(619) 422-5900You’ve been a member since you joined the military. They did your last car loan in 10 minutes, over the phone, and you never even had to talk to a human. You have your checking, savings, credit cards, investments, and car insurance with them.
You love them. You trust them.
But their reviews on the mortgage side are either 5 stars, or 1 star. Huh???
You’re confident you’ll get the 5 star experiences, but deep down you’re nervous it’ll be the 1 star experience.
Flocks of loyal members leaving 1 star reviews must mean their experience was bad, really bad. Read them, it’s like a horror story of what can go wrong…
Read also: Jack’s story – losing paperwork was just the tip of the iceberg
Read also Kyle’s story – You told me to get married and now I don’t qualify?
Risk vs. Reward – the Seller’s viewpoint
Seller’s have their own stressors. They want to know the deal will:
- Close
- Close on time
- Close with them making the profit they expect.
Even if your offer is the only one, if any of the above is in doubt, the seller’s not feeling confident.
How does the seller offset taking you on a risk? They want more reward. That means a higher purchase price.
If you were selling, what would you do?
If a buyer tried to purchase your home with the loan being done by ‘Crazy Bob’s online VA loan Emporium and Smoke Shop’ what would you think?
- Please let another offer come in
- This is going to be painful; I don’t have time for this
- I want a lender I trust to verify all their info, and ideally do the loan as well
- OK, I’ll take the offer, but I want full price (or more)
It doesn’t matter if Crazy Bob’s is the best Smoke Shop on the internet, if they suck at mortgages, that’s how you’re going to treat them.
The listing agent knows your bank’s ‘mortgage’ reputation
The listing agent will have done ‘mortgage’ deals with your bank before. Not car loans, credit cards, or all the other services they have a good reputation for. Mortgages.
Other agents in the listing agent’s office will also have stories.
Some of the stories will be good. But just like the reviews, some will be 1 star nightmares.
When the listing agent reviews your offer with their seller, which stories do you think they’ll focus on?
Don’t accept any chance for a 1 star experience
It’s obvious and simple. You need a bank that doesn’t have multiple 1 star reviews.
Your past experience with your bank (and perceived ease of using them) may make you willing to take your chances. But if this was your kids school, the hairdresser, or where you’re going to dinner for your anniversary, would you accept anything other than great reviews?
Using your bank doesn’t get you any advantages anyway
- You don’t get a better interest rate because you’ve been a loyal member for XX years (that’s discrimination)
- They don’t process your loan any faster because ‘they already have all your paperwork’
- It’s likely your bank will sell the loan to someone else anyway, so who’s name is on the check isn’t important
Use a lender with a great ‘mortgage’ reputation
An offer being done by a lender the seller thinks is going to do a good job will:
- Get accepted faster – before someone else starts a bidding war
- Get accepted at a lower purchase price – since there’s less risk to offset
- Check out our reviews. We think they stand for themselves.