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What To Look For In A Mortgage Lender: (Hint: It's not just about rates!) Getting a good rate on your mortgage or refinance is important, but choosing the right lender when buying or refinancing a home also comes down to finding someone you're comfortable working with.
In this video, I will give you questions to ask a mortgage lender (and NOT to ask) to make sure you find the right mortgage lender for YOU!
📥 Check out my free download here: Types of Home Loans
Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OpCZRBizUWs
So the quarterback's throwin' a ball, and somebody is supposed to be catchin' the ball. If you don't catch the ball from your quarterback, which is in this case your loan officer, nobody's winning the game, right?
By the end of this video, you're gonna know exactly what to look for in a mortgage lender, to make sure that you end up with the right lender that is right for you, because it's a marriage, it's a relationship. And not everybody's gonna mesh perfectly. So stay tuned for all the tips and tricks.
Welcome back to One Stop Shop, for anything and everything mortgage education. My name is Stephanie Weeks. And I am a 17-year mortgage loan officer. And I've been recognized in the top 1% in the nation for production, several years in a row, out of over 300,000 loan officers. Stick around. I hope you enjoy the material in this video. And I really appreciate you being here. Please be sure to like the channel, subscribe to the channel, and hit the bell to be notified every time I drop new videos.
Have you ever had a relationship and you wish that oh my gosh, I wish I could erase it. I wish that never happened. It was terrible. Well, buying a home, you are in a massive, and detailed, and very serious relationship where there is nothing covering anything, because the lender can find out all of it. So you are totally exposed. And that is not a relationship that you want to regret later. Trust me. Millions of people have been in that situation. And it's something that my passion is to help you all avoid. So hang in there with me. I wanna help you avoid that heartache, help you avoid that headache, and teach you everything you need to know to pick the right lender for you. So let's dive in.
What to look for in a lender: Number one, remember I said that you are in a very serious, and very exposed, and very vulnerable relationship. So the first thing that you need to look for is a lender that you feel very, very comfortable with. And sometimes you're super lucky if you make one phone call and it's like boom, it clicks, you got it right? But sometimes you have to make two or three phone calls. You wanna make sure that you feel comfortable. You wanna make sure that you feel like they are being honest, direct, and detailed with you, not super like general this, general that, right? That's gonna be tip number one, in finding the best lender for you.
Tip number two: What should you ask the mortgage lender? Well you wanna ask them about their process. You wanna ask them how they go about pre-approving, and what types of things go into how they decide the best mortgage for you. You wanna ask them what kind of updates you can expect throughout the process, like hey, you're gonna take my loan application, when might I hear back from you on the preapproval? Once we get under contract, how do I know what's going on? How do you keep me posted? That way you know that in this relationship, you have a really, really good communication. Because as we all know, one of the main things about having a wonderful relationship, is one that involves very clear, concise, and comfortable communication. So that's my tip number two for you.
Number three: What not to ask the mortgage lender. How about we don't ask things like hey, I know the program goes on household income, but do we have to say that I'm gonna live there if I'm not on the loan? Don't ask your lender that. Don't ask your lender things like shyster kind of ways to work around things. Again, clear, concise communication, and honesty, is huge with mortgage lending. What a lot of people don't realize government don't play dude. And mortgage fraud has a 30-year, up to 30 years in prison, and up to a million dollar fine. So disclose everything. Be fully honest. Be fully transparent. And don't ask your lender like, oh can we just not tell them that? No. That's not how it works. So, honest, clear communication. What not to ask your lender.
Number four: A lot of what goes into finding the best lender for you is you to be a good team with them, and be very responsive. Give them the information that they need. Produce whatever they want, and produce it very, very quickly. Remember to be very, very transparent. And that's gonna help you have a really great transaction with that lender. You wanna feel like they are doing the same for you. And my philosophy is always, with everything in life, go with your gut. So if you're working with a lender, and you just don't have a great feeling, that person might be a great person. But maybe they're just not right for you, specifically. So make sure that you're comfortable, that you go with your gut, and that you're a good teammate for them.
Listen, you're gonna laugh at me, I'm sure because I'm gonna say it wrong because all my friends and family make fun of me because I know nothing about sports, like unreal nothing, because it's just not my thing. So, back to the teammate part, right? I think the quarterback throws a ball. I think that's how it works. The quarterback's throwing a ball, and somebody's supposed to be catching the ball, if you don't catch the ball from your quarterback, which is in this case, your loan officer, nobody's winning the game, right? So, you can make fun of me for that later, 'cause I probably said it wrong. But I hope you get my point.
Tip number five, what to look for to find the best mortgage lender for you: You want to know what they do throughout their process. And here's what I mean by that. There are some lenders that will help you and get home insurance quotes for you. They may not work for the insurance company. They don't care what insurance company you go with, but it's just done as a courtesy, since they're doing that all day, and you don't do that. Some companies are going to maybe get title quotes for you and that's gonna help you figure out a good estimate of what everything's gonna cost you. But not all companies offer that extra step as well. So you wanna ask them, what kind of things they do in the process, like do they help you with shopping home insurance and understanding it? Do they help you with shopping the title company, and different little extra things like that, because they really go a long way. When we are working on your loan, we're working on loans all day. It's what we do. But most likely, you are either dealing with your family or dealing with your spouse, or trying to work your job, trying to live your life. And you're trying to fit this process into that. So, you're not kind of sitting around all day, workin' on all these quotes. But the lender might be able to do that for you. So that's another question that you can ask to find the right lender is, what kind of things do they do in their services to help you with things a little out of their forte, that might help you to have a smooth and on-time closing.
And my last tip for today's video, goes back to communication. Every customer's different. And every loan officer is different. Some customers, they wanna be updated and communicated by text. Some prefer email. Some wanna hear your beautiful voice on the phone, and actually have an old-time telephone call. Who knew that that's so unusual now. But you need to tell them what you prefer, and then you find out what they prefer as well. And I say that because the last thing that they want is for you to delay the process, because you're not answering quickly. And the last thing that you want is to not be able to get in contact with them, because they're probably going to need to answer certain questions for you that may be time-sensitive, and you wanna make sure that you guys are reaching each other as quickly as possible. So find out the best ways that they like to be communicated with, and how quickly that they can respond. And also tell them the same for you. That way you guys have that clear expectation to make sure again, that you have a what? A smooth and on-time closing.
My free download for you today is, Types of Home Loans. Check that out. I'm gonna drop that in the comments section below, maybe in the bio to this video. And maybe message me if you don't mind. I would love to hear some feedback. I hope the form and cheat sheet I've created really, really helps you out.
In the comment section below, type in WIN in all caps, WIN. And a number from one to 10, 10 being oh my god, your mind is blown, and you feel so much more confident in choosing the right lender for yourself after having watched this video. If you like this video today, give me a big old thumbs up and subscribe to the channel. Don't forget to hit the bell to be notified every time I drop new videos.
And listen, I appreciate all of your feedback. I love hearing from you guys. So even if you did not enjoy the video, give me a thumbs down. Give me a comment if you feel I've left something off. I really appreciate your feedback. And I really, really appreciate your time.
