Choosing a Lender

I dread having to ask the question, “have you spoken with a lender?” more than anything. Over the years I have been yelled at, hung up on, and told it was “none of my business by callers” (to be fair sir, you called me). I don’t ask the question to be nosy and quite frankly, I’m not going to have to many more follow up questions so just hear me out; I need to know yes or no. When we go look at houses listed for sale, we are saying we might have interest in writing an offer. Sellers clean, schedules are arranged for parties on both sides, and there is hope for a potential offer.

I ask because I need to know price and condition. The question is asked so as we look, at your potential new chapter, we aren’t falling in love with things we can’t close on, you will be disappointed and irritated with the process with me and I just can’t have that . Your lender will be the one who tells us whether we are FHA, VA, RD, Conventional, Contract for Deed, or any other loan program the lender and you see best for your needs. You’ve gotta bite the bullet and get the pre-approval step done.

Meeting with a lender is necessary to make sure you are a powerful and prepared buyer. It can be difficult to talk finances but trust me, this is no time for leaving questions unanswered. Interviewing lenders is one of your jobs in this process. Ask your friends, check them out online or in person, you might be surprised to learn you don’t have to use the same bank you opened your first savings account (unless they rock than go ahead and stay put). You will be doing a lot of work together during this process, do you enjoy your experiences with them? Whether you will be uploading your information for loan approval or dropping it off in the office, how well will team be able to get tasks complete? 2 Fun fact about lenders I should add, they are not mind readers so they cannot answer or explain things they don’t know are confusing or you need help with. They also are humans with lives as well. Being preapproved means if that house pops up on the market Christmas Eve, we aren’t emailing/calling/texting them anxiously.

For a list of mortgage companies within the Lake Superior Association of Realtors, click HERE