Mortgage Broker Versus Investor Friendly Loan Officer

When you are an investor looking for a lender there are many things you want to take into consideration and they may not be what you are thinking.........

1.) How many investors they work with and how well they know investor financing? Is it their primary client base? 

This is also a concern when looking into a primary residence, as your investment properties will be taken into consideration as well. Investor financing is much more intricate than primary financing. 

Mortgage brokers many times have more overlays than an individual investor friendly lender. This becomes even more of a concern when looking to purchase investment properties. They are attempting to market your deal to multiple lenders, they require more overlays to market your deal to multiple lenders. 

An example............. Is many times mortgage brokers require 2 years of rental income to count rental income, when you really just need a mortgage history. You also need to look at the fee's with a mortgage broker compared to an individual bank.

2.) What will your relationship be after the loan closes? Will they be able to assist you with issues that may arise down the road? Will they be your resource in the future for more deals down the road? 

A very important factor to think about is long term resources. You just took out a 15-30 year loan! If your loan is sold to different banks, customer service, Isn't always the best with some banks. If you develop a close relationship with an individual loan officer, than you can always go to them with questions and assistance with your loan, or on future loans. You won't have to wait out those long holds with customer service, when you have a loan officer to reach out to!

3.) How well do they know their guidelines with investor financing? No loan officer is perfect, but they a hundreds of pages to know and understand. If they are not doing investment purchases on a regular basis than than the loan process can become very complex. There are a lot more issues that arise with investor financing versus primary financing. 

4.) What are their overlays when it comes to investment products or primary residence with a history of rental properties? 

A lender with little overlays can make the process go much smoother, and get you to closing faster! For example a common overlay I see is cash out financing requiring a year waiting period, when the waiting period required is 6 months. 

5.) The last concern should be rates...... You can have the best rates, but if the loan doesn't close than your gain is lost property! 

The take away....... Make sure you choose a lender focusing on investors, with very little overlays. Then worry about the rates.