Just a quick story for you guys getting into getting home loans, buying houses, etc.
I was applying for a 30 year fixed SONYMA mortgage, 5.875%, with a $5000 cash grant.
From the SONYMA website, they had a few banks listed that offer the program.
One was bank of america. I have a checking there, so gave them a call first.
The woman I ended up working with was absolutely terrible to work with. She tried to push me on a conventional loan, even though I am a first time buyer. She acted in her own interests the entire time, and gave me one or two word answers to all my questions.
Apparently, there isn’t much money to be made when a buyer goes for a SONYMA loan, or a FHA, so a dishonest broker will push you towards a loan that suits their needs more than yours.
The final straw was when I told her I wanted the SONYMA loan, and she continued to give me a quote for a loan that I didn’t want.
Absolutely terrible business practices.
So, I called my brother, who is my acting real estate agent, and he did an absolute fantastic job in steering me in the right direction.
I’m working with one of the bosses at M&T mortgage, and he has been excellent to work with.
He explained a few different options of what he had to suit my needs, and he offered great advise, and helped me make a decision.
He spent the time to explain everything to me, answered all my questions properly, and acted in my interest the entire time.
I ended up with a 30 year fixed SONYMA loan, 5.875%, with a small seller concessions. My closing costs are very low, and its an overall great deal.
Once I close on the loan, I’ll definitely refer some people to this guy in the future.
A bit of advise, always ask your mortgage rep for a fax with a “good faith estimate” attached to it. This will tell you line by line what fee’s are associated with the mortgage, it tells you everything. A friend of mine, who used to be a mortgage broker took a look at the document, and said it looked great, and he didn’t add any garbage fees into the loan to pad his pocket.
As for the house, I put in an offer on a well kept 2 family in West Seneca. The offer was accepted, i’ll give some more details after the home inspection but it looks like a go to me so far.
If you guys need a Realtor, shoot me a PM. My brother works for a small real estate outfit, but gives a high level of personalized service that you absolutely will not get from one of the big names. He really takes the time for each client, and gets them into a house that they want.
We must have looked at thousands of houses on the internet, and about 20 in person before we found one to make an offer on.