Mortgage Referrals
Advice on where to go to get a mortgage. A borrower can always select a loan provider by throwing a dart at the Yellow Pages. A referral is of value if it raises the probability of a good outcome above that from throwing the dart. The four major sources of referrals are real estate sales agents, other borrowers, Internet referral sites, and builders. Real Estate Sales Agents: Home purchasers accept more referrals from real estate sales agents than from all other sources combined. Sales agent referrals generally are to individual loan officers or brokers, as opposed to firms. An agent with great confidence in a loan officer will continue to refer clients even when the loan officer switches firms. Sales agents have the same interest as buyers in completing transactions. Hence, they refer clients to loan providers who can generally be depended upon to close on time. This is the agent's major concern, and it is a concern of borrowers as well. Sales agents have no comparable interest in the mortgage price or whether the borrower is placed in the right kind of mortgage. However, the agent doesn't want the price to be so far out of line or the service provided so abysmal that the borrower throws a fit and blames the agent. Other Borrowers: Referrals from other borrowers are usually based on a single transaction. Internet Referral Sites: These Web sites provide price information for a large number of lenders and mortgage brokers, usually listed by state. They also provide quick entree to the Web sites of each loan provider listed. Builder Referrals: Builder referrals are usually to a lender with whom the builder has a financial arrangement. Hence, they are suspect. In some cases, preferred lenders price loans above the market and kick back some of the excess to the builder. Self-Referrals: Responding to self-referrals (solicitations) usually is a bad idea. Not all lenders who solicit are predators, but all predators solicit.
Popular Mortgage Terms
The present value of a house, given the elderly owner's right to live there until she dies or voluntarily moves out, under FHA's reverse mortgage program. ...
Someone authorized by the original credit card holder to use the holder's card. While authorized users are not responsible for paying any charges, including their own, they are sometimes ...
Adjustable rate mortgages on which the interest rate is mechanically determined based on the value of an interest rate index. Indexed ARMs are distinguished from Discretionary ARMs, in that ...
The federal law that specifies the information that must be provided to borrowers on different types of loans. Also, the form used to disclose this information. Truth in Lending (TIL) is ...
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A documentation option where the applicant's income is disclosed and verified but not used in qualifying the borrower. The conventional maximum ratios of expense to income are not ...
The assumption of a mortgage, with permission of the lender, from a borrower unable to continue making the payments. ...
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Every ARM is tied to an interest rate index. An index has three relevant features:availibility, level, volatility. All the common ARM indexes are readily available from a published source, ...
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