The Right Mortgage Broker

Mortgage Broker

by Darrin DeRoches March 7 - 13, 2013

The right mortgage broker can save you a ton of money. When buying a house most people are so excited that they will sign just about any mortgage to get the money so they can have their dream home. The majority of people just walk into their bank and ask for a mortgage where they are given a percentage that is posted by the bank. They figure it is the best deal and sign away. The problem is it usually is not the best deal for them but rather for the bank. This is why everyone should always consider using a Mortgage Broker for their renewals, new mortgages and re– finances.     The only problem with this is to find the right one. Usually when buying a home your real estate agent works with several brokers. Some are good at customer service and some are good with “getting the job done.” So you have to be careful who you go with since they are handling the biggest purchase that most people make in their lives. Just because they can get the job done does not mean it is worth signing your life away. I had an unusual need for a mortgage for a client of mine so I called the mortgage broker to see if they could get it done.     The client has a home that is fully paid off and is currently up for sale and is worth $280,000. They wanted to buy a new townhome that was worth about $170,000 today before the original home sold. Most people would just say to get a “bridge mortgage” from your bank. Simple enough but the bank said no. The original house is worth over $100,000 more than the house that they wanted to purchase—why would the bank say no? Banks would do the deal but it would require a lot of paperwork and time to get it done and when pressed on this their answer was simply no. So when we asked the mortgage broker to shop it around to lenders, he did.     The problem was the client was in–between jobs and the banks were worried that they would be unable to pay the carrying costs. The mortgage broker kept getting declined from several banks so he looked into private financing. This is where he got a yes! Only one problem—they wanted $16,000 to do the deal and then a monthly payment which was about double the posted rate. It would have cost the client about $20,000 to buy a home before selling theirs. Of course we declined the deal but the mortgage broker found another private lender who did the deal for under $5,000 and a reasonable carrying cost.     Big difference from 20 grand to 5 grand and a yes from a definite no from the banks. This was all completed in less than 48 hours and we closed the deal early. Working with the right people not only saves you a ton of money but gets the job done—the right way! If you need a qualified, honest mortgage broker drop me a line and I will give you his contact information. V         Darrin DeRoches is a local real estate and mortgage broker. He can be reached to answer questions, comments or stories about real estate experiences through this weekly column at mail@uniquerealty.ca.