Prequalification Is Critical
Having an "Approval Letter" n your hands is critical in today's real estate environment. By having mortgage approval before signing a sales contract on a home all parties involved will recognize you have the capacity to buy. Once your sales contract is ratified, I can have you settle on your new home within a week because we have In-House Underwriting. The qualification process is easy and takes about 10 minutes.

The experience of buying your home should be very easy as long as your Mortgage Lender/Broker and your Realtor work together and neither try to steer business away from one another. So, it is very important for you to understand what takes place in some Realtors, Lenders and Mortgage Brokers offices so you can stay clear of such land mines!

When you begin your relationship with a Realtor, his or her office very well may have a loan officer at that location who gets fed business from the Realtors. Through the years I have found hat such a relationship often created a situation where the Realtor inadvertently didn't represent their clients best interests for the following reasons:

• The loan officer who sits in the Realtor's office, his or her company has an ABA relationship with the Real Estate company.  This means the two companies have entered into a business agreement and portions of the fees and commissions from the mortgage go to the Real Estate company.  How can your best interests be served by that?

• Many Real Estate companies give incentives and impose quotas to Realtors in order to steer the mortgage to their office. 

• Often, the loan officer cannot do business with more than one lender. If their rates are not competitive, you lose.

• Mortgages being designed by the loan officers sitting in the Real Estate office often carry points, thus increasing their profits at your expense.

• Top people in the mortgage business simply don't sit in a Realtor's office waiting for business to come to them. Real pros go out and get their own business and build their reputations based on their own merit.

I do not receive any business from my company. I generate all my business through a large network of Real Estate Agents, CPA's, Financial Planners, Title Attorneys, other licensed Professionals and my website.  My business reputation has been built by my abilities, my word and my company's ability to provide me with countless Lenders and mortgage programs.

To represent your best interests in the buying process, your Realtor should not give advice about mortgages. The same holds true for a Mortgage Lender/Broker.  By each recognizing their licensed field of expertise will assure you that your best interests are always first.

Choice Finance does not have any ABA relationships with any Title Company or any exclusive business arrangement with a Real Estate company. My company does have a Real Estate division. However, I have never recommended it to my clients.  I only recommend outside Realtors who I trust and are professional in their actions and commitment to my clients.

Final Tips So You Can Get The Best:

• Always work with a Mortgage Lender/Broker because he or she can access many, many programs by multiple lenders and give you a very competitive rate.

• Make sure the person who represents the Mortgage Lender/Broker has at least five years in the mortgage business originating mortgages.

• Make sure the Realtor has at least four years of experience selling real estate.

• Don't work with a Realtor who tries to get you to do business with a loan officer who works in his or her office.  If this happens: RUN!

• Don't work with a loan officer who can only offer you one Lender.