Anyone actually use a mortgage broker anymore?

[gogoblender 3,070]

Are they outdated? Does internet access make mortage brokers out of business? My aunt and uncle have asked me a bit about mortgage renwal coming up for them in about a month, guess we all know that the unbelievably low interest rates we've had for years are finally going up, and they are looking to lock in a better rate b'fore they sky rate again like in Canada years ago...

 

How would you guys renew your mortgage... and is a broker even a possibility, where he can shop around, or is personal visit to bank still going to do be good?

 

 

gogo

[Knuckles 904]

I just re-financed my home a year ago or so when rates really bottomed out. Since I do business with a bank that handles their mortgages internally (no 3rd party lender) I went through the bank for it.

I'm real leery financing anything that big with an internet only business. Plus I have a 20 year history with the bank so that increases my comfort factor with them. I just prefer face-to-face meetings anyways.

[gogoblender 3,070]

Totally understand what you mean by comfort factor. After we make that decision, we have to live with it, and feeling like the deal is still going is important and that we weren't ripped of. Mortgages are kind of new things for me, I've never really looked hard into them before, pretty complicated stuff.

 

 

gogo

[Knuckles 904]

Oh man they are such a PITA. There are sooooo many documents to sign or provide. TBH I'm real bad at keeping records (like pay stubs). So scrounging them up/getting copies was a huge pain. Figure it will take at least a month or 2 to get done.

 

Rates are creeping up again so it behooves you to start the process fairly soon. That way you can lock in a rate for 90 days (I think) while you go through all the legal stuff. Be careful of hidden fees though.

 

My house is on the water so it takes a lot of abuse from mother nature. I wanted to replace all the doors/windows on the house so when I refinanced I wanted to dip into the equity a bit to fund it. That and completely re-do the kitchen. Only problem was that by trying to finance that way my loan total was too close to actual value of the house. Which meant I had to pay a 'private mortgage insurance' until the percentage was lower. Would have meant 3k-5k more in payments. Even though if I could have done the improvements I would have increased value by several thousand (or more net value even after loan)

 

So I didn't do that. But with work being so crazy I haven't had time to fix anything until this last week. Finally got a week off after 2-3 years of non-stop work. I pulled out every window and re-framed them, new putty, some new panes, all new exterior wood and most of the interior trim. 26 windows in all, a lot of them on the 2nd floor. And that was a PITA too. But saved several thousand doing that.

 

Hmm...went off-topic a bit Not an expert here either on mortgages. But my advice would be to go to their bank if they have a long relationship with them and see what they say. The mortgage industry is pretty regulated (at least in U.S.) so you probably won't get that much a better deal going elsewhere. Now I could be wrong, but that was what my limited research revealed to me. And like I said I've been going to the same bank and actually the same person for over 20 years. So the trust/comfort factor is pretty high for me.

[chattius 2,526]

Different countries different laws....

Hypothek is mortgage I think, but most people in germany do a Grundschuld instead a Hypothek.

 

...Grundschuld is essentially the charge on the land or property. In essence the value of the security (usually owned by the bank) on the total asset. The Hypothek is the mortgage, and therefore the agreement with the bank to loan you money to pay off the charge. Thae value of the Hypothek will decrease (assuming it's a repayment mortgage), whereas the Grundschuld remains static (which is why it can't be the "outstanding balance of what you owe" as this will slowly reduce, unless you apply to re-evaluate to comply with the capital outstanding or re-mortgage). If anyone buys your property, then the company registered with the Grundschuld has first grabs on any payment potentially upto the Grundschuld value (but usually less as part of the mortgage is paid off) before you get any money...

 

Our company accepted a Grundschuld of a worker when he built a house. The company was happy because he was closer to work, the worker was happy because of no bank credit, ...

 

This tax and bank stuff is giving headaches, isn't it?