I have over 16 years in the mortgage banking industry and spent a couple of those years helping people answer this same questions and eventually got a mortgage brokers license myself.

Unfortunately, many brokers are sales people and not over all well rounded knowledgable mortgage professionals. What to look for to set apart new sales people or less knowledgable people varies since some brokers have 25 years of experience and touched less files and closed less then loans then I did in one year at the large bank I worked for, just like rate teasing and many brokers and originators have fluffed up profiles and are no better then a newer mortgage banker with a couple year of high volume of business.

Here are the key things I look for when I am consulting or doing compliance exams on brokers and originators for other lenders or businesses:

1) Formation, Sole, LLC, Corp.
2) Licenses and business filings,
3) How Many years in business
4) How Many years in industry
5) How Many mortgage files have they closed on
6) Which Bank or Lender did they get their experience from.
7) Are they local and do they belong to the state specific bankers association
Do they have a website that you can further review and look into
9) do they have testimonials or service providers or others you can call to do 2 – 4 phone references from.

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Best thing to do is stick with a local originator or broker that you can build a good relationship with. Don’t shop around to save $15 bucks and get screwed in the long run like most think they need to do.

Mortgage Transactions and Processing are so complex that even the so called professionals are not always as knowledable with every intracacy so how do you think a consumer with very little knowledge is really going to stand against a perfectly trained talker or bait and switch artist who has an answer and counter for each worry or concern you have.

Also educate yourself more about the who process, Perfect vanilla credit deals will give you perfect credit rates and same day lock ins of you want to pay an application fee to show your seriousness to move forward if they require such, anything else falls into what I call the jungle

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subprime lending, alternative loans, unique needs 100% financing etc

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all these deals are going through specififc other investors with different requirements and heavier risk burdens. With that said you will always have best rates on short term deals versus long term, always have prepayments if state allows and usuauly always not be able to lock your rate until appraisal and all docs are submitted from consumer to broker to allow them to deliver a completed file in perfect packaging order to review and sign off for final loan approval and lock or to question for more info.

With all the potential challenges it makes much more sense to use a Broker who can reuse your appraisal through several dozen different lenders and investors instead of getting stuck with one lender or bank who refuses to release your appraisal if you do not place with their specific programs.

Trick again is to find a local, trustworthy professionals, preferably an ex-well trained mortgage banker like myself that has moved to the broker side of the industry to provide personalized service.

The internet, tv ads, realtor referrals all will cause you to eventually get baited and switched or confused more if they are not honest with you upfront.

Please email me at anytime with a financing need or to get more help on education about mortgage lending I enjoy helping people. I am only licensed in Connecticut but my forums have licensed mortgage broker professionals who can do all types of loans in all states.

billymortgage <aka> Bill Lavigne http://www.amorp.com
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