Unless you’re buying a home with cash, you’ll need financing. Most buyers take out a mortgage on the home they buy. With a mortgage, you’ll make a small down payment and then a mortgage company will loan you enough money to complete the purchase. Then (for the next 30 years!) you’ll pay the mortgage company back. You’ll pay back the principal amount – the amount you actually borrowed – plus interest on that borrowed amount. Remember, it’s 30 years of interest. That’s a lot! On a $150,000 loan at only 5.0%, the interest over 30 years is another $140,000. You almost pay twice for your home! But, how else could you do it and how else could you borrow $150,000, no less at such a low rate?
Mortgages, in general, are good. Without them, it would be very difficult for most of us to buy a home. But, unlike what some ads tell you, you don’t just go to the store and pick one off the shelf. There are many, many mortgage products. The right mortgage for you is, well, just that – the right one for you. All the others are not right for you.
So how do you know What Mortgage is Right For You? To find that out you first need to determine what your financial situation (job, income, cash, other assets, debts) is. Then you couple that information with the specific home (location, price, seller, condition) you want to buy. Then, you weigh all that information against the myriad of mortgage products available, not to mention all the second-mortgage down payment assistance programs available. There you have it, your path to the Right Mortgage!
Not such a clear path, is it? In fact, it takes a ton of work to really figure out the right mortgage for a home buyer. You simply can’t do it on your own because there’s too much to know, decipher, and understand. You need to work with a professional loan officer who can analyze your situation and who knows and thoroughly understands all the mortgage options that would be available to you. Where are you going to find such a person? Here are my recommendations:
Nancy Hostetler – Open Door Home Loans, a division of Bell Mortgage 2524 Hennepin Av S in Uptown, 612-374-9911 NHostetler@bellmortgage.com I have had many transactions with Nancy and her staff over the years. Nancy knows her stuff. She works very well with immigrants of all nationalities. She’s totally up to speed on all First Time Buyer programs and all Down Payment Assistance programs. She and her staff do an incredible job.
Soye Chalte – Wells Fargo 8041 Brooklyn Blvd, Brooklyn Park, 612-501-6435 Soye.Chalte@wellsfargo.com Soye has been a Realtor and a loan officer for several years, so she understands the whole home buying process. She used to be at US Bank and early in 2010 switched to Wells Fargo – I don’t know why, but that’s good because it gives my clients another option with someone who I trust and work well with. In addition to English, of course, Soye also speaks Amharic and Oromo, the major languages spoken by Ethiopians. I work with a lot of Ethiopians, most of whom speak Amharic. Not all of my Ethiopian clients speak English that well, and especially not when it comes to technical vocabulary such as used in home buying and mortgages. So some of my Ethiopian clients really like the fact that they can work with a loan officer who can communicate with them and explain things to them in both English as well as in their native language. Soye knows all the First Time Buyer mortgage programs and all the Down Payment Assistance programs. Wells Fargo has never been my favorite mortgage company because they really don’t seem to care about their customers – banking is business and customers just get in the way, you know. But Soye does care about her clients and that’s why I like to work with her.
Kathy Luebke – US Bank 1000 Payne Av, St. Paul, 651-778-2617 Kathy.Luebke@usbank.com Kathy has been originating mortgages at US Bank for some 20 years. She works with First Time Buyers as well as folks buying their next homes (move-up buyers). She is thoroughly knowledgeable in all the down payment assistance programs. US Bank has an in-house mortgage product called the American Dream Mortgage. It’s a conventional mortgage with no mortgage insurance premium. It can be a better deal than an FHA mortgage for some buyers. I haven’t done a lot of business with US Bank and my clients who have taken out mortgages with US Bank have generally been satisfied. But a transaction with US Bank can be pretty rough-going and in my opinion it’s because they’re just such a huge bank with so many rules and policies that they just fall all over themselves – they make things harder than they have to be. Closing dates on purchase agreements don’t seem to matter that much to US Bank. They do things on their schedule and the home buyer and seller just have to accept that and wait for US Bank to be ready to close a transaction. But that’s an issue with their processing department, not with the loan officer.
Julie Wilzbacher – Prime Lending 7660 France Av S, Bloomington, 612-503-4333 JWilzbacher@primelending.com Julie used to be at Wells Fargo in downtown St. Paul, and that’s where I met her. One of my clients banks there and had gone to her for a mortgage. It went okay but certainly not without some bumps. What impressed me about Julie is that she kept forging forward and getting things done, in spite of her own company’s constant efforts to make things difficult. And, she kept me informed every step of the way, which I find to be a rare attribute among loan officers. Julie got frustrated with Wells Fargo and in early 2010 switched to Prime Lending. I haven’t done any more business with her but I eagerly would if one of my clients elected to work with her. I think she’s a top rate loan officer.
Over the years I’ve worked with a lot of loan officers from many different banks and mortgage companies. I can’t say that I’ve met any really, really bad loan officers, probably because I think I can see them coming and I simply avoid them and tell my clients to do the same. But these loan officers who I have listed above are the best of the best, in my opinion.
