Home mortgage co question
 

OK financial gurus...

The CEO and I are getting out the silver shovel for the groundbreaking in a couple of weeks and I'm curious if any of you have used any of the online mortgage companies - Countrywide, Lending Tree, E Loan, etc.?

Our local bank has a fairly good rate with low origination fees and points down to 6% APR, but E Loan currently offers a 5.375% APR with about 3.8% in points. That jacks the 'ol closing costs up a bit. I'd like to stay local, but would also like to get the best rate possible and at the lowest fees (don't we all :dunno: ).

Any thoughts or suggestions? This will be my first home purchase as she owned our current house when we got married so any advice would be appreciated.

Juan's CEO will probably be able to help you with this one.

Rob_

if I am understanding you correctly, unless you plan to stay at the place for a really really long time, I wouldn't be paying points up front. 3.8 is way way up there. Staying local really does not give you any advantages at all since chances are the loan will be sold off to a mortgage pool to somebody else anyways at least 2 or 3 times during the life of the loan. I suggest finding a mortgage broker and have them shop the best deal for you.

3.8 in points is absolutely ridiculous.

You can do better than that with chase, citibank, wells fargo, bofa, any of the big banks.

Staying local does nothing for you, call one of the big places, get teh best rate you can, set up an online recurring payment and forget about it.

Talk to Juan's CEO. She should be able to offer some assistance.

I've used Countrywide, had some issues but they were alright. Right now I have a setup with IndyMac which is working pretty well. If you want, a friend of mine ownes a mortgage company, PM me and I can give you his number.

You have a PM. Call my CEO. She'll take care of you. If she can give you a better rate, she'll give it to you. She won't mislead you and she'll help you through the entire process. Obviously, I'm biased, but she's a good person. Give her a call. :)

Juan

Hello Matri,
I work for Countrywide Home Loans. You don't want the 800 numbers or online. Ask any realtor or attorney: the closing will NOT go smoothly. My rates are excellent and I can lend anywhere in the Country. Most Mortgage Brokers will be looking to see the best price for them, not nesessarily for you. Mortgage Bankers like Countrywide is the way to go. Countrywide keeps our loans. We are the nations #1 lender. Because we make more loans than anyone else we have excellent pricing. Love to work with you. Give me a call. 95% of my clients never have to show me any documents and we close very very quickly.

Personally I'd stay local. I tried online mortgages and I kept getting the run around on getting a solid quote. I got tired of having to keep trying to call back to talk to someone, so I just went locally. I never made it as far as closing, so I'm not sure how smoothly it would have gone, but if I can't get a problem-free quote, then I wouldn't even bother with the company.

I had filled out an application with Lending Tree couple of weeks ago and I got bombarded with calls and emails. Their rates were no better than what I got with my local lender. My experiences with Internet lenders are that because they don't know the local customs and requirements, there are always hiccups along the way. This is extremely bad during the buying process because there are contractual obligations and timelines you are expected to fulfill.

Unless you are planning to stay there forever, I would not pay 3.8 points! And just remember, housing plans always change, the U.S. average is about 7 years in one place. You can do the math to see if the 3.8% is worth it. IMO, probably not. Good luck.