Obtaining a mortgage / home buying process in MA

Submitted by ladbom t3_11lbqhx in massachusetts

Hello, I wanted to get some tips from those who have purchased a house in MA in the last couple of years given the extremely competitive market.

  1. When did you start getting pre-approvals vs pre-qualifications? Houses seem to sell within a week here, so there is almost no point to start looking unless you are fully prepared. But those approval letters only last a certain amount of time before they expire and then you need another hard pull to renew.

  2. Lender suggestions … online vs local? I see some online lenders like AmeriSave and Guaranteed Rates mentioned in past threads, but also some local suggestions such as Leader Bank. How many lenders should we check with? Obviously, the rate matters a lot, but if all are in the same ball park would a local lender be faster in closing or more reliable?

Thanks!

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Comments

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677536543 t1_jbblthu wrote

My wife and I got pre-approved the day before we made an offer. You just need to have your paperwork in order proving your income and assets/cash.

Someone I know just bought his first condo going through a local bank. He said they're more likely to give you a loan than the larger banks because they're also in the community you're in, and make their decisions in-house.

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Crazyhellga t1_jbbx53g wrote

I got a preapproval right away because I knew I was going to move fast. Also, renewing it was no big deal - just gave my banker a call and he emailed me a new one with the updated date and amount.

I went with Quicken Loans because it was easy. Also my Mom is an accountant at a relocation company and she said they were good and reliable. Worked for me…. Had Citibank for my previous mortgage because my employer banked with Citibank and that gave us a break on closing costs.

When you compare lenders, don’t just think about rates but also closing costs. I also pay extra principal every month to save on interest m. Even extra $100 per month makes a noticeable difference in the long run…

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677536543 t1_jbdq9ir wrote

Paying extra toward principal is the way to go. We're fortunate enough to do $500 extra a month and it's cutting 7 years off our mortgage and saving us interest in the long run. We're about 3 years in, so only 20 years to go now.

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Thisbymaster t1_jbbtdsr wrote

Local lenders will have a real person you will deal with and call if anything goes wrong. I suggest you take a first time homebuyers class. They are cheap and held regularly. They will go over what mortgage terminology means and the stages the process goes through. I would talk with a minimum of three different lenders and compare their offers.

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NOPNOFNOG12 t1_jbcw201 wrote

I would go ahead and get pre-approved as soon as you are seriously looking, things can happen very fast!

I would HIGHLY recommend Shant Banosian and his team at Guaranteed Rate. They were amazing when I bought my home and have provided exceptional ongoing support helping through refi.

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ladbom OP t1_jbeel5e wrote

I'll look him up. Right now I am thinking my 3 choices to get rates are Guaranteed Rate, Quicken Loans, Leader Bank.

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Foxcecil t1_jbcbihw wrote

Make sure you have at least 15,000 USD in your bank account cause closing costs can make a home that is otherwise 100% financed to being unaffordable.

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asscheeseterps710 t1_jbcqhz6 wrote

Only 15k? Damn I can’t wait to build my credit up

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Foxcecil t1_jbddu5o wrote

Western Mass btw. I imagine it's a little more in Eastern MA and that includes first time home buyers putting 2-3% down and rolling that percentage into your mortgage.

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SYNTHLORD t1_jbcvr51 wrote

You can 100% finance a home? What about a down payment? Is that from a loan?

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Foxcecil t1_jbddqfo wrote

You can essentially 100% finance a home... Well more like,you pay 3% down payment and roll that into your mortgage so the bank gives you a little extra to cover it. In that case, though, you will still need around 15k in the bank to pay for all the closing costs.

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Tacoman404 t1_jbe5cae wrote

That seems high for closing costs. My closing costs were less than a third of that and my down payment was more than 15k. We put about 9% down only too.

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Popmuzik412 t1_jbcc5g9 wrote

We loved our experience with Leader Bank. We used Kate Garbedian. Prior to Leader, we used a broker and were unhappy.

We also had our pre approval before we looked.

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ladbom OP t1_jbeegt8 wrote

Thanks for the tip! Did you get a preapproval or precertification? I believe the latter is more intensive where you provide all your financials.

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Popmuzik412 t1_jbefa7q wrote

We did a pre approval. Pick a mortgage company first and take their advice. Also get a realtor, they can also advise what the best route is. We used Chuck Silverston and he negotiated 40k off the purchase price. This was 2018.

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Sticky_Keyboard t1_jbm141x wrote

Bay State Savings Bank had the lowest rate we found when researching late last yr.

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dogriverhotel t1_jbc0mpk wrote

I had our family realtor walk me through everything. Honestly it was so helpful having someone hold my hand and introduce me to their preferred mortgage company etc, then home inspector, insurance agent, roofer, chimney guy… If you can get a referral from someone you trust it’s incredibly helpful and lessens the stress. In my case, this realtor also helped my mother and father find their new houses after they got divorced a couple years ago so we had a pretty nice relationship established even before I was ready to think about finding my own place.

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ladbom OP t1_jbeep8o wrote

I have heard this is risky as well to rely on your realtor since they have an incentive to push everything through, especially for an inspector recommendation ... would assume it is easy to find one on google with some reviews

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dogriverhotel t1_jbf169j wrote

I agree there’s risk to it, and you should always shop your rates around to see if there’s a better deal. In our case, everyone our realtor introduced us to turned out to be excellent and fairly priced and especially when it came to tradespeople, it was a great help to be personally introduced since like nobody is scheduling new projects for six months or a up to a year from now unless you have an in. If you can get a referral from someone you personally know and trust, that’s always the best way. I wouldn’t have gone with just anyone I found on Google even if they were well reviewed. Ask your coworkers or extended family for introductions!

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xKimmothy t1_jbc498i wrote

Go local. We used HUECU credit union and their service was great! We ended up getting an offer accepted on Easter night because we could get in contact with our loan officer to talk to the seller's realtor.

Also, side note, get your own realtor on your side. A good one will know their shit and be immensely helpful along the way and be the one negotiating with the sellers.

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ladbom OP t1_jbef2ga wrote

I was thinking to use Redfin, it feels more flexible with being able to tour whenever

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xKimmothy t1_jbek4le wrote

We would just send our realtors listings we wanted to see and they would screen through them for whether they're overpriced, if they had any red flags for location, and then set up all the visits for us. They scheduled them outside of the open house times so we had the visits all to ourselves. They would also add in ones they knew about once they got the sense of what we were looking for. The one we ended up buying was one they picked because we thought it would be too expensive (ended up getting it for close-ish to asking).

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Dobagoh t1_jbcacxw wrote

Getting multiple pulls for a pre-approval doesn’t really impact your credit that much. Maybe like -2 pts each time, so it’s not something to worry about unless you have a thin credit file or have a score right around the threshold (760 for prime rates)

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wolf95oct0ber t1_jbce3u9 wrote

We got pre approved right as we started looking and happened to buy in the timeframe but we prepared to look for months or years. We got realtor and mortgage recs from a friend and they worked great. We used Applied Mortgage and they were very on top of the process and communicated regular plus had the ability to track your application and underwriting on their app. Def get all your records in order first, that makes it easier. Know your mortgage is likely to the sold soon after you close. It’s normal.

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Bada__Ping t1_jbcguo6 wrote

-We got pre-approved then immediately started looking for houses. They last 90 days and don’t have a huge impact on your credit score

-Shop around. We started with 4, 2 local and 2 online. Ended up using Chase because they got us the best rate at the time. I’m happy with my lower rate but there were a few moments during the process with Chase that I wished I could just go to a local office down the street. There’s pros and cons to both.

-I’m echoing the other comment about the first time homebuyers class. I used the link below and took one and it was invaluable. It was fairly inexpensive and I learned a lot. It’s a 2 day course and you end up hearing from people from every aspect of the home buying process from lenders to inspectors

https://harborlightcp.org/housing/first-time-home-buyer/first-time-home-buyer-class/

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ladbom OP t1_jbeey05 wrote

Its more the time commitment during the working days vs the cost, I'll see if I can find some online courses.

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Tacoman404 t1_jbe54ni wrote

Get a prequal letter as soon as you start looking and use a local lender. Credit unions are great and they’ll give you better rates if you open accounts with them.

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Dry-Stop2000 t1_jbf0f3c wrote

Get pre approved before you visit homes. There’s no point in seeing what you can’t buy.

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