After spending many years in a rented apartment, many people make a decision to purchase their own property. Yet it is only once you start the search for your new place to call home when the huge number of obstacles and unplanned costs reveal themselves. On the other hand, the banks don’t make it any easier.
After a huge financial crisis that shook the whole world, nothing is that simple anymore. The market is full of enticing real estate properties, but at the same time your mortgage qualifications must be stronger than ever before. For those who need to go for a loan to purchase their property, there is some help after all. There are mortgage brokers who will give it their all to end this process successfully.
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Who is really a mortgage broker?
A mortgage broker is an expert who acts as a financial intermediary and connects the potential lenders and borrowers. The common goal of each side is to ensure the best possible mortgage conditions.
If you decide to take this big step, a mortgage broker can save some of your money and effort throughout the whole purchase process. From the application submission through the valid period of the loan, he/she is there to help you out in case of any issues or vagueness.
Of course, these people are not volunteers – they work for the commission, depending on the amount of loan you require. These experts may work independently or as employees of mortgage brokerage firms.
Whether you need a new house or you need to refinance, they are there to collect all the financial data on your income, assets, employment documents, regulate loan report and all the required information which are used to evaluate the borrower’s financing capacity. All the collected documents, including the mortgage broker’s reports are forwarded to potential lenders to consider.
They are the intermediaries between the borrowers and lenders throughout the whole process. If both sides reach an agreement, the funds are loaned in the name of the mortgage lender, and the broker charges the commission in form of a tax fee.
As explained, the role of the mortgage broker is not insignificant, and that is why it’s of crucial importance that your mortgage broker is a trusted person and first and foremost highly qualified and knowledgeable expert. Ask your friends or colleagues to recommend a trusted mortgage broker, or find one on the internet. There are many websites that offer this kind of service. A high level of professionalism and responsibility can be found at cmsmortgages.ca.
If you are not certain whether your broker is professional and legally goes about his business, make sure to implement small research on the subject. Before you meet the broker you have to check whether he is a licenced expert and whether he has a licence to advise on the subject of loans. You can find the official registries of your country’s licenced brokers on the internet, and if your broker is not enlisted there is every chance that he is working illegally.
Even though you have precisely defined what you want and what are your loan capacities, how to make sure that you have found the right person to be your mortgage broker? Let’s check the 4 signals which indicate that you’ve hired a highly qualified mortgage broker.
1. Knows all the right people
There are some mortgage brokers who seem to be the lenders’ favourites. That just goes to confirm their consistency, responsibility and ability. You can’t go wrong with that type. Some lenders cooperate exclusively with certain mortgage brokers – they have a mutual understanding and good cooperation from the past.
In case your broker has such clients, there won’t be a problem for him/her to enable you even a smaller mortgage. Because of the scope of their work and long-term relations, such people are able to provide special interest rates.
2. He/she is honest with you
A broker is a person you have to put your trust in – otherwise don’t even start the cooperation. But there is this question, how to know if your broker is honest with you or not? Do your research before the meeting to get an idea of the average possibility for your mortgage. Explore the prices on the network and use the mortgage calculator.
This information will enable you to compare the rates, and you will also gain the advantage presented by the additional knowledge when evaluating the mortgage credibility. Once you get this vague information, you can track the work of your mortgage broker and check the credentials of his actions.
Even if you see certain issues yourself, it is of utmost importance that your broker also points them out to you. One more thing on the honesty – your broker may talk you out of cooperating with certain lenders whom he/she knows are known for their unfavourable payment conditions inserted in their contracts. This indicates that your broker really wishes you to get maximum gain.
3. Your broker is in touch with the changes
The expertise of a licenced mortgage broker should not be questioned. However, the reality is different. Incompetence is easily recognized in this profession, hence an expert mortgage broker is always well respected and his services are always sought.
The mortgage market is as confusing as it gets for us laymen. Circulation of mortgages is significant, the work comes and goes and the interest rates are subject to frequent changes.
All of this makes a top-notch expert who understands the practice and changes on the market a priceless asset. Along with that, it is very important that your broker can transfer the key information and simplify them for your better understanding.
4. Your broker is a patience merchant
Adding up to the previous characteristic, your broker has to be patient. In this context, patient implies the manner of dealing with you. Every broker has to be prepared to face a flurry of questions from the client, however ridiculous these questions might sound to him/her.
These are just not some everyday issues that you ought to be familiar with per se, so patience in communication represents a significant asset of a good mortgage broker. Your mortgage broker is not your friend, but nor is he/she your superior. A broker is a person who does the work for which you will pay him/her a substantial sum of money.
Because of that fact, feel free to ask questions and clarify everything which might be unclear regarding the loan. Some of the issues you might ask your broker to elaborate on are as follows: who are the lenders they usually cooperate with, why he/she recommended a certain loan deal, what taxes are to be paid as a part of the deal, which option bears the lowest expenses, which options open up with this loan, and so on.
