We've been home shopping and are considering making an offer on one.
So whats' a good read on mortgages?
Thanks
Doug

https://www.psecu.com/mortgages/?src=subnav

http://www.bankrate.com/mortgage.as...=1&fico=740&points=Zero&cs=1

Find a "good" mortgage broker in your area, they will have access to multiple lending sources and can usually get you the best deal. The costs are regulated you you pay the same fee's with all of them.

Good mortgage broker.

Ask some friends/associates who have purchased homes which mortgage broker they would recommend.

Call a couple title companies and ask a boss who they would recommend as a mortgage broker.

Good and honest broker. I was in the industry and left because of the lying and cheating I saw. It can happen anywhere including big banks. I never cheated a customer.

Quicken Loans.. Best mortgage service i've ever had..

You nailed it. Most painless, non intrusive loan ever. highly recommend em.

The word mortgage comes from the root word mortuus + gage which signifies death or murder. A mortgage is a lien against property which allows it to be seized. The root of the word lien is closely related to ligature, which is something used to bind or strangle. Very appropriate. Proceed cautiously. I am not wealthy but I decided a long time ago to not give anyone the right to seize my house, vehicles, tractor, cows, etc.

I understand the idea, but it's naive at best.

One that you can pay off the fastest!

You did not ask, but I recommend no longer than a 15 year note.

Tom aka rinkydink

Got to be Lending Tree. You want to be able to sit around in you underwear eating Cheetos while applying for a loan.

First read "The Big Short" by Michael Lewis.

I've used federal credit unions so far. My next mortgage will probably be with USAA.

Common ground is that they are membership cooperative type organizations, not banks. They are supposedly member service driven instead of profit driven.

That's our plan.

Our credit union does second mortgages only.

Mortgages are bought and sold all the time. When we bought this house in '95, we got the mortgage through a large mortgage broker. Over the next 10 years, the note was sold 4 times. That doesn't change anything. It doesn't change the terms of the contract. All we had to do was change where we sent the payments.

If you have another CU in the area that offers one, join it and use them.

When I was in the business, there was only one loan I couldn't beat and it came from a CU.

Lending tree is a sales lead generation tool that private brokers use to generate sales, caveat emptor with whoever is calling you.

I've had various mortgages over the years, FHA type loans, loans with PMI, etc.,

the best deal I received was a bundled deal with my bank I'd been with for several years. With checking, savings, a credit card and mortgage all bundled together, with them pulling the mortgage payment from my checking account - I'm getting a very good rate plus a bunch of peripheral benefits like no fees, etc for my other stuff


I went to lending tree and filled out the pre-requisite stuff, and I guess they did their job because people wouldn't leave me alone. I was getting 10-12 calls a day from lenders local and in other states. I finally had to start blocking them to leave me alone.

I wish I had taken out a 15 year loan on my first house, but I also know how tough it is when you're starting out. Seems like I bought a whole house farting around moving from place to place buying a house in each town. I didn't get serious about paying one off until I settled down.

Start checking rates at Bankrate.com. Then shop your local banks and Credit Unions USAA has deals for Vet's if you are one. Most of all be aware of any penalties for early payoff or extra payments if you run into extra cash. Lastly, don't be afraid to re-finance if you find a better rate. My Daughter has re-financed multiple times and has saved thousands. If all equal, deal locally if you can.

If you're a vet, get a VA loan. Some sellers have issues with VA loans, though, due to the scrutiny on the purchased property.

It's more than just the scrutiny. The VA is good for the buyer but is terrible for the seller. The buyer gets a good deal because the seller is forced to pay for it. I wouldn't sell one that way. We were selling our house and the buyer was going VA (although they pulled out before it was done). They force the seller to pay for a good part of the closing costs. Screw that. Nobody paid for my closing costs and I won't pay for anyone else's. Then there was the inspection. It was absurd what all they wanted 'corrected' that didn't need correcting. I wouldn't sell under VA unless I jacked up the price to cover the screw job.

This was my experience when I refi'ed last year. My bank, Chase, was the best deal I found.

Another vote for Quicken.....great experience.

A big enough down payment to avoid PMI.

VA loans are typically not competitive on rates, either.

VA's are exempt from PMI, probably because they vet the applicants so thoroughly. On most loans, I think you need 20% down to avoid it.

Credit unions are good and don't ever take a mortgage longer than 15 years. My wife and I paid 10 years on our 30-year mortgage and only got 10-15% of it paid off in principle. We refinanced to a 15 year and will save $100,000 in interest and gain equity very quickly. I wish I would have done that in the first place and I would be free and clear already.

I've been a USAA member for over 30 years and used them for the mortgage on our first house and a re-fi. That said I've heard countless horror stories of how their mortgage group has taken a crap and is notorious for not getting out all the paperwork that is needed or being late and holding up closing on a house for weeks or longer. When we had our house built two years ago our builder pretty much said he didn't want to build a house for us if we used USAA for financing as they'd had nothing but grief when dealing with them.

Don't know if their mortgage group has improved, but you might want to look at member comments before proceeding. There were plenty of negative comments on the USAA website from members.

don't know about now but used to be you could get an 80/15 to avoid PMI.

Essentially you took a second mortgage out for 15% that was either a higher fixed or variable with the intent at least to pay that off in a relatively short period of time.

I guess if you let it drag out you weren't any better than having PMI

Very rare that a lender will not let you pay down a note faster than scheduled. Doing so reduces the interest paid on the balance while not reducing the payments, effectively doubling the speed of principal pay-down.

That requires the ability pay more than your payment. 15-year gets you a much lower interest rate. Due to rate drops, we were able to drop our payment by $200, lower the rate and knock 5 years off the remaining term.

In looking around with my son who is looking to buy a house I have not seen big differences in interest rates based on term. Could be different in your situation, obviously. And lots of other things have changed in the mortgage world fairly recently.

The beauty of paying even a little extra each month is how fast you start seeing a difference in the remaining balance.

Thanks for all of the replies and suggestions1

Mortgage company suggested this today. He suggested we stay as liquid as possible.

I told him we refuse to pay PMI!

I'd like to have the whole thing paid off in 10-12 years.

We'll see.