Working with lenders

My view of being a REALTOR has always been that the easy part of the job was finding a house my clients liked. The real task was to find the best way for them to buy the house they selected. Many of those details were within the role of the REALTOR and many were placed into the care of others. I used the word "care" purposely, because 9 out of 10 times I have been involved in the selection of the lender and the "lender experience" is often the way the entire transaction is viewed by the home buyer.

I work with lenders I know personally, lenders who I meet through the transaction and lenders who have been recommended to me. There are some that I am able to vouch for personally from other transactions and some are a yet to be determined quantity. What I don't have is a lender who will "count" on my transactions as much as one's who appreciate the opportunity to be able to compete for them. I wanted to talk about one of those today.

I think my first assignment when working with a buyer is to introduce them to the options available to them and help them decide what the best type of financing will be for their particular situation. VA, FHA or conventional and if conventional, which of those products will be the best fit for them. I do my best to explain the pros and cons of each approach and when I have a good understanding of their goals we'll talk about the choices available to them. If they have a lender they have selected as someone they would like to work with, I ask that we get a Good Faith Estimate (GFE) from that lender as well as 2 others at a rate, price, prepaid interest date and program that is identical so we can see how everyone compares in the market.

The GFE's give me the ability to analyze the overall costs and approach that each lender is bidding for this clients loan. FICO scores are necessary for this to be a valid exercise and the purchasers will already have been preapproved before we start the viewing process by one of these lenders so that we have those scores and a purchase power guideline.

The final selection is up to the buyers. It may be about money, it may be about a relationship they have with the lender, it may be many things. What is most important to me is that they would be able to say what that reason was and that it wouldn't be "because I told them to use them". There is just too much money and longterm expense at stake for me to be making that decision. I want to give them the best choices I can and help them to fully understand their choices, but I want the buyers to be the "deciders".

In a transaction that is closing this week, one of the lenders that I had brought into the decision process was the selected lender. He won their business on several levels and is one who I enjoy working with immensely. Rates had risen since their lock and when the underwriters changed their guidelines for the approval he went to bat for the purchasers exhausting all avenues of relief through the supervisory channels. When he was unable to have them stand by their earlier commitment, he pulled the loan from them and placed it with another lender to satisfactorily obtain loan approval.

His income will be reduced by over 50% due to the changes in rates between the application and new loan application. The purchasers will have the same costs he had promised them. In my conversation with him, he explained to me that it was the right thing for him to do and he had no regrets in doing so. He had chosen the underwriter, he had made the commitment to the purchasers and that his reputation and his word were the most important part of the transaction to him. Income from the loan was much lower on his list of priorities.

It may seem like a lot of work to be involved as much as I am in the lender process, but I've personally found that if you approach each transaction unbiasedly and find the lender that fits the needs of your buyer the best, that it can make all the difference in the world.

I will recommend Tony again as one who has my respect and admiration to future buyers. I'll also get 2 other GFE's when I do and let the buyers decide. But if all other things are comparable, I will share this story of integrity that Tony exhibited and see if he doesn't receive some additional value beyond the dollars and cents.

If you'd like to contact Tony Dias for a pre-approval or Good Faith Estimate he can be reached through his website at:
 
Tony's website

If you are a veteran or if you are working with one, Tony's specialty are VA loans and I've found him to be simply marvelous.