If youre
concerned about whether youre getting a good deal or not, one thing to
look at is your interest rate. If you have perfect credit, you should
be getting the best interest rates.
Where do you find the current interest rates? Many financial websites
list current mortgage interest rates, so you might want to start there.
Also, many newspapers publish mortgage interest rates from different
lenders in their weekly "real estate" section.
Another way to figure if you are getting a good
deal is if your Certified Mortgage Planning Specialist is able to show
how this fits into your short and long term financial and investment
goals. If it accomplishes this then the deal you are getting is quite
exceptional.
When it comes to wondering whether you are getting
a "good deal" on your mortgage loan, it's best to never forget that age
old saying. "If something sounds too good to be true, it probably
isn't".
There are many variables to consider. These include
your credit score, your credit history, your debt to income, the loan
to value of the property, the property type, your geographic location,
the loan type, the loan amount, the loan purpose, length of employment,
and whether your income and assets can be fully documented, partially
documented, or not documented.
Your loan officer should be able to explain to you how each of these
affect your rate.
Also think about the service you are getting
because if someone isn't returning calls in a timely manner, they are
more likely not making you the priority, therefore the deal is probably
not good either.
Not only do you want to pay attention to the
interest rate and what the best interest rates are at the present time
to determine if you are getting a good deal or not, but you want to
think about what type of mortgage loan you are getting. Even if you
have the best credit and you see rates advertised that are a little
lower than the rate you are receiving you should ask why your rate is
not lower. Many times there are rate adjustments that will affect your
loan that you might not have even thought about. For good-excellent
credit borrowers if you are obtaining a conventional loan, most of the
time these adjustments are going to be standard no matter what lender
you go to. For example if you had an 800 credit score but you were
doing a cash out refinance at 90% of the value of the appraisal that
was done on your home, you would probably have a rate bump for the cash
out and for the high LTV. Another example is if you were getting a
mortgage loan and you did not want to pay PMI, there are ways to accept
a slightly higher interest rate in lieu of the PMI so therefore you
would have a rate bump for that as well. There are many other things
that can affect your rate positively or negatively so be sure to ask
why you are receiving the interest rate you are receiving if you are
concerned whether you are getting a good deal or not with your
mortgage. A few other examples of items that may affect your interest
rate are your loan size, your income documentation type, whether you
are doing a debt consolidation refinance versus a rate and term
refinance, amount of equity left after refinance, amount of down
payment on a purchase and many, many others.
Conforming rates fluctuate daily, if not throughout
the day. While he/she has no control over the rates, an experienced
mortgage professional will help you plan the timing of your transaction
to get you the best deal possible.
The increased popularity of "stated" (i.e. not
verified) loans in the last few years have, in many ways, made it
harder for a layperson to rest assured that their deal is the best they
can get.
I offer this simple rule of thumb:
The less you document or prove(whether it be income, assets, or both)
from W2s, tax returns, paystubs or bank statements, the higher your
corresponding rate will be.
Therefore, a borrower who can qualify "full doc." (nothing stated,
everything verfied) will always qualify for a lower rate than a
borrower who needs to state something. A "No Doc." loan or "NINA" (No
Income, No Assets" loan will get the highest corresponding rate as the
lender is approving your loan on nothing but your credit and your
equity. This is how lenders "price in" the risk (as they see it)
associated with your loan .
When it comes to getting a good deal there are
several things that need to be considered. One tool people use is to
figure out their break even point. Take the cost of the mortgage and
divide that by the monthly savings. This will give you an idea of how
long it will take you to recover from the cost of the mortgage.