How to Find the Best Home Lender for Your Purchase

A new home is a major investment. It only makes sense that you want to find the best home lender to help you secure your purchase. Before you move forward with an application, it’s important to shop around and compare your options. Below, we’ve shared some useful tips for how to find the best lender for your situation.

Understanding the Different Types of Lenders

There are many different types of lenders that can help you with buying a home. This includes:

Direct lenders – These lenders provide mortgages directly to buyers and handle all processes in-house. These lenders use their own money and are the actual mortgage provider.
Correspondent lenders – A correspondent lender originates, underwrites, and finances the loan using their own funds, then sells the loan to another lender or investor.
Wholesale lenders – These lenders do not deal directly with consumers, but rather, offer their loans through third parties.
Portfolio lenders – Portfolio lenders are institutions that lend their own money and do not sell their loans, but instead keep them in their portfolio.
Hard money lenders – These lenders provide hard money loans, which are short-term loans that use the property you’re purchasing as collateral.

How to Find the Right Mortgage Lender

Shopping around is key to finding the best home lender. You need to do some research so you can gain some understanding of the options available to you. Don’t be afraid to make inquiries with multiple lenders. This will help get to know each one better and see what financial options are available to use. These tips can help you narrow down your options and choose the right one:

Ask Around

Ask your friends and family if they know of any good lenders in the area or can recommend one they’ve worked with in the past.

Compare Loan Options

Know your loan options. Try to find a lender who offers the type of loan you’re most interested in.

Compare Rates & Terms

Shop around and compare rates and terms from different lenders.

Try to Gauge Level of Service

Ask about the lender’s experience, policies, and turnaround times. Try to gain a good understanding of the quality of their customer service.

Don’t Rush Into Things

Avoid a bad situation by taking your time to think and compare options instead of rushing into things. It’s okay to take your time when shopping around until you’re certain you’ve found the right option.