What To Look For In A Great Lender

As a buyer, the relationship with your lender is very important. It can be the difference between a smooth, stress-free home purchase or a rocky, strenuous experience which potentially results in failure to close. Either way, the outcome of the homebuying process is highly dependent on the interaction between buyer and lender.

When deciding on a lender, here are some things to look for:

Fast Pre-Approval Letters

I find it helpful to tailor pre-approval letters to the specific property of interest rather than have a generic one. Having things like property address and offer price tend to add a nice touch. Having a lender who can generate a custom pre-approval letter quickly is a testament to their customer service and ability to execute in-house operations and underwriting.

Speed & Efficiency

These two attributes of the lender's process are fundamental to success; especially in a hot market. When a lender must send documents to separate branches and divisions for processing, it adds time, complexity and increases the chances of miscommunication/mistakes.

Lenders who have operations and underwriting departments in-house tend to work at a much quicker pace and remain on the same page.

Available Seven Days A Week

Availability on weekends and working seven days a week can be so crucial to all of this. Loan processing has many moving parts. And it can be more complex when you combine this with all the other potential issues which come up on the borrower and/or seller side. Communication among all parties is key.

 This makes it even more important to have a lender who is available daily to answer questions, requests and receive documents and keep the process moving forward smoothly.

24/7 Loan Processing

Speed and efficiency will once again come into play here when the housing market is hot and competitive. You need every advantage you can get. A lender's processing speed and ability to execute can give you the competitive advantage to present an attractive offer and follow through to the closing.

REMEMBER:  Take your time and do your research before choosing the lender which best suits your needs.