One thing is for sure with mortgage loan arrangements- they involve paying large sums of money for long periods of time. After you have identified and chosen a mortgage lender and have your loan application approved, you’ll be committed with that lender for several years with no possibility of pulling out without financial consequences.
Due to the above reasons, it’s perfectly in order to choose the best lender and will go a long way in protecting your interest of owning property at the lowest possible cost. However, the challenging part for many people is how to spot the best among the many in the market. Well, this article will help you out by discussing 5 easy steps to do this. Let’s delve in.
- Ascertaining Your Credit Score
A common thing among all mortgage brokers and lenders is that they’ll have to look into your credit worthiness to determine if they’ll award you the loan or not, and if they will, how much interest rate they’ll charge you. As such, the first step, which is completely necessary, after all, is to check your credit report and take action to improve it if possible.
The first thing is to ensure your credit report doesn’t have any errors as they can serve to delay your loan approval or have it denied altogether. If you have outstanding loans involving high interest rates, it will do you good to repay them in full or reduce them.
- Get a Preapproval Letter
It’s very much unlikely that you’ll be the only one interested in a certain property. To stand a better chance when bidding, you should have your preapproved letter from various mortgage lenders with you. This will present yourself as a serious buyer, increase your chances of winning the bid, and saving much time in the process.
For best results, it’s better to have more than one preapproval letters from various mortgage lenders. To get them, you need to present the following details with documents.
- Your Social Security number
- Tax returns documents
- Details of any outstanding loan(s)
- Your monthly salary as well as your employer details
- The amount of money you can raise as down payment and where you expect to get it.
For a seamless process, you’ll need the help of expert mortgage advice.
- Get to Understand the Industry
The best way to protect yourself and maximize your utility of any product is to fully understand it- how it works, who makes them, and such like things. The same can be said about your housing needs and mortgage loans. This is given more weight with the fact that there are a lot of players in the housing and mortgage industry.
To get the best, it’s best that you identify the major players in the industry. For mortgage and housing needs, the following are the players to watch;
- Mortgage bankers
- Mutual savings banks
- Credit unions
- Mortgage companies
- Compare Rates for different Companies
Different mortgage companies and lenders offer different rates to its customers. While a certain lender will have higher lending rates, it may include other packages in its offer that make it better than another lender with much lower rates. At the same time, this doesn’t mean that a low-rate lender isn’t the ideal choice for your needs.
Any mortgage broker Southend will advise you to consider the offers of different mortgage brokers and lenders. Make an effort to get quotes form the different companies and how they charge their loans. As a precautionary measure, it is best not to rely on general quotes obtained online. Visiting their offices or making phone calls will help you get a more accurate quote as they’ll have your information including your credit rating and the exact type of loan you want.
- Doing More Research on Different Lenders
After you have done all the above and have a list of possible mortgage lenders with you, you should then dig deeper into their past dealings with clients to choose the best. You can do this by asking the lenders in question relevant questions with regard to the mortgage loan. You should also find out from your friends, family, neighbors, or workmates for possible referrals.
You can also get a lender’s reviews from different review sites on the internet. While doing all this, you should try to answer the following questions.
- How long do they take to approve or reject a loan application
- What amount of down payment do they need
- What’s their policy on discount points and lock rate
Conclusion
Without knowing what to look for, finding the best mortgage lender could prove a difficult task. Thankfully, this article has made this simple and time-saving by breaking down the process into 5 easy steps. With this in mind, you’re guaranteed to find a lender that best fits your needs. In any case, you should always work close to a mortgage advisor.
