How to Get a Good Mortgage

Getting a good mortgage rate and terms at a reasonable cost can be tricky for the untrained consumer. I have been involved in the financing of real estate on two fronts, first as an appraiser who has appraised for lenders on over one 1000 mortgage loans and second as an investor who has applied for and refinanced over 100 loans in the past 15 years, so let me share some tips on how to get a good mortgage at the lowest possible cost. Visit my blog RealEstateInvestorsLife.com for more mortgage tips.

1. Know your credit report. One of the first things to do before considering a home purchase is to get a current copy of your credit report, and scrutinize it for errors. If you're applying for a no-documentation loan, for example, the credit report can be the most important piece of information available to your lender. Errors can be completely erased, along with out-of-date information that might weaken your credit score, but it takes time. Begin working on this project well in advance of applying for any mortgage loan. This way, reporting agencies have time to update your data.

2. Shop around. Get quotes from 3 lenders. You may be able to save yourself hundreds or even thousands of dollars by avoiding mortgages with high rates and/or high fees.

3. Always check the 10 year bond rate. All mortgage rates are connected to the 10 year bond rate. This rate can be found at any finance or stock website, such as Yahoo Finance, Google Finance, Ameritrade, Fidelity and many more. For example, if your mortgage broker quotes you 6% on a 30 year fixed today and tomorrow the 10 year bond rate dropps by. 025 basis points you can be sure that the rate of 6% which you received yesterday has also dropped. But your mortgage broker or lender will not call you. Why should they? They make more money in selling you the higher 6% rate. You will have to call yourself and notify your broker that the 10 year bond rate has dropped and you expect your 6% rate to also drop accordingly to probably 5.75%-5.875%. Trust me once you make this kind of call, your mortgage broker will know that you are on top of the game.

4. Try to avoid and eliminate the middle men, â mortgage brokers, loan brokerâ and go directly to direct lenders or banks. Private loan brokers rarely are able to compete with direct lenders or banks on rates and they often charge excessive 3rd party closing costs or â junk feesâ , such as excessive processing fees, application fees, warehousing fees, documentation preparation fees and so forth. By going to a direct lender or a bank you can almost be certain that the closing costs related to your loan are always valid and no junk fees are applied.

5. Always haggle. A mortgage is just another consumer product. A few clever words can get a sweeter deal. Make your demands know upfront. Let them know that you would like to have your processing fees, which usually is about $330-$500 waived. Know your markets interest rate and try to pay the least amount of points. Try to pay less than 1 point on loan between $200,000-$1,000,000. On loans greater than 200,000 it is not uncommon to pay. 075% points with no rebate at the back end. What is a rebate you ask? Mortgage brokers get an upfront fee called â points or Origination Feeâ which is a percentage of your loan, but what most do not know is that mortgage brokers also get a back end fee, called a â rebate or yield spreadâ which is their markup over the par rate that they get from the source investor or lender, Assuming a 2 point markup, for example, the broker would quote 1 points on an 6.5% loan. If the current lender based par rate is 6% then you just paid the mortgage broker 1.5% total for your loan. The borrower pays for the rebate over time through the higher interest rate. By law in most states, such as California the mortgage broker must disclose the back end rebate fee to the consumer on the closing paperwork sent to the borrower, so check to see how much rebate or Yield Spread the broker is charging. The ideal situation would be 0 rebate and just negotiate on upfront points, this way you are certain you will receive the best available rate at the most reasonable cost, nothing is hidden or unknown.

6. Make sure your selected loan does not have a pre-payment penalty. Many people get what they consider a great loan and are not even aware that they have a prepayment penalty of 3-5 years. They find out when they try to refinance or sell off their existing loan that they would need to pay 6 months interest or more as a prepayment penalty. Lenders and Mortgage brokers also benefit in giving you a pre-payment penalty since they have you tied down with their loan product for 2-5 years not to mention higher compensation for them in a form of rebates if they can persuade you to get a loan with a pre-payment penalty. Do not fall for it. Never get a loan with a prepayment penalty.

7. Have the lender or broker write down all the costs associated with the loan, they usually are obligated by law to send you a â Good Faith Estimateâ within 3 days of the initial loan application. All your fees have to be listed on the Good Faith Estimate, ask if the lender or broker will waive or reduce one or more of its fees or agree to a lower rate or fewer points. Youâ ll want to make sure that the lender or broker is not agreeing to lower one fee while raising another or to lower the rate while raising points. Thereâ s no harm in asking lenders or brokers if they can give better terms than the original ones they quoted or than those you have found elsewhere.

Remember when buying or refinancing Real Estate, shop around to compare costs and terms, and to negotiate for the best deal. Your local newspaper and the Internet are good places to start shopping for a loan. You can usually find information both on interest rates and on points for several lenders. Since rates and points can change daily, youâ ll want to check your newspaper often when shopping for a home loan. But the newspaper does not list the fees, so be sure to ask the lenders about them.

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