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I just called Bank of America and got 4.3%. I'm happy with that. I was pre-qualified in about 20 minutes and had the letter in my email-box. I met with a broker in Mooresville and he offered 4.5%.
It is a low rate, but as I explained above, the 4.5% offer might be the cheaper loan. You have to compare what they put into the closing costs. Until you do this, you don't know which is the best rate.
Brokers don't do this out of the goodness of their hearts. They will get you by slipping in a point or more on the closing costs. Your best bet in getting financing, is, assuming you are not sub-prime or needing a government backstop like FHA, is to simply call the lenders yourself. Tell them what you are buying and what deal can they give you. Make them fax you a truth in lending form with all the fees added in, then work through these fees 1x1 until you know exactly why each one is there. A lower interest rate won't do you much good if they jacked up the closing with additional cost.
Once you have this, then you can compare the offers and play them off against each other. It's a little work but can save you 1000s over the life of the loan. I don't know why more people don't go this route because they will fret endlessly over things like their credit rating, but won't spend the time to do some basic research on their mortgage. (a hugely more important item) Lenders reps. don't like it, they will refuse sometimes to give you an offer in writing which means you are going to get screwed so go elsewhere. We have the Internet now, so it should be no mystery how to look up anything on the form. Don't ever walk into a lender's office until you have a written truth in lending form from them that you have worked through. Else, it's like a lamb being led into a den of lions because they have a 100 ways to take advantage of you. In this business you can't trust anyone but yourself.
Do this and you will end up with the absolutely lowest cost mortgage. This won't work if you need a FHA loan, or you don't have a decent down payment. In those cases you really ought to sit down and think this through again as in you really are not financially ready to buy a place.
Lum, this is great advice
Anybody know anything about Olympic Mortgage Consultants out of Wilmington?
Supposedly, "Quotes that are etched in stone, never a penny more, no surprises at closing."
I just called Bank of America and got 4.3%. I'm happy with that. I was pre-qualified in about 20 minutes and had the letter in my email-box. I met with a broker in Mooresville and he offered 4.5%.
I've read their closing process was a nightmare? Hope not though, that's a great rate (assuming nothing crazy in the closing costs).
I just called Bank of America and got 4.3%. I'm happy with that. I was pre-qualified in about 20 minutes and had the letter in my email-box. I met with a broker in Mooresville and he offered 4.5%.
If you can avoid Bank of America...you should. They don't close on time and don't respect any terms of any offer to purchase that I've ever had. They also change the game at the 11th hour and tell you oh well!! I have had 3 closings in the last 2 months which were BofA and ALL, without exception were a nightmare. Two of those were EMPLOYEES of the bank who went with them because they got some discounts. We were the listing firm on both of those transactions and the last one, the buyer went from having to bring 8K to closing to 14K...notification the day before. The heck with the new rules and matching the good faith estimate..it was take it or leave it. It was one of my agent's transactions and she could not go the day it finally closed and that lady was not happy at all. Both of those employees said they would never use them again.
I would recommend a good broker, although I do business with Peoples Bank, Suntrust, BB&T and Fifth Third as well. Got an email from Fifth Third today that said they had a 30year fixed conventional at a flat 4%. That's a great rate. If they've got, others do too...your best bet is to go with someone who has direct personal communications and relationships with their underwriting and closing departments to ensure things go smoothly.
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I would recommend a good broker, although I do business with Peoples Bank, Suntrust, BB&T and Fifth Third as well. Got an email from Fifth Third today that said they had a 30year fixed conventional at a flat 4%. ...
As I said above, you don't know if this is a good loan until you look at the entire set of fees they put into the closing. Many many many if not most of the time, they will quote a lower rate then add the difference back by adding nonsensical fees into the closing costs. The banks don't use the same wording for these fees so this is why one has to get the truth in lending form, and then work through it until every single line item is worked through. This can mean the difference in $1000s due at closing time.
If you work with a 3rd party broker then you are guaranteed to add a significant cost to the loan because they got little ones they have to feed at home too.
Loves, I don't know anything about them, but my advice aside from what I have posted, is to assume they will use their etched stone to hit you in the head when you are not looking.
If you can avoid Bank of America...you should. They don't close on time and don't respect any terms of any offer to purchase that I've ever had. They also change the game at the 11th hour and tell you oh well!! I have had 3 closings in the last 2 months which were BofA and ALL, without exception were a nightmare. Two of those were EMPLOYEES of the bank who went with them because they got some discounts. We were the listing firm on both of those transactions and the last one, the buyer went from having to bring 8K to closing to 14K...notification the day before. The heck with the new rules and matching the good faith estimate..it was take it or leave it. It was one of my agent's transactions and she could not go the day it finally closed and that lady was not happy at all. Both of those employees said they would never use them again.
I second avoiding BoA for a mortgage if at all possible.
We tried to use them but at the last minute they wanted 15% down instead of the 5% that was agreed to when we locked in our interest rate. They say it was because we were buying in an area with declining prices (of course all areas had declining prices).
We filed a complaint with the BBB & the state, but we had to go with a mortgage broker to get the loan together in time to close.
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