Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At what stage do we do the "shopping around" bit for a mortgage? Do we do that at the preapproval stage or do we just get preapproved before we search and then shop around for the real mortgage when we find the right house?

McLean Mortgage, Mark Bragaw was really good to us. Handheld through the whole process. He was recommended to us by someone else and we are so happy we talked to him. You must include him on your call list. You won't be disappointed. Good luck!

I also reccomend Mclean Mortgage . I use Kevin Schatz at McLean Mortgage, also great.

Anonymous wrote:At what stage do we do the "shopping around" bit for a mortgage? Do we do that at the preapproval stage or do we just get preapproved before we search and then shop around for the real mortgage when we find the right house?

McLean Mortgage, Mark Bragaw was really good to us. Handheld through the whole process. He was recommended to us by someone else and we are so happy we talked to him. You must include him on your call list. You won't be disappointed. Good luck!

We just got preapproved at our regular bank, but then applied with two other lenders once we wanted to make an offer on a house since the standard contract only has 7 days to apply for alternate financing. We found our bank actually had a higher interest rate and APR than the other two (closing costs similar) AND was the only one charging points, so well definitely go with one of the others. We're still using that preapprovals letter until it expires because it's the only one where we can manually change the house and loan price within our approved amount, though (first and second offers didn't work out).

I think I can help a bit with that question. I am a realtor in DC and VA, living in the Palisades. As a buyers agent, one of my first questions upon meeting a new potential client is the status of their pre-approval letter. I always suggest shopping a bit. I have a lender that has help every single one of my clients that used him. I get no incentives for referrals to him either, and I suggest to my clients they get at lease a second quote.
It is important in the buying process to obtain pre-approval first, before "falling in love" with a property that you may come to realize is actually out of your price range.

Finally, a pre-approval letter is required as part of an offer, so its not even worth looking until you have real numbers.

If I can be of assistance any further feel free to reach out to me,

Brendon Mills
Keller Williams
Brendon@MitchCurtisHomes.com

At what stage do we do the "shopping around" bit for a mortgage? Do we do that at the preapproval stage or do we just get preapproved before we search and then shop around for the real mortgage when we find the right house?