What Should You Ask Your Loan Officer Before Hiring Them?

.embed-container { position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden; max-width: 100%; height: auto; } .embed-container iframe, .embed-container object, .embed-container embed { position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; } Selling your Dallas-Fort Worth home? Get a free home value report.  Buying a Dallas Fort Worth home? Get full MLS access here. Today, Chris Pedison of First Choice Loan Services joins us again to address some of the biggest questions that homebuyers ask. Buying a home is one of the biggest purchases you’ll ever make, so it’s crucial that you are comfortable and confident with the professional company that is walking you through the process. The first question you should ask a lender before hiring them is what company they work for -- you want to make sure they actually work with a company and are legit. You’re going to providing your information to this person, so you want to make sure they can be trusted. Next, you should ask whether their company is a mortgage broker or a mortgage banker. A mortgage broker is usually a third party or middleman to a transaction and they work with many different lenders; a mortgage a banker is lending their money directly, so they have a lot more control of the transaction. The process usually goes faster and smoother when you’re working directly with the bank that is lending the money. A telltale sign that the company is a broker is when everything is underwritten by a third party. Brokers often operate remotely from another state, which can slow down the process. That’s why it’s important to ask whether your loan officer is local. A local officer is going to be easier to get a hold of when you have questions and they will be easier to hold accountable as the process moves along. If you work with someone out of town, they likely won’t be familiar with the appraisers in the area, know appraisers in the area, or know how property taxes and other laws and regulations work in your state. A local appraiser will know all these things and more, so they will have no trouble making the lending process as smooth as possible. In the age of the Internet, it’s pretty easy to jump online and find out information about lending officers before hiring one. One thing you should look into is the fees the lender charges. They might charge flat fees or percentages, which often include a loan origination or discount charge. It’s important to look into these to ensure a lending agent isn’t charging you excessively and to make sure you’re comfortable with what you’ll be charged. The best resource for information on lenders is NMLSConsumerAcess.org. This resource is provided by the government, and it allows you to search loan originators and find out detailed information about their past transactions. The mortgage market is changing every day, so it’s crucial to work with someone who is experienced, knowledgeable, and most importantly, someone you can trust. If you would like to get a hold of Chris, or if you have real estate questions of any kind, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We would love to hear from you!