Loan Officer Advice

[Edgar Avilez]

Hello BiggerPockets Community, 

My name is Edgar Avilez. I am a 24-year-old real estate newbie currently living in Ventura County California. I have a phone call with a loan officer this Thursday, 7/9/2020 for potentially my first loan for my first property.

I am curious to know if anyone can lend me some tips, advice, and questions to ask when interviewing a loan officer. Are there things that I should have handy before getting on the call? Any things to be aware of before speaking with them etc.

Thank you so much for your time! Any help would be highly appreciated.

Best, 

Edgar Avilez 

[Kyle Altenau]

Are you presenting a deal? I think one thing people overlook when bringing a deal to a loan officer is the importance of presentation. You should always have some kind of loan summary/loan request to send them. You'd want information about the property and about yourself as well as some terms you're looking for. You should also have income and expenses prepared for the property as well as anything else that might be relevant. 

Really you should know the deal inside and out. For example. Where did you get the number on income and expenses for the tax expense? Did you verify that's correct? 

Or did you verify the rents with leases? It's okay if you're not at that point in the process yet, but noting something like "rent roll is pending lease verification" or something similar is a lot better than answering the question with something like "not yet" 

Same with the taxes. You don't have to be completely done with your diligence, but being able to say, I request or plan on requesting X to verify makes you look a lot better than just saying no. 

Essentially really pick apart your deal before presenting it so that when someone else picks it apart (which is their job) you are ready for their questions.