Saga of the wrong lender. With important comment from an agent
This article was written in May, brought forward for your review because of a recent comment by a realtor. Larry
So you want to buy a home do you? You have a what? A friend (family member - neighbor) that is a loan officer. They will cut you a deal? Oh my! Read this, an all too often real life experience for people that choose their neighbor.
Realtor: (R) Inexperienced Loan Officer (ILO)
R: My client wants to make an offer. ILO: Go ahead they qualfy.
R: I need an approval letter: ILO: I will fax it over, I’ve checked them out, they qualify.
R: The offer was accepted, we have 30 days to close: ILO: Great, I’ll be ready, they qualify.
R: The clients have to remove the financing contingency today. ILO: Do it, they qualify.
R: Closing is next Friday, where are the documents? ILO: I will check - be write back to ya on these qualified borrowers.
R: Hello, whats up, where are you? They just ordered the UHAul. ILO:Good, i just checked, no problem on these qualified folks.
R: Its Thursday, everyones panicking, where are those doc’s? ILO: They should be sent by email today. Remember, they qualify.
R: It’s Friday, we are at the Escrow company, whats the deal here? ILO: Sorry, I just found out they don’t qualify.
This almost seems like fiction. Perhaps more like a tragedy. It isn’t fiction, it is a tragedy. It’s why real estate agents don’t just let anyone do their clients loans if they can help it. Purchases are more critical than refinances. Purchases have ending dates. A lot that is serious is at stake. The seller has to close, his seller has to close, and so does his, and on and on and on it goes, where it stops one never knows.
Some sellers have remorse, want to back out, perhaps to raise the price. If closing goes beyond the contract date, they may not have to close. Even if the buyers boxes are packed and U haul ordered, they can lose the deal.
Commissions are at stake, as is credibility. Customers expect the professionals to do their job, bring the transaction in on time. There are no excuses that are good excuses.
Certainly not every missed closing date results in a cancelled transaction. However, every missed contract date brings extra stress on the many parties. Every missed closing date offers hazards unseen.
So don’t be a party to a future Saga of the wrong lender. Pick a Professional. Professionals do purchases, they have real estate agents to vouch for that. Larry Cragun
[…] Q:Which loan officer should I use, my friends or my real estate agents lender? My agent is pretty determined I will use her lender. A: Always use your agents lender, or at least a loan officer your agent has had experience with. Your agent has good reason to be determined. Click here for a cheeky but true to life saga. […]
Just went through this. As an agent I truly wanted my clients to use a familiar lender. Friend mortgage broker(FMB) indicated that docs could not be released because the title company was not approved by the lender. This was just an excuse to delay all. A day later, indicated that loan was not approved because the buyers employment history could not be verified. Funny, buyer worked in the same company as the FMB! Who ended up having to complete the loan in 36 hours? My familiar lender did! The lender of the FMB indicated that the loan had actually been denied long before because the interest rate requested by the “Friend” was too high!
Attention Buyers, we agents would not recommend a lender that would put us at risk of not closing on time. We, like you, want to complete the transaction with the least controversy possible.
Thank you Ermees. Visitors to this site, please, your agent knows what to demand of a loan officer. Don’t discount this. This is a pressure packed business, it takes an experienced Loan Officer. Larry