When our realtor advised that we had to be pre-qualified before looking at any homes - we got down to business. At first, we contacted C&F mortgage company (who our realtor recommended). The company was very scrupulous on cleaning up our credit reports before any pre-approval could be issued. Our dreams of buying a home quickly turned into us renewing our apt. lease.
After about a year of back and forth, we stopped hearing from our mortgage contact. We figured the company had just given up on us and decided to see what our bank, Wells Fargo, would offer. Within an hour, we had a few pre-approval options for $275k budget. I couldn't believe it. Finally, the house search could begin!
Low and behold a week later, we heard from C&F - apparently our original contact had left the company. (I guess we drove her away!) The new contact also pre-qualified us.
Our house search resulted in a home that needed a LOT of work (more on that later). C&F advised our realtor that no bank would approve us for a loan on that type of house. Great. Thankfully I contacted Wells Fargo who had a 'Construction' type of loan specifically for this type of home. Needless to say, even though we ended up not getting the renovation home, we did not use C&F for our mortgage.
My advice: Go to the big banks and local branches. Years from now, your mortgage will probably be sold to another mortgage company anyway so it doesn't matter who you choose - as long as you get the best rates. Here are some of the options we had:
30 year FHA loan at 3.8%
30 year Conventional loan at 4%
30 year Conventional loan at 4.2%
Even though your credit report will be run multiple times, those types of dings can be explained to the underwriter (more on that later).
Bottom line - don't spend more time trying to find the perfect pair of jeans than choosing a mortgage company. Buying a home will likely be a 30 year commitment so shop around!
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