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So we're thinking about getting a house. I have a realtor, and she works with someone at ERA that will finance the mortgage for us. But I've heard it said that it might be worth getting an independent mortgage broker.
Does anyone know how this works? Would an independent broker be more motivated to get us a lower rate? If so, how would I find one? If not, how would I make sure I'm getting the best rate available with the realtor's ERA agent?
Thanks in advance for any help you can give me. Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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When we bought our house I went to a local broker. Before we started the process I took a class at our community college about buying a home.
The thing he stressed was that banks were very inflexible and tended to have higher rates and brokers are more flexible, offer better advice, and tend to work for your best interest so you will be a repeat customer.
On the flip side there also tends to be more corrupt brokers and the worst case scenarios tend to be independent brokers. (See current housing crises!) He did not have nice things to say about Wells Fargo btw.
He said to not go with ERA agents, but I forgot the reasoning. I think it had to due with them not being independent or as educated on finances.
I looked around our town and found an established broker who works a lot with the community. He runs a chess club for the high schools and community at large. It is a very successful club and he has been here many years.
My credit, due to a bad choices followed by depression years ago, was a little iffy. My credit dings are probably off by now because they were around 6 years go.
He worked really hard to close off old bad lines of credit and to spruce up my credit score. He worked with me. He educated me on the dangers of arms. He was really cool. I will go back to him when we upgrade.
We got a good loan, a solid loan, and a loan well within our budget. I had also inquired at my credit union and my rate would have been hirer and the loan not guaranteed.
It was a non-scary great process. My recommendation is find a broker who is established in the community and has been doing it a while. I think it is a good sign if he does some type of service project for the community like running a club. Having an independent professional is a good thing in my book.
I would start by listening the the radio and asking friends who they have worked with.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I would also independently check local banks and credit unions to see what's available.
In general, mortgage brokers do not have a fiduciary duty to the borrower, which means you cannot count on them to get you the best possible deal. Be wary.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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He hinted there are a more incidents of complaints against that company then other banks. I can't remember the specifics, but previously I heard from an anonymous source to avoid Wells Fargo's mortgage department.
When the teacher let slip (it was a slip, not a direct rant) his negative Wells Fargo opinion, I was immediately alert and wanted specifics because of the recent conversation that verified his sentiment.
quote:Update of January 14, 2008: Wells Fargo was sued last week by the City of Baltimore for predatory and discriminatory lending. The U.S. Conference of Mayors projected that 361 metropolitan areas would take an economic hit of $166 billion in 2008 because of the foreclosure crisis.
quote:I have heard so many negative comments about Wells Fargo Home Mortgage but I actually experienced an incident today which made me understand what people mean. The incident really concerned me because my mortgage was sold to them just two months ago.
quote: Wells Fargo last week was presented with a “shark of the year award” by Minnesota ACORN for its predatory lending. According to ACORN, Wells Fargo uses fraud and deception to trap homeowners into mortgages with high interest rates, excessive fees, and harmful terms. ACORN cited the cases of a number of families who had been lied to about the conditions of their loan and were refinanced out of a good loan they had at a much lower interest rate with a different lender to the new loan wi th Wells at a much higher rate
quote: Yesterdayﾒs demonstration was aimed at highlighting allegations that Wells Fargo routinely adds surprise charges to mortgages taken out by minorities, with many rates rising well above 10 percent. As of last week, the average mortgage rate in the nationﾒs largest cities hovered around 6.5 percent, according to the Associated Press.
Of course it is pretty easy to find negative comments about ANYTHING on the internet.
Posts: 2445 | Registered: Oct 2004
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quote:Originally posted by lem: He hinted there are a more incidents of complaints against that company then other banks. I can't remember the specifics, but previously I heard from an anonymous source to avoid Wells Fargo's mortgage department.
Actually, I would advise avoiding them in general. Period.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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My mortgage was sold to Wells Fargo, and when I refinanced, we shopped around and decided to go with them again. We got a 5.0% rate, and the lowest fees of any mortgage company we looked at.
I'm not saying that the horror stories aren't true, but we had good luck with them. I tend to think that the company is less important than the actual individual you're working with. In fact, I still remember the mortgage consultant's name.
As for mortgage brokers, they have to skim something off the top to make any money, and my experience with them was that we had to be very careful because they would avoid putting all their fees in writing before the transaction.
And make sure you've got a good lawyer with you at the closing.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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Our mortgage is currently with Wells Fargo and we were planning on using them for our next mortgage as well. We've personally never had an issue with them.
We mainly chose them because they were the best of the three that my husband's company preferred us to work with. If they pay to move you, they like you to work with the lenders that they suggest. They basically quoted the same rates all around.
This conversation sounds familiar. Did we not discuss this in the past? I'd search for it, but I don't find that the search function works quickly enough for impatient people like me.
Posts: 3771 | Registered: Sep 2002
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I would recommend looking at all possibilities, and I know from my limited experience that brokers can finance more people than banks can, but at higher rates. With good credit most brokers quote the prime rate and make their money off the back end (the bank), and are more willing to work with you to clear things up and close the deal.
Posts: 15082 | Registered: Jul 2001
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Wells-Fargo is our mortgage company. Never had a problem whatsoever with them. We have a 5.0 rate 30 year fixed. WF is one of those mortgage exchange companies that routinely shop the independent broker accounts.
If you have good credit, you do want to go with a company like WF.
If you have neutral to bad credit, you should really avoid anything larger than a local market bank. Any large regional or national mortgage company/bank will hedge its bets with anyone that has less than perfect credit.
Our FICO rating hovers between 760 and 800. Plus we tend to try and have a very low carryover finace wise- including having two years of propertytaxes already sitting in escrow and paying more than we actually are required to pay each month.
So by that standard we are an unusual customer. Especially in today's market.
Posts: 110 | Registered: Jan 2001
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