Advice from investors - handling issues with mortgage brokers. When does an orange flag become a red flag to you?

[Dan K.]

I wanted to ask some advice from other investors and mortgage pros on BP on how to better manage the mortgage process as an investor.

I ended up trying - what I thought would have been - two relatively simple refinances (hard money to conventional loans). The appraisals worked out, all my documentation had been in for two months, and the broker has been telling me that we are all set to close soon - since early June.   I finally asked for his supervisor and got a long list of conditions to still meet, some of which are asking for documents that I sent in late April.  

Now I'm stuck with holding costs for a month - and stuck with the mortgage broker that has been "working on" my refinance since april 29.

The broker had made a few errors (listing my office as a home that I owned) but he also had down that they needed all the basic mortgage documentation - taxes, bank statements, etc - that I had sent two months earlier.   The broker reported that we were all set as early as june 3. And then each week since had been delaying things.  I wanted to be patient and flexible - thinking that if we were in a position to potentially close around June 3rd, that we we would have no problems closing later in the month. I got a little more anxious with each passing week, and wish I had raised flags earlier.  

My assumption is that something was going on and that the broker just wasn't honest about where he was in the process. Still being new to this, I want to learn more about the process so I can better manage things.

What benchmarks can I ask for to tell if progress is being made? How do other investors manage their mortgage brokers and processes better?

How can I better tell when a mortgage broker is not on track, and when I need to make a change? Are there benchmarks that I should be setting so that I don't end up in this position again?