Mortgage Referrals
Advice on where to go to get a mortgage. A borrower can always select a loan provider by throwing a dart at the Yellow Pages. A referral is of value if it raises the probability of a good outcome above that from throwing the dart. The four major sources of referrals are real estate sales agents, other borrowers, Internet referral sites, and builders. Real Estate Sales Agents: Home purchasers accept more referrals from real estate sales agents than from all other sources combined. Sales agent referrals generally are to individual loan officers or brokers, as opposed to firms. An agent with great confidence in a loan officer will continue to refer clients even when the loan officer switches firms. Sales agents have the same interest as buyers in completing transactions. Hence, they refer clients to loan providers who can generally be depended upon to close on time. This is the agent's major concern, and it is a concern of borrowers as well. Sales agents have no comparable interest in the mortgage price or whether the borrower is placed in the right kind of mortgage. However, the agent doesn't want the price to be so far out of line or the service provided so abysmal that the borrower throws a fit and blames the agent. Other Borrowers: Referrals from other borrowers are usually based on a single transaction. Internet Referral Sites: These Web sites provide price information for a large number of lenders and mortgage brokers, usually listed by state. They also provide quick entree to the Web sites of each loan provider listed. Builder Referrals: Builder referrals are usually to a lender with whom the builder has a financial arrangement. Hence, they are suspect. In some cases, preferred lenders price loans above the market and kick back some of the excess to the builder. Self-Referrals: Responding to self-referrals (solicitations) usually is a bad idea. Not all lenders who solicit are predators, but all predators solicit.
Popular Mortgage Terms
All the combinations of interest rate and points that are offered on a particular loan program. On an ARM, rates and points may also vary with the margin and interest rate maximum. ...
The amount invested in a house, equal to the sale price less the loan amount. The House Investment Decision: Lenders impose the upper limit on how much a household can spend for a house. ...
A home built entirely in a factory, transported to a site, and installed there. Manufactured homes are distinguished from 'modular,' 'panelized'' and 'pre-cut' homes. Manufactured houses ...
The process of raising cash periodically through successive cash-out refinancings. This is a scam initiated by mortgage brokers that victimizes wholesale lenders, with the connivance of ...
A mortgage that can be moved from one property to another. Ordinarily, you repay your mortgage when you sell your house and take out a new mortgage on the new home you purchase. With a ...
Fees collected by a loan officer from a borrower that are lower than the target fees specified by the lender or mortgage broker who employs the loan officer. An underage is the opposite ...
The house in which the borrower will live most of the time, as distinct from a second home or an investor property that will be rented. ...
After reaching a certain annual income, you might be interested in finding the definition of a jumbo mortgage. What is a jumbo loan? It is something like a mortgage with ...
The minimum allowable ratio of down payment to sale price on any loan program. If the minimum is 10%, for example, it means that you must make a down payment of at least $10,000 on a ...

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