Shopping for a mortgage

[Name Redacted]

just locked on a refi, 30 year at 2.875% with a lender credit of ~$2400 (so the "cost" outside of the unavoidable things is ~$800).

Should lower my monthly payment by $225-250. Which will come in handy with all of the current uncertainty in the world.

Found this guy off of zillow. My normal guy thinks it is some bait and switch rate and wouldn't match it, but doesn't seem like it, since I am locked. We'll see.

He has excellent reviews on zillow, but not a ton of them. I successfully/smoothly refied once before through a zillow lender.

Similar experience here. Got a better rate than my normal guy could offer and he said it was probably a scam because he couldn't match. We went with it anyway and lowered our monthly by $350.

[Danno]

Looks like the free credit monitoring through sites like CreditKarma and Discover works really well, I got almost immediate emails about the bank pulling my credit for the refi.

[ColMan]

How the hell is he doing it at 2.875%? I've been shopping around a bit and the best I have found is 3.125% (non-jumbo, perfect credit and 38% LTV).

PM incoming!

[Kevo]

just locked on a refi, 30 year at 2.875% with a lender credit of ~$2400 (so the "cost" outside of the unavoidable things is ~$800).

Should lower my monthly payment by $225-250. Which will come in handy with all of the current uncertainty in the world.

Found this guy off of zillow. My normal guy thinks it is some bait and switch rate and wouldn't match it, but doesn't seem like it, since I am locked. We'll see.

He has excellent reviews on zillow, but not a ton of them. I successfully/smoothly refied once before through a zillow lender.

That's really unbelievable. I'm locked at 3.25% but have yet to close. I don't want to F over my guy (I think my guy is your normal guy that you referred me to years ago) because I value the relationship with him and he's provided me some excellent advice over the years that has saved me many thousands of dollars, but damn...

Thinking I'll move forward to close and then Refi again after 120 days if rates are still good and appraisals are holding up.

[liv2ski]

Kevo, you better talk to your current guy about doing the fast refi, as if you don't make 6 mortgage payments on the new loan, there is a very high chance he will get hit with a big penalty that he has to pay. I just sent a client a bill for $4,200 because they refied elsewhere after 3 payments and I warn all my clients they pay the bill if I get one.

[Kevo]

Kevo, you better talk to your current guy about doing the fast refi, as if you don't make 6 mortgage payments on the new loan, there is a very high chance he will get hit with a big penalty that he has to pay. I just sent a client a bill for $4,200 because they refied elsewhere after 3 payments and I warn all my clients they pay the bill if I get one.

Thanks man and thanks also for the advice from the previous page.

I talked to my broker and he said term on the refi we are doing is that he gets hit with prepayment penalties if the loan is paid off within 120 days of closing, so anything after the 120 day mark is good.

What's your take on my approach? I'm trying to do right by my broker by closing at the rate that I locked (3.25%) and making sure he doesn't get hung out with penalties if I were to break the lock or refi too soon.

Is my understanding that he'd get hit with penalties for me breaking the lock correct?

[liv2ski]

Is my understanding that he'd get hit with penalties for me breaking the lock correct?

Penalty no, but if it happens to him often enough, it lowers his "Pull Through" report card with the lender. If a broker is delivering 90%+ of their locked loans, they get the best pricing. So if he suddenly doesn't deliver a bunch of loans to a funding source, it may reduce the price he is now quoting to new clients with that firm. Not all investors do that, but it is common with the best priced investors to do that. If you have a solid relationship with him, ask if he can move the file to get you a better price, assuming the market is at least .25% better in rate. I would try to help a repeat client, especially if they had referred me other business. Maybe he can,maybe he can't. Doesn't hurt to ask.

[liv2ski]

just locked on a refi, 30 year at 2.875% with a lender credit of ~$2400 (so the "cost" outside of the unavoidable things is ~$800).

Should lower my monthly payment by $225-250. Which will come in handy with all of the current uncertainty in the world.

Found this guy off of zillow. My normal guy thinks it is some bait and switch rate and wouldn't match it, but doesn't seem like it, since I am locked. We'll see.

He has excellent reviews on zillow, but not a ton of them. I successfully/smoothly refied once before through a zillow lender.

I just priced a $400k loan scenario with 30 lenders and at 2.875% came up with a $1,700 credit to the client on my comp plan (I am not approved with this company). It is very rare for a company to have a comp plan as low as mine, so I don't buy it, but hopefully the market continues to improve and he delivers. Doing my scenario on Zillow resulted in a 3.125% rate with a $2,600 credit towards the fees.

[dcpnz]

I fricken hate quicken/rocket about now.

Locked a 7/1 arm at 2.5% back in march. CO, jumbo, high credit scores, LTV < 40%.
Took them 2 months to sort out appraisal which means lock expiration long gone and they’ve had to keep extending.
They pushed really hard to use their affiliated out of state title co that wanted to charge double what the local guys do.
And every couple of weeks we get a revised estimate with fees jacked up and new fees added.

About ready to tell them to F#@k off.
Interest savings are substantial but we’re switching from an i/o to amortizing loan so the payments higher and will be deleveraging which is not necessarily ideal.

[Danno]

I just priced a $400k loan scenario with 30 lenders and at 2.875% came up with a $1,700 credit to the client on my comp plan (I am not approved with this company). It is very rare for a company to have a comp plan as low as mine, so I don't buy it, but hopefully the market continues to improve and he delivers. Doing my scenario on Zillow resulted in a 3.125% rate with a $2,600 credit towards the fees.

perhaps you're right, but I moved forward and now have signed disclosure docs indicating that rate and credit (was actually a little higher, $2550). Loan amt of ~350, LTV 50%.

[Danno]

So, the things I can "shop" for, title insurance (and settlement/closing fee). They total $900 for that (725 + 175). I don't want to dick around to save a few bucks, is that a fairly common price (I can dig through my old loan docs to see what I have paid in the past but don't have them handy)?

[liv2ski]

So, the things I can "shop" for, title insurance (and settlement/closing fee). They total $900 for that (725 + 175). I don't want to dick around to save a few bucks, is that a fairly common price (I can dig through my old loan docs to see what I have paid in the past but don't have them handy)?

That is a fair price Danno

[Danno]

Thanks!

[Kevo]

Well, I was supposed to close on my refinance today.


Notary from the title company showed up to my house and was yelling on the phone with some woman from the title company about some other notary missing appointments throughout the day. I ask how his day is going. "Not good."

We start going through documents. Homeboy puts a piece of paper in front of me and tries to give a one word direction- "sign". This document is acknowledging that the numbers on the closing disclosure match up to numbers the title company has recorded. He has only shown me the signature page. I ask to see the page with the numbers that I am acknowledging and sure enough the numbers don't line up- the lender credit and cash to close are different. The title company is showing a higher cash to close. Don't worry, you'll get an updated one in the mail. Just sign". I refuse.

The notary starts putting signature pages in front of me. "Sign". I ask to see the documents I'm signing. Notary guy- "Let me ask you a question. Do you intend to read every document that you sign? I don't have time for that. If that's what you want to do I'll have to get a different notary out here".

I kicked the notary off my front porch. Guess we'll see if I close today after all.

[liv2ski]

Wow! That is why I always send the loan docs to my clients to review before the notary every gets there, so they can just sign. Also, there is a 3 business day right of rescission on a refi, meaning if you signed today, you would of had until next Tuesday night at 12 midnight to cancel. That gives you time to talk to your mortgage guy and have him fix fees with escrow/closing company. Kicking out the notary likely means there will be a redraw needed before you can sign again as most loan docs are date sensitive.

[Kevo]

Wow! That is why I always send the loan docs to my clients to review before the notary every gets there, so they can just sign. Also, there is a 3 business day right of rescission on a refi, meaning if you signed today, you would of had until next Tuesday night at 12 midnight to cancel. That gives you time to talk to your mortgage guy and have him fix fees with escrow/closing company. Kicking out the notary likely means there will be a redraw needed before you can sign again as most loan docs are date sensitive.

Title company sent over another notary this evening and all docs minus the one messed up doc are now signed. As best I can tell the doc that was messed up was something meant to protect the title company and they waived it in order to make the closing happen.

Hopefully dbag notary gets his shit together. He tried to treat my refi closing like some high pressure used car lot back office treats subprime car borrowers. I damn near flipped over his portable table when he tried to pull the "Do you plan to read all the documents you are signing?" in his thick NY accent.

[liv2ski]

Cool, glad you got it done. On my rescission comment, I was thinking today is Friday I lose track of the days working from home.

[Nobody Famous]

...Also, there is a 3 business day right of rescission on a refi, meaning if you signed today, you would of had until next Tuesday night at 12 midnight to cancel....

Is that a state specific thing, or it applies nationwide because one of the federal mortgage regulators implements it?

[CascadeLuke]

National regulation on refi. Purchase no.

[jm2e]

Just went under contract on new house. Should be getting Good Faith Estimate (I think?) tomorrow from the guy who did our last mortgage. How do I know if I'm getting a good deal? If he seems like a good guy, is it really worth trolling online for a random mortgage company to save me some closing cost money or get 1/16th of a percent? I feel like lenders make it hard to compare apples to apples with their points, credits, variations in all the different expenses, different ways they list everything.

[Danno]

Just went under contract on new house. Should be getting Good Faith Estimate (I think?) tomorrow from the guy who did our last mortgage. How do I know if I'm getting a good deal? If he seems like a good guy, is it really worth trolling online for a random mortgage company to save me some closing cost money or get 1/16th of a percent? I feel like lenders make it hard to compare apples to apples with their points, credits, variations in all the different expenses, different ways they list everything.

That depends. How important is it to get the best deal? Do you want to squeeze every last penny? Maybe your guy is good and trustworthy but is making a grand more than the cheap internet guy. That grand may cost you in a slightly higher rate, higher closing cost, whatever.

Generally, I'm pretty mercenary, I'll go with someone who is trustworthy and gives good deals, but not if the difference is huge, and something that seems fairly trivial, like $50/mo, adds up over 30 years.

At minimum, do a check on places like Zillow or bankrate. Don't even need to get a GFE (most brokers have not provided those to me in recent years, but they give something like a "fees worksheet" that is pretty much the same), if the rates and fees you're seeing there are no better.

And I don't think they make it hard to compare, but it is a complicated transaction that can be structured in different ways as far as how they get paid. It does take some practice to learn the basic math. There are pros on here, and I'm just experienced at figuring out my own shit, but happy to try and help.

[Mustonen]

The new form is called a loan estimate. Replaced the GFE a few years ago and it’s actually pretty easy to read.

I’d get a reality check, for sure.

[liv2ski]

Like any major purchase, I would get a few quotes

[skivan]

Just went under contract on new house. Should be getting Good Faith Estimate (I think?) tomorrow from the guy who did our last mortgage. How do I know if I'm getting a good deal? If he seems like a good guy, is it really worth trolling online for a random mortgage company to save me some closing cost money or get 1/16th of a percent? I feel like lenders make it hard to compare apples to apples with their points, credits, variations in all the different expenses, different ways they list everything.

I just used credible.com to compare costs. Ended up going w a local guy, but paid for it.

[liv2ski]

National regulation on refi. Purchase no.

Regulation on a owner occupied loan, not a rental property