Used a local broker and got a rate of 4.875%.

Local lenders, agency brokers, credit unions, etc.  

You have every right to ask if the policy has dog bite / dog breed exclusions and need to spend time (unfortunately) reading the policy exclusions.I will say that a certain insurance company that may or may not have a lizard as the mascot brokers out their renters and home policies with other companies and some of those companies have a dog breed exclusion and some of the companies they broker it to do not have a dog breed exclusion.

She worked for a residential broker for a year but in transactions not as an agent.

Not for customers?

We could spend all day hashing out whether brokers or nonbank lenders are better, but in reality, either is fine. 

I am a contractor , I am not there to save the customer money , I am there to solve a problem , I am in business to make money . 

I'm a real estate broker and general contractor looking to connect with other real estate professionals on this forum.

Try calling local real estate brokers.

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