Trying for Mortgage

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Me and my husband are trying for a mortgage and we are trying to determine if it's easier to go with a broker or a lender. I've heard mixed reviews when it comes to brokers and lenders, so just trying to get someone else insight on which one they feel is better. Thanks in advance. 

[dragontears]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hi,

Me and my husband are trying for a mortgage and we are trying to determine if it's easier to go with a broker or a lender. I've heard mixed reviews when it comes to brokers and lenders, so just trying to get someone else insight on which one they feel is better. Thanks in advance. 

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Could you define what you mean by "easier"?

There are excellent and terrible direct lenders but there are also excellent and terrible brokers. Also can depend if your application in "plain vanilla" or has some challenges. Any lender can close a "plain vanilla" mortgage (low DTI, good scores, good down payment, W2 employment) but sometimes a broker can get the deal done better than a direct lender if there is challenges because they have many investors that they work with. 

I personally have had great luck lenders recommend by my realtor as they know lenders that can close on time consistently 

[Anonymous]

So when I use the term easier as in get you to buying and closing faster. My husband credit profile has some collections that have since been paid and are due to be deleted. He also has some late payments that are hendering his score potential. The lender that we spoke with was trying to get us to sign up with a credit repair company and the only thing that we really wanted was guidance on what we really needed to next. I realize that in the area we stay lenders often try to get you to enroll in credit repair vs instructing you on what can be done to improve the opportunity to preapproval. With us having dealt with credit repair companies before we kinda know what they are going to expect us to do, so we went about and got the ball rolling prior to talking with a lender. But the lender made us felt as if it was a bad idea for us to already paid the existing collections. That's why I wanted insight on whether a broker would be better for us vs a lender. Thanks in advance. 

[JVille]

Do NOT go to a Credit Repair company. Ask your Real Estate Agent for referrals to her Go To lenders. These are the ones who preform and get the deal closed. In lending there is No Easier, you jump thru hoops and the uglier your situation the nastier the hoops to jump thru. In my opinion you need a sharp Mortgage Broker who deals with a wide variety of lenders. He will know by looking at your profile if it's doable and what You need to do in order to get approved.

Do Not expect easier when you have issues as discribed. And please Credit Repair places generally only repair Their Bank acct with your money and leave you in a worse situation.

[VALoanMaster]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So when I use the term easier as in get you to buying and closing faster. My husband credit profile has some collections that have since been paid and are due to be deleted. He also has some late payments that are hendering his score potential. The lender that we spoke with was trying to get us to sign up with a credit repair company and the only thing that we really wanted was guidance on what we really needed to next. I realize that in the area we stay lenders often try to get you to enroll in credit repair vs instructing you on what can be done to improve the opportunity to preapproval. With us having dealt with credit repair companies before we kinda know what they are going to expect us to do, so we went about and got the ball rolling prior to talking with a lender. But the lender made us felt as if it was a bad idea for us to already paid the existing collections. That's why I wanted insight on whether a broker would be better for us vs a lender. Thanks in advance. 

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There are several different business models when it comes to mortgage lending.

You have retail, like Wells Fargo where they have one box & if you don't fit in it they can't help.

You have brokers who have multiple investors that they can place your loan with. The down side is the broker has zero control once the file is submitted to the lender.

You have correspondent lenders who are sort of a cross between retail and brokers. A correspondent lender has multiple investors like a broker but they maintain control of the file throughout the process, they underwrite, close and fund their loans in house and then sell the loan after closing. They also have the ability to broker their loans to wholesale lenders if needed.

I'm sure I'm a little biased in saying this but a direct lender with multiple investors (like me) is a better option imho.

I say this because I've been a broker and a direct lender in my professional career and I can tell you one of the biggest issues I ran into as a broker was a lack of consistency (with always getting different underwriters to different underwriting standards) and a lack of accountability.

I consistently had problems with wholesale lenders (where brokers send their files) meeting close dates and communicating file status.

As a direct lender, my bank focuses on hitting our close dates and I have an excellent relationship & direct contact with my underwriters.

I just got a file cleared to close that I am 99% sure would not have gotten approved anywhere else. It was the biggest "win" of my 19 year career as a loan officer.

Maybe the broker channel has improved over the last several years since I last dealt with a wholesale lender but I can tell you I'll never go back to it.

[JVille]

@VALoanMaster  if only we could clone you! Luckily there are a few professionals like you scattered here and there! Your clients are lucky to have you!