home loan in houson,tx

murat · Joined: 05 Sep 2007 Posts: 3

Hi,

I am looking for a mortgage in Houston,TX. i am buying a house for 176K, and putting down payment about %10. I think my credit score is about 720. i am planning to get a 15 years, fixed rate loan. I have a steady job, make around 67K+bonus a year.

Which one is better? a bank or a mortgage company like countrywide? The most important this is the total amount of money i will pay in 15 years. The lowest rate i saw is 5.875 at a bank's website. Where can I find the lowest rate?

Thanks a lot for all the help.

m2c · Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 937

Ah a question for the ages! No real “right” answer – you just have to look at the offers from each. Another consideration is if it is important to you to know where you will be making payments -- mortgages thrown into the secondary tend to hop around a bit (look at the servcing disclousre). I’d be a least a little bit skeptic of CW right now. You might want to check another source in addition to CW on the broker side. Ken is also down in your area.

5.875% for a 15-year with no points and minimal ($300 to $400) in junk fees is VERY good right now. If it is a true quote, I’d jump on it.
With your FICO I’d investigate discounted monthly MI but it’s not a “biggie” since MI will hang around for just about 3 years.

ken(TX) · Joined: 23 Sep 2005 Posts: 184 Location: Dallas, TX

I think the answer is both.

You do yourself a disservice as a consumer to talk with just one lender. Even though your transaction based on what you shared sounds very straight-forward, you should interview a bank, mortgage banker and mortgage broker to see who you are more comfortable with, etc.

Keep in mind that on-line lending sites like Lending Tree who advertise that "when banks compete, you win" are only pulling your credit and selling your information to loan officers who pay for your information. In many cases, banks don't buy leads from these sources so you really AREN'T making banks compete.

If you aren't sure who to call, one suggestion I have is to call a local title company and ask for their best escrow officer. Explain that you would like to know one loan officer at a bank, broker, and mortgage bank who you could talk to. The escrow officers see how loans close and they have experience with the loan officers and companies who have smooth transactions. That's a pretty good referral source to use.

Good luck.

DallasLoanGuy · Joined: 26 Sep 2006 Posts: 169 Location: Dallas, TX

Good advice by Ken on calling the title company.
Yur realtor may be able to refer yolu as well