Differences in Mortgage Brokers or Mortgage Specalist

[Richard Huynh]

Hello Everyone on BP,

I'm from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and have a question in regards to Mortgage Brokers.

In terms of investing is there a difference or specialized fields for mortgage brokers / mortgage specialist?  For example there are different types of real estate agents (i.e residential agents, investing agents and commercial agents) and lawyers (family lawyers, real estate lawyers and so on...).

As well, do all mortgage brokers / mortgage specialist do the same function (search different companies and banks to find the cheapest loan available?).  Let me know if you guys/gals know or if my definition of mortgage brokers is incorrect.

Thanks!

[Roy N.]

@Richard Huynh

Yes, they do the same thing.

An independent mortgage broker who understands investors can be a wonderful resource as s/he will have access to a fail number of lenders and, perhaps, private capital as well.    Conversely, we have encountered situations over the past couple of years where some of the Big-5 banks do not make their best offerings available via mortgage brokers, but only through their in-house specialists ... a good broker will be upfront about what s/he can and cannot access and may actually direct you to an in-bank resource if it makes more sense for the deal.