How many lenders(brokers) do you contact?

Question

Hello, my husband and I are considering buying our 2nd property as 2nd house or vacation home in Orland, Florida.

We are currently in CA.  For our first step, we are trying to find good lenders. I contacted several but not everyone didn't answer the phone.

So, my question is, how many lenders do you contact? Maybe 3 lenders will be enough? One of the brokers whom I spoke with today recommended not to contact other lenders, because it will affect our credit and anyways everyone will do the same job but he will do better.-.-

I have one lender in CA which is my primary residency and I contacted several in Orland,FL since we are buying property in Fl.

Do you think it is a good idea to have a lender from the state you want to purchase?

I will really appreciate any advice! Thank you :)

Tyler Gibson · Answer

I don't think you necessarily need to have a lender in the state we are going to be buying, but you do need to have a lender that is familiar with that state and what financing options are going to be available as well as what things may affect their loan like the cost of insurance. I have some great lenders here in Florida that I would be happy to get you connected with. One of them in particular has access to all of the conventional loan products you would expect as well as non-conventional and hard money.

John Karg · Answer

Hi Sejin,

I would definitely be wary of any lender that tells you not to get a second quote, especially considering that the reason they gave is completely false. All hard credit inquiries for mortgage purposes that happen within 45 days of each other only count as one inquiry for your FICO credit score. This means that you can have your credit pulled by as many lenders as you want within 45 days of the first pull, and it won't negatively impact your score any more. Therefore I always recommend that my clients get a second opinion, and if I can't beat what someone else is offering then that's on me.

John

Jack Matthias · Answer

Hi Sejin,

My boss Brad Boden, has worked with many buyers in CA and FL. I am fortunately not licensed there yet, but he would be happy to assist. Your allowed to be pulled by a couple lenders within a couple weeks without being dinged. The credit bureau's look at shopping for a mortgage to be a good thing and therefore that's why you can get it checked by multiple lenders. Let him know Jack sent you.

Cheers!

Jessie Dillon · Answer

i think having 'discovery calls' with multiple brokers/lenders is always a good idea. see what loan products they can offer you, what their rates are like (but note that many tell you one thing & ultimately have to close you at another), and most importantly make sure you have a good gut feeling about them. make sure they're responsive and want to educate you & don't try to win your business by sh*tting on other lenders. it weirds me out that the person you talked to had said what they said. to my knowledge, rate shopping & getting your credit pulled for it multiple x in one 30-day span is just fine. all those hard inquiries fall off anyway. it's worth it to get a great loan product and a great rate. and they're wrong - not all lenders have the same products to offer! as far as having a lender in the state you want to buy in, i don't personally think that matters, as long as you know right away whether or not they can lend in that state (many investor-popular lenders that i've talked to can't lend in MA, which is where i live).

Shawn McCormick · Answer

Hi @Sejin Kim I'm in Orlando and have helped lots of other BP members purchase second/vacation homes here. I do usually suggest a local lender as they know the market (appraisals, comps, insurance, rents etc). I have several that I work with that I can get you in touch with immediately. I can't imagine why they aren't responding to you, but the ones I use and personally know, will be able to help.

As far as your credit goes, you can apply to several lenders and have them pull your credit, the bureaus look at that as comparison shopping for mortgage rates and they will hit your credit, but for much shorter term. They know you aren't trying to get a Target card and a Furniture card and a Macy's card to run them all up. You don't always have to do a hard pull, but if you want an accurate rate quote, you will need to.

Let me know if I can help any further.

Best of luck

How many lenders(brokers) do you contact?

Most Popular Reply

Contact Us