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September 1, 2008
mortgage brokers
I understand that it is indeed worth it to get your mortgage through a broker. Do people agree? Any recos? I am buying in Bay Ridge.
Comments
Depends on your situation. Generally speaking, a mortgage broker is a bad idea. If you qualify for a mortgage, you can go to a bank and get one yourself. A mortgage broker is a useless middleman who will not act in your best interests and will generally work only toward the extraction of his fee from your larger transaction.
Mortgage brokers can be useless extra steps, or they can be actively destructive. They don't care about you, and will not steer you into the best mortgage for you. Trusting a mortgage broker to choose the best mortgage for you makes about as much sense as trusting your stock broker to sell you the cheapest, best mutual funds
(as opposed to the ones that give him the largest commission...)
That said, if your earnings situation is very complicated and you are personally sure that you can afford a house but are going to have a hard time showing that to someone else...
...then it makes sense to enlist the aid of a broker. Brokers have considerable patience with stated income loans and have a reason to be otherwise "creative."
But watch your back if you decide to go with a broker, and remember at all times that you are being sold a mortgage--not helped!!
Don't get sold a mortgage that only makes sense if you refinance it in X years. Don't buy an ARM. Don't buy anything that depends on you trusting the bank.
Posted by: vanburenproud at September 1, 2008 6:01 PM
We used a mortgage broker for our first real estate purchase. She was lovely, but wound up getting us a loan at the bank we have both been with for almost 25 years (waste of time).
This round (we recently bought in Midwood) we went directly to a banker at Chase who pushed through a really complicated deal on our behalf and put together a loan package that we could not have found elsewhere.
I would highly recommend our guy at Chase and would be happy to share contact information if you email me off list: lgoldkind "at" gmail "dot" com
Cheers,
Lauri
Posted by: Brooklyn11218 at September 1, 2008 9:44 PM
A mortgage broker is not necessarily a waste of time at all, but it does depend on your situation. You can shop around yourself, or you can have them do it for you. Shopping around yourself can be a nightmare -- you'll go through all kinds of hoops and then they'll say "oh, we don't lend for that type of coop, etc." Even if they can find a loan that's 0.25 percentage points lower, it would be very worthwhile paying a fee for that if you stay for a while.
I agree not to get a mortgage that will need refinancing in a short period of time, but again, it always depends on your situation. Call a mortgage broker and ask what they can do for you. You won't be under any obligation. Compare what they find for you to what your bank will give you, and then you'll see if they have value....
And no, I'm not a mortgage broker, but I used one and found it valuable....
Posted by: slopenick at September 2, 2008 10:14 AM
I've used IPI Skyscraper mortgage 3 times. Ruth Katz (or Karen Lee) is the contact there. All three were citibank mortgages, but the rates always seemed at a discount to published rates. This was one area where I decided to forgoe the legwork and let someone else handle it for me. No regrets.
Posted by: cornetor at September 2, 2008 11:06 AM
Nicole McCarthy at Trachtman and Bach was extremely nice and helpful for us and she got us a great rate. We just closed on a brownstone in Carroll Gardens using her. (212) 448-0100
Posted by: Colonel at September 2, 2008 5:51 PM
Get your Mortgage directly through the bank - you avoid paying $$ that can be spent on your home renovations etc. Try M&T Bank [Peter Sestito: 845-416-8888] We used him when we were purchasing our BR, and this was after having dealings with a horrible loan shark (Norman Weisman from Power Express).
Posted by: Ama at September 4, 2008 3:18 PM
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