Mortgage Broker Red Flags

[Minh Nguyen]

I spoke to my very first mortgage broker today (referred by a friend) and as soon as we got on the phone I was immediately bombarded with questions about my situation while any question I had about our relationship was brushed off with short, dismissive answers (some of my questions were: do you have realtors I should connect with or will you be working with a realtor that I choose? Will you be helping me find rates from a large pool of lenders? etc.) There was also zero intro about herself or her company; I had to look it up from her email signature when she emailed me docs after our call.

I was under the impression that I was in a good position, with zero debt (no student loans, car payments, or credit card debt), very good credit score, a 20% down payment saved up, and a sizable salary for a college grad. So I was shocked to hear her say that she needed to weave a story about my internship experience to prove I have longer working history, since I have "nothing" with my 6 months of working full-time after graduating and would have a hard time with lenders. I've heard some incredible stories about members of the BP community getting loans even with just offer letters before starting work! 

Is this conversation a red flag that this broker may not be suitable for me to work with or is it just a product of the stricter lending environment today and brokers are just trying to avoid wasting their time?

Another small thing that made me nervous was when I asked her about how I should gather documents (for pre-qualification) from my online stock brokerage account used for my company's employee stock purchasing plan and she didn't understand what that was, mistaking it for a 401k. Hmm....

I've learned from my BP edumacation so far that I should speak to a few real estate agents before deciding on one who is investor-friendly, but should I also be doing the same for a mortgage broker?