Posted: 3/31/2006 10:03:31 AM EDT
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Anybody got a review of this place lendingtree.com? Friends of mine are re-financing their house, and asked me if I knew anything about them. Thanks, Michael |
| My wife manages 2 real estate compaanies. These .com mortgage lenders promise to save you all kinds of money (origination fees, etc) but the truth is they get you somewhere down the line. You are better off with your local bank or a title company hitched to a local realty that is well established in your area. |
+1 lendingtree.com is run by Lending Tree Loans LLC....the "offers" they come back with are the banks who they intend to sell your loan to once you sign with them. their closing costs seem to be about 1/3rd higher than my local banks. And the high-pressure sales tactics are bothersome as hell....."for tonight only, if you commit to signing and pay $475 lock-in fee with your credit card (non-refundable), then we will lower your point by .25% OR knock off $1000 in closing costs." In short....they suck. |
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I got excellent results in May 2003 using LendingTree to find a refinance deal. My local banks and then-current lender offered me totally unacceptable pricing. LendingTree hooked me up with MortgageSelect, which was fantastic, plus two other offers that were not impressive. The service is free. You lose nothing by allowing them to find offers. If your local banks can do better, that's fine.
The funny thing about that in my case is that my old first TD was with Countrywide, which wanted about $1,500 more in fees for a higher interest rate loan than I got from MortgageSelect. MortgageSelect promptly sold my loan. To Countrywide.  Bankers and others in the real estate related industries are not necessarily the smartest business people. |
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+1 for Lending Tree - for home equity loan. Went with PNC Bank out of PA (may want to try them directly, highly recommeded) - excellent customer service, no points, no prepayment penalties, autopay through checking acct withdrawl. Very painless process and for 50K, approximately $600 closing costs, which they deducted from the check amount sent. - Ater we returned the paperwork, in a prepaid UPS letter from PNC, got the check within 3 days - total time from application to receipt of check - 10 days. Actually had a lower % offer from another bank through lending tree, but the closing costs would have been greater, and there was greater amount of verification needed - told PNC Bank, and they matched the rate, 90% of verification was done over the phone (even "checked" the housing rates in my area to verify value/equity while I was on the phone with them) The % rate I received was excellent and lower than even my own bank could give me. FWIW, it was easier and faster to get 50K from PNC through Lending Tree - than a 9K auto loan from my own local bank |
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I got my mortgage from etrade.com. It was the best deal I could find. Closing costs came to about $1400 including everything. 30-year fixed mortgage, zero points, 5.50%. This was 2 years ago, though. With 10-year notes where they are now, I think you would be lucky to get 6.25% ETA loan amount was about 130k |
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When a banker or mortgage broker gives you discounted closing costs, they make up for it somewhere else. The norm in the industry is for 2 points of commission to be made by the broker or banker. I could say no closing costs and raise the base rate on you to make more back end points or vise versa. No one works for free and when someone talks about retardely low fees, then they are up to something. BTW I am a LO/Realtor for 5 years now |
My refi fee from MortgageSelect on a $135K principle came to $800, plus $125 for an appraisal and something like $50 for docs IIRC. I got a 15-year note fixed at 4.75% with no prepayment penalty or other crap. That was May 2003 when loan rates were about as low as they have ever been in my lifetime. My FICO score is over 800. Your post makes me wonder how much better I could have done, but it doesn't really matter. |
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The important part is to ask what they are really charging you on the note. Ask what is the rate at Par? If a broker raises the rate above Par, they will recieve a % of commission back from the actual wholesale lender as a fee to the broker. Most brokers also charge an orgination fee % as well. I charge one for the org. fee, and price for one back from the lender for a total of 2%. To get one back it usually requires a price increase of about 1/4-1/2% of the note to get that back. But some brokers are assholes and can price for much more back. I have a friend who is also owns his own brokerage and he charges as much as 6-8 points for a manufactored home purchase and makes more money than I do on a 100k loan then me on a 500k loan. Sometimes you can make a deal with the broker, saying price me at Par but increase your orgination fee so you make you normal amount, you re closing cost may be more, but you get a cheaper interest rate which can save you tens of thousands over the life of the note. |
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Also closing cost are not just the fee to the broker and or lender, it includes a bunch of stuff Pre payed property tax Pre Payed home hazard insurance Title fees Title Insurance Recording fees Fload insurance if needed County fees City fees and so on A 200k loan you should expect around 3500-4500 total in closing costs which can be wrapped into the loan if you are not over 100% loan to value |
but ask them for references.
I'll see if I can find my paperwork later, but I'm sure my closing costs on the refi were a lot less than that. My loan was at about 30% LTV. |