New to MMM. Always been frugal, but was starting to be swayed into the middle-class American lifestyle. So glad I found MMM to get me back on track.
We're purchasing a new house, and need some advice on shopping for a mortgage. We're putting 20% down and have credit scores 780+. I have no experience in this and am a bit overwhelmed. We've been working with a broker in our town over the last year while we were house shopping. He's very helpful and accommodating (as he should be, he stands to make some $$$). I've been told that he's very good at getting things done and making sure things run smoothly.
The seller doesn't want to close until April 1st. This makes it hard to compare mortgages because we're not going to lock in a rate yet. Because of this I tried to compare rates from a few lenders yesterday just to get a comparison.
Our credit union's posted rate yesterday for a 20 year fixed was 3.5%. I spoke with the broker and he thought he could get us 3.75%, maybe 3.625% but said it's hard to give a firm quote because so much can change. A .25% difference ends up being about $30 month or $7,000 in the life of the loan. Their closing fees were about the same. He didnt think he could beat the credit union's rate but its possible he'd end up matching it in the end. He was reasonable and seemingly honest. He said that people have a lot of problems with that credit union getting their mortgage to closing and we could end up with a lot of headaches (I've heard this rumor elsewhere too).
My feeling is that we have a good credit history, no debt, and plenty of cash on hand that we shouldnt have problems with the credit union. However, I havent done this before and I know what a colossal headache this can become. Is it worth the piece of mind to go with the broker and hope he can get us a comparable rate? Is that just the lazy way out?
Are there any questions I'm not asking that I should be?
Thanks in advance