we have been pre-approved, but want to shop around to compare services/fees. what questions besides rate, rate period, drop-down option, pts required, fees (application, credit report, survey, title search, title insurance, appraisal, and attorney), should we ask?
thanks!
cluelessbride
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Re: Mortgage Shpping Questions
skew you have inspired me to make a file for the couple of mortgage offers we are preapproved for and list the pieces of each. Because I don't even know the things you listed in parens in your question!
Sorry I can't help, but this would be a good question for some message boards on fool.com or msn money.
ThongLori
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Re: Mortgage Shpping Questions
I would of course have them estimate your total monthly payment.
thiadora
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Re: Mortgage Shpping Questions
The title insurance/search is usually ordered by the buyer's attorney. The insurance premiums are state regulated based on the amount of the policy. You do not pay extra for the title search. That charge is included in the premium. (You will only pay for searches were there is extra work- such as an extra chain of title- is involved. This is not common but does happen.) These charges will appear on your HUD-1 statement, but they are not controlled by the bank. When you are interviewing and hiring an attorney, you may want to ask her/him about that.
The charges you should expect from the title company are (off that top of my head):
Title Insurance: Owner's Policy Title Insurance: Lender's Policy *Cannot estimate. based on amount of insurance.
Recording: Deed, mortgage, possibly an assignment of mortgage (there's a flat fee for the first page and then additional charges per page plus some additional fees that the counties charge.) Estminate about $150 per document.
Departmentals: various town searches that the title company provides for the attorneys and banks (CO, Housing and Building Violations, Street Report, Bankruptcy Searches, etc...)- estimate about $300
Mortgage Tax (1% of the mortgage in Nassau and Suffolk, less $25- if 1-4 family)
Survey or Survey Inspection ($600 or more for a new survey, about $75 for an inspection)
cloddy
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Re: Mortgage Shpping Questions
Closing costs can be a huge difference from one mortgage broker to the next and they're a hidden cost that you don't know about until after you've picked one. You want to know about rates and make sure you're not paying any points. You shouldn't have to invest too much effort into selecting the broker. It's not half as hard as finding the house.
LisaT
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Re: Mortgage Shpping Questions
Time frame was also important to us. We wanted to close quickly, and we did. But not all the banks/mortgage companies we talked to were able to move as quickly.
We also asked how their appraisal process worked - it wasn't a deal breaker, but it allowed us to save $350 we would have otherwise had to shell out for the appraisal and it helped us to continue to close quickly (since I pretty much did the appraisal myself).
Definitely get an estimate of closing costs, but know that its an estimate only...
rates, points and hidden fees are the biggies.
The attorney fee should be independant of the company you chose. It will be determined by the lawyer you choose (which you must have already since you're in contract).
we used e-loan and they matched the best rates we found and we very convenient to work with. Their closing costs estimates were very accurate also. They've been written up as having some of the more accurate estimates out there.
