Pros and Cons of using a Big Bank Lender vs a Local Lender?

[Baha3]

Just curious for those that are more familiar, is there any benefit of using a smaller, or local lender for your mortgage vs using one of the larger banks?

The reason I ask is because I get offers from Chase for pre-approval on mortgage and it seems like their process is pretty striaght-forward, I plan to start shopping loans in a few months and want to get an idea of what lenders I should target.

Thanks in advance!

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

I'd recommend you speak with a bigger bank, like Chase, a smaller regional/local bank or mortgage lender, and a mortgage broker.

A local lender/loan officer might have a strong reputation where you are buying, which could aid in your offer getting chosen over another buyer who isn't using a lender that the listing agent is familiar with.  This is probably truer in smaller markets, such as in rural areas or isolated cities, but if you are buying in a bigger city I've found it to be less important.  In either situation it can still be a complete non-factor though, just really depends on who the listing agent is and if they put any weight on who the lender/loan officer is when presenting the offer to the seller.