Mortgage Denied? Don’t Cry. Make Better Choices.

Mortgage denied? Make better choices up front when choosing a mortgage provider. Mortgage consumers need to make better choices, and not shop by price alone. Think about service, experience, execution and responsiveness.

A growing family’s needs

A potential client chose a large, well known bank. The client described them as “well established with comparable rates, so we are going with them”. But the bank rejected their  loan application after almost 90 days in process. The seller has already given extension after extension. Now the sellers are furious. The buyer’s are literally in tears. They are asking me to take over the loan and get them to settlement in 7 days. That is impossible, no one can get a new loan done that fast. The husband told me, in tears, that he had to have this house to move into. He said he was desperate for more space for he and his growing family.

Realtor’s even get upset

I had a Realtor who called me, who is leaving the business because it is so tough. He wants to move on to something easier. He has one deal left in process, and says he desperately needs the money. The loan has been rejected by a large bank, for reasons that are baffling. And he wants me to step in and save the deal if I can. I checked over the numbers. The deal seems workable to me. The Realtor, while not in tears, is very upset.

A refinance gone wrong

A client whose refinance loan was in process with me left for a slightly lower rate (1/8%) about one week prior to settlement. I told him he had a very difficult loan. I checked with 15 lenders, and only found one that would do it. He said he had to, “do what is best for his family”. I tried to explain why he could not simply call just anyone, and shop by rate alone. But he did not listen. Two months later his loan was rejected. He came back crying (literally) because he said his family needs the cash out he was aiming to get from his cash out refinance. They needed the cash to buy a new property. His loan was for an investment property, condo, cash out refi. All of those things make the loan scenario of the most shied away from loan categories in the business. The mortgage industry does not like investor loans in general right now. The industry is not highly fond of condos and has lots of special restrictions on them. And it is hesitant to give cash out on any deal. And the borrower had very high debt ratios to boot. How the client thought beggars could be choosers I have no idea.

Mortgage guidelines are complicated

And last, I had a condo purchase deal where the lender did not even tell the buyer something critical. And this is that he can’t use the $20,000 seller credit he had negotiated with the seller to pay for two years of condo fees. You can only use a seller credit towards closing costs. But he heard what he wanted to hear, because the other lender supposedly had a better rate. I am not quite sure how a better rate matters when you are not going to get your mortgage approved. And I am not sure how a better rate matters when the lender clearly does not know the underwriting rules! He went with them anyway for the lower rate, even when I pointed out their important oversight. Do you think there are future problems coming? Think he’ll be upset or  in tears someday soon?

Don’t shop by price alone

I write about mortgage blow-ups at other lenders about once every few months. But I get enough material to write about them daily. It simply fascinates me that 98% of us SHOP BY PRICE ALONE. No one asks about experience, execution, fees, turn times, organizational structure, etc. And then when problems arise consumers have the audacity to complain to friends, complain on opinion websites, write letters to management, and scream at people.

Please, please, please, do not shop by price alone. And even if you check all the other issues, do not put price first, and then put other things last. Price should be in the middle of the pack of reasons you use a particular mortgage lender. We all have about the same rates, give or take. It is not worth a small margin to go with an unknown.

There are numerous things to check when shopping for a mortgage, and there are numerous reasons to ask about them. Check this link for more.