The seller covered all of the closing costs/ fees and stated that they were very reasonable.
Interest Rate
My lender gave me a 0.5% decrease on the interest rate because of transferring my account to their bank. It was lower than any other lender.
Loan Officer Service
The loan officer explained everything throughout the process and was consistently helpful with any questions that I had.
Overall Rating
Pros
Homebridge has been excellent with answering questions and responding to any issues that I have, by phone, email, or online with short turnaround time.
Cons
There were some initial issues with the actual rate where the rate quoted was not actually used. This was quickly rectified and was my only issue.
Date: August 17, 2018 Age: 35 Gender: Female Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
We incorporated closing costs into our offer, and the owners accepted. We were lucky, they needed to be out of the area and were moving overseas within weeks, so they desperately wanted to dump the house. We also felt the fees implemented by our lender company were very reasonable and were comparable to every other person we talked to before buying our home.
Interest Rate
We locked ours in at 3.44% back in 2015, and were pleased, as some of our friends purchased homes and were paying up to about 4.20%. We were really happy with our rate and our lender broker was wonderful.
Loan Officer Service
Our loan officer was a friend of a friend and he did a wonderful job. As first time home buyers, we were confused, scared, and concerned. But he met with us several times and during the pre-approval, helped us get our credit in check and ensure we had all of the paperwork we needed. He was not bothered by our 1000 emails and questions.
Overall Rating
Pros
We have had very few issues and when we did, they were handled pretty well. We had a question about sending in our school taxes for escrow the one year, and the rep was super helpful,
Cons
We did have an issue where one of our automated payments didn't come out even though we have auto pay, and there was money in our account to pay it. It took them a day or two to follow up with us, and then it took two billing cycles to remove the late fee once we realized the mistake. But we haven't had any issues since.
The fees and closing costs were what I anticipated. These types of fees do tend to be too high, regardless of the lender.
Interest Rate
The interest rate was higher than my primary bank, but the difference was not significant. The bank I used was able to close faster than my primary bank.
Loan Officer Service
The loan officer was fine for the most part. However, she failed to get my signature on one document, which meant I had to get some documents in person and that was a problem.
Overall Rating
Pros
The lending institution was able to close rapidly. Given the seller' timing, that was an important factor to me in this process.
Cons
The lending institution's personnel were a bit disorganized and failed to get my signature on critical documents. This caused some issues in the days right before closing.
Date: June 14, 2018 Age: 30 to 39 Gender: Female Marital Status: Married
Closing Fee
We actually put that in our negotiation. We were willing to pay what the buyer was asking as long as they would cover the closing costs, and they did agree to this point, which saved us around 6500.
Interest Rate
We bought when the interest rate was really low, we were able to get in at I believe 3.25%. We worked with a mortgage broker who was a friend of ours, and he did all of the grunt work for us, which was really nice, especially since it was our first time ever buying a home and not really understanding how everything worked.
Loan Officer Service
No complaints about our loan officer. He was very quick to respond to questions and emails and was patient with all of our questions because it was our first time ever buying a home. We wanted to make sure we were getting the best.
Overall Rating
Pros
They were upfront and thorough with us. Since it was our first time going through a mortgage and house buying process, they took the time to explain the locked-in interest rate, how the payments would work, and what "escrow" and other terms meant for us and to us. Their website is easy to use and their payment system is super fast. We had an issue with our bank and our payment was possibly going to be a few days late. We called them and spoke to someone almost immediately, and they worked with us to take care of it.
Cons
Honestly, we have not really had any issues whatsoever. It was a very simple process, despite having to deal with hundreds of pages of documents. We are locked into our rate and they have been honest and helpful toward us when we have needed them these past almost 4 years since buying.