Recommended Mortgage Lenders?

[Mr. Football]

We're about to buy our first house and want to get pre-approved for a loan. Can anyone recommend a good mortgage lender?

Also, is it better to go ahead and get pre-approved with a broker? I hear the more companies you shop...the more times your credit report is pulled and it can drive down your score (I'd like for it to stay in the 700's). Thanks!

Or...if anyone out there would like to give me $250,000 that would work as well

 

[mishatx]

There are a couple on hornfans that have been asking for people who are re-fi-ing, but I'm sure they'll be happy to take a purchase loan on. I closed a re-fi with JoshuaDesha and everything went pretty well, with a good rate. You could zap him a PM.

Getting pre-approved is a good idea because 1> it lets you know your maximum price range and 2> being pre-approved can be a leg-up when putting in a bid on a house.

When I was shopping for loans on my purchase, the slight drop in my credit score wasn't enough to hurt me in finding mortgages, but it did cause Discover to think I was a credit risk and jack my rate over 20%. I've read a good idea is to get a credit report from one broker, have them send you a copy, and use that copy and score to shop around for other rates. Then when you pick a lender, they will want to pull a new report before making your loan. But you only get hit with two reports instead of 5 or more.

 

[trudys]

My wife is a mortgage broker. She works for herself at home and has no overhead costs so she doesn't charge the usual fees. Send me a PM and I'll give you her information. You can shop her rates. She can usually beat just about anything out there.

 

[LennyLonghorn]

I work for a broker too. We have pretty competitive rates also, as this is a small shop.

Forget all the stuff about the credit scores. If you are shopping around, it only hits your score once. i went to a workshop in March that was given by a credit reporting agency, and they stated that the credit bureaus had put some safeguards in place so people wouldn't have their credit decimated by shopping around. If you get your credit pulled by anyone dealing with a mortgage, you can have a new one run within two weeks without it affecting your credit. Each subsequent credit report gives you another 14 days, so it keeps rolling over. In theory, you could do this perpetually, but why would you want to? This only applies to mortgage loans though.

Anyway, a broker can not give you your credit report for liabilty issues. Some will anyways. I never understood the big deal if it is YOUR credit report, but all the companies have rules against it. Anyway, PM me if you want me to run some numbers. WE also usually beat everyone out there considerably, so give us a chance. Thanks!

Lenny