Author Topic: Mortgage lender - which would you go with?  (Read 1789 times)

mamabear18

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Mortgage lender - which would you go with?
« on: January 14, 2020, 07:50:49 AM »
first time home buyer. doing research on rates aprs, etc. a few questions:

1. Does everyone charge a fee to process your application and provide a pre approval letter? If they don't charge, should I be concerned?

2. I am the only one working as my husband stays at home with the kids. He's been out of the workforce for 3 years. Does he also need to apply for a pre approval letter?

3. In order to get a true picture of the rates and aprs, I believe I have to go through the application process and get a pre approval letter right?  if so, do I need to get a pre approval letter from the 5 mortgage lenders I am interested in? or do I only need one? how do I compare rates if I just have an "estimate?" FYI- I have only reached out to a few lenders that have given me info based on my fico score 8 from Wells Fargo. no credit pulls yet.

I know I have to keep my eyes on the rates and aprs - I also want to make sure that when it comes time to close, that I can close.  Below are the lenders I'm looking at. which ones have you had good or not so good experiences with?

1. aim loan
2. pen fed
3. tcf bank (local from Minnesota)
4. mortgage broker #1 (recommended from a friend that used to live in Minnesota)
5. mortgage broker #2 (real estate recommendation)

If you have any other suggestions - totally open to them. Thank you!

SwordGuy

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Re: Mortgage lender - which would you go with?
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2020, 01:58:24 PM »
I've used PenFed in the past.   Rates were generally good and they were mostly reasonable.

Mortgage underwriters are a pain in the ass no matter what lender you go thru, so it's likely to be a pain in the rear regardless.

mamabear18

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Re: Mortgage lender - which would you go with?
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2020, 06:04:43 PM »
sword guy - lol thanks for letting me know. looking forward to it

rothwem

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Re: Mortgage lender - which would you go with?
« Reply #3 on: January 15, 2020, 05:14:24 AM »
I used aimloan, they were pretty good to deal with and had great rates.

I don’t recall getting a preapproval letter, but then again the houses I was looking at were super cheap in proportion to my income so I wasn’t worried about getting the loan. I may have just skipped that process.

rothwem

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Re: Mortgage lender - which would you go with?
« Reply #4 on: January 16, 2020, 06:27:06 PM »
roth - that is funny and lucky you!

Re-reading my post, I didn’t mean for it to come across as such a humblebrag. I’m by no means a high earner, but I was looking at very inexpensive houses the last time around.

I went through my authorization paperwork out of curiosity today, and I found a pre-authorization letter stapled to my earnest money check copy. So I must’ve gotten one, didn’t mean to mislead. I definitely didn’t pay for it though.