Shopping Around
For years now I’ve wanted a new home. I bought my current house when I was 23 years old. At the time, it was all I could afford, and even though I’ve never really liked it, it’s served its purpose quite nicely. But, it’s time to move on and into something that is large enough to accommodate all of our pets, kids and crap that has built up over the past nine years. Finally, a new home is on our horizon.
With this larger home comes a larger mortgage payment and we’re shopping around for the best rates and the lowest fees available. I’ve also been trying to figure out what rates are negotiable…. origination fees, processing fees, etc. The internet has come in very handy in aiding my search for answers, but I’d like some local advice.
Maybe you can help us out. Have you had an excellent experience with either a bank or a broker in Austin? Is it better to work with the bank directly since they don’t have to pay the broker? What rates were you able to negotiate? What was your experience like? What would you do and not do again?
August 11th, 2008 at 3:23 pm
I LOVED our mortgage broker. She was really really sweet and extremely knowledgeable and helpful. Her name is Ashley Anderson and here is her info: ashley@asheleyaustinanderson.com
www.unitedlendingusa.com
512 592 5454 direct
512 413 1332 cell
Congratulations! I will be happy the day we can move from ‘all we can afford’ to ‘exactly what we want.’ So exciting!
August 12th, 2008 at 8:54 am
My broker was Ed Solter at Presidential Mortgage. He got us everything we needed, and has helped with other financial decisions since. He got us an incredible rate, and helped talk through all the different loan options we had and explained the pros and cons of each.
http://www.presmtgco.com/
August 18th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I *loved* our mortgage loan person. She works for Colonial Bank, but I got the impression that she shopped around a lot to get me the best rate, so maybe she is a broker? Anyway, both times I used her, we also went to our credit union since they got us such fabulous car loan rates. Both times she was able to beat it. Our broker was also WAY more flexible about timing and circumstances.
Our next door neighbor works for Bank of America and she thought that she would get a good rate through them. Our broker beat it and the home builders deal (who had beat B of A).
She’s also super nice and lightning fast. Her name is
Colette Phillip
colette_phillip@colonialbank.com
512-732-0055