When you are buying a home or refinancing, you want to get the best deal on your mortgage, and you want to make sure you get an equally good interest rate. Well, how do you do it?
In today’s post, we will discuss three quick tips on how to get best mortgage rates in Texas on your mortgage and to make sure to get the best overall deal on your mortgage.
When you start the conversation with a lender and apply for a mortgage or a refinance, the lender will provide you with something known as a worksheet or a loan estimate.
In this loan estimate, 98% of the costs that they are estimating they do not control. So the first thing to understand is that it doesn’t matter what a bank or lender shows you on a loan estimate as cash to close.
The reason behind it is the banks, lenders, or mortgage brokers are under pressure to estimate the lowest closing costs as possible.
So the only thing that matters when you pick out a lender is the interest rate and the lender fees when you are evaluating the costs. Lender fees usually include processing fees, admin fees, underwriting fees, etc.
They are going to be listed at the top. You are eventually going to pay those fees and will be added to your cash to close.
Some lenders or brokers say that they do not charge these fees.
Well, in such cases, you might want to check what is the interest rate they are offering as they might cover these fees by giving you a slightly higher interest rate.
Every single borrower is asking the same question, how do I get the best interest rate in Texas? To begin with, you need to understand that banks, lenders, and mortgage brokers are going to pray that you ask that questions.
Because they know the numbers better than you do. When you see a low-interest rate advertised either on TV, newspapers, or flyers with fine print that you probably ignore or miss reading.
Those are the conditions and extra fees and costs to get that particular rate. The easiest and the best thing to do first is to get an idea of what the current interest rates are.
Researching the market rate would help you to understand better which of the lenders or mortgage brokers are helping you to get best mortgage rates In Texas.
If any lender is offering you an interest rate way below what the market is at, they are either referring to a different mortgage program or indirectly asking you to pay points to get that rate.
When you are shopping for a mortgage, you always want to get best mortgage rates and the lowest possible closing costs.
Once you understand the fees and how to get best mortgage rates, you want to make sure you are working with the lender who will get your loan closed.
Many companies are not so focused on who closes or who closes on time, and that can get expensive.
That could lead to contract extensions, rate lock extensions. In such situations, what you can do is, instead of looking at the company, look at the person you are working with.
The individual loan officer is the one who will dictate how the loan process goes for you.
You can google the name of the loan officer that you are working with to make sure you get more information like reviews, history, and experience.
The best thing about researching online is, if you are not doing a good job, you can’t hide.
So, make sure the loan officer that you are working with is dedicated enough to close your loan on time.
There you have it. It is really about getting the best overall deal on your mortgage.
Working with the loan officer who can help you understand the fees, provides the best interest rate with minimal closing costs, and making sure you close your loan will ensure that you get best mortgage rates.
It’s a no brainer that whenever you are getting a mortgage or refinancing done, you would always make sure that you get the best mortgage Interest rates.
However, most of the time, people do not have an idea of how to shop for the best mortgage rate.
Today we will understand how to shop for the best mortgage interest rates In Texas and how it could benefit you.
When people are in the process of refinancing or buying a new home, a prevalent mistake they make is getting a quote from different lenders on different days.
For example, if you are getting a quote from lender A on Monday and Lender B on a Wednesday, this would end up in an inaccurate comparison as the mortgage rates fluctuate daily.
It could be possible that lender A gave you a rate when the rates were high on Monday. And lender B gave you the rate when the rates were low on Wednesday.
It is critical to understand your scenario – are you buying a home? Or are you refinancing your current mortgage? Or getting a cash-out refinance? These scenarios affect the mortgage rates that you can get.
You also need to know your actual credit score.
p.s: We would suggest not considering the credit scores which are provided online as they have been proved to be inaccurate.
What we would suggest instead is to start with one lender or talk to a couple of lenders, see who you like the most, and have one of them pull your credit.
This is a logical step to start shopping for the best mortgage rates in Texas.
The next thing you need to know is your property type. Pricing for rates is different for different property types.
You want to make sure you give this information to the loan officers that you are talking to and get the best mortgage rates In Texas for your mortgage.
You want to make sure you provide consistent information to each loan officer you speak to for better comparison. You also need to know if it is a purchase, how much are of the downpayment are you putting down?.
And if it is a refinance, how much is the property worth? When the loan officer is looking at this information, they are more likely to get the best option based on your scenario.
It is also crucial that you shop for the interest rates within a specific time frame. Try and shop for the best mortgage rates from different lenders within a two-hour window for better comparison.
The loan rates are tied to the financial market, and the financial market is constantly changing, and they could be very volatile.
On the most volatile day, we could see 4 to 5 changes in the rates.
So if a lender is giving you a rate in the morning on such days, the same lender could end up giving a different rate by the evening.
When you shop for the rate within two-hour, it will provide you with the best snapshot of which lender is giving you the best mortgage interest rate.
If you are comparing the rate from ‘Monday’ to ‘Tuesday,’ that would be an inaccurate comparison because you are comparing past data to current.
The next important thing you need to ask the lenders is what are the fees involved in the loan. And if they are charging any points for the rates which are quoted to you.
All lenders have origination fees, and you want to know what these are for all the lenders that you are working with.
The origination fees can vary dramatically. So you want to make sure you get this number because it is a critical piece of the financial picture. You also want to ask if they are quoting points.
Many lenders may quote you with the lowest interest. However, the catch could be that they are covering the difference in points.
Hence you need to ask the lenders upfront about points to make an accurate comparison.
The major pitfalls are the mailers. Do not believe everything that you receive in the mail.
If you still think that the mailer you received is something you might want to consider, at least get in touch with the lender to check if they are providing what is being promised in the mailer.
Similarly, if you walk to a bank and see the rates on the daily mark board, it could be different for you.
Comparing the best mortgage rates with multiple lenders could be a task. But if you do it right, you could save lots of money and might not have to worry about mortgage-related breakdowns.
Taking the right steps initially while comparing can make sure you have financial relief for the life of the loan!