your exeriences good and bad with the mortgage companies. We are trying to determine who is good, and who to avoid as well. We would also prefer to use a company that doesn't sell the mortgage to another company.

We currently use National City and have been happy with them, anyone have any experience with them in in AZ?

Thanks for your help!

You could either find a Nat'l City office in AZ (not sure if they have them there), or find a broker or correspondent lender who uses Nat'l City as one of their wholesale channels. This lender could lock your loan in with Nat'l City and it would be sold to them after closing.

[cme4mune]

Thanks to Sablebaby. this is Brian Cardenas, Sablebaby's mortgage broker Finding a good mortgage lender can be difficult since the process is very foreign to most people and you have to rely on the honesty, knowledge, and integrity of your loan officer.

To address Nolagirl's question: there is no way to be certain that the lender you are getting the loan with will sell it. Any lender can do that even if they are one that typically services most of their own loans. Unfortunately, by limiting your choices to a banker that usually services their own loans you are probably not getting the best interest rate that you could get. One of our jobs as a mortgage broker is to assess your situation and needs and find a program that best suites you and then find a lender with the best rates possible.

To add to ptbrennan's comments: educating yourself is always the best way to go as well as asking a lot of questions of your loan officer. If the answers don't seem to make sense, ask for more clarification or a better explanation and if it still doesn't make sense trust your instincts. There are a lot of uneducated, unscrupulus lenders (not just brokers) in our industry. Ultimately you will have to have a level of trust and confidence in your lender because there are many opportunities for a lender to take advantage of you if that is their motivation or not get you a good deal if they are not an experienced professional. Feel free to contact me direct if I can be of any help.

[artvandelay]

I went through lending tre via Costco.com. A company called Pinnacle financial gave me the best term ESTIMATE. By the time the loan was approved, the market had changed rates a tiny bit. BUT, I had a second lender who offered me a lower rate with all other terms being equal. I told Pinnacle and they took 1/8 point off my rate to match. All in all a positive experience. BTW, Pinnacle sold to Franklin before my first pmt, Franklin sold to Wells Fargo before my 2nd pmt. Other than the annoying pmt coupons at first, I don't care if my loan is sold.

It's not a big deal, but I got a $300 Costco cash card for going this route.

I've also had great experiences with brokers. If you are clear with them about your requirements, and they are clear about how they make their money from lenders, then it's usually a good experience. What's good about a broker is that they have changing rate info that you don't get, unless you go through the application process.

Good luck, and ask lots of questions to all involved. READ FINE PRINT.

[Monster Daddy]

Why the hell would you people choose to go through a mortgage broker instead of just calling a bank??? Cut out the middle man completely and their conflicts of interest. (And don't tell me there isn't one, when mortgage brokers start disclosing how much they get paid by each bank then I might think otherwise.)

Lots of banks post their rates online so it's easy to check rates. And many like Washington Mutual (I know because I used them) have different tiers of rates, one for online inquiries and a higher one for mortgage brokers (to pay their fee of course!)

And Washington Mutual has kept my loan to this day. I even refinanced them twice to a lower rate at no credit check, discount points or fees other than paying title insurance/recording again. I asked them why they did it and their reasoning is I was in the demographic most likely to refinance so it was a preemptive strike. Hell, that kept my business.