Why Choose a Mortgage Broker over a Loan Officer?

Thinking about buying a house? Before beginning the process of finding the perfect house, you need to find a trusted lender and figure out what you pre-qualify for. Knowing what you qualify for can save you time in the long run and tell you how much you can comfortably afford to spend on a house. The benefits of working with a mortgage broker over a loan officer is that they work with several lenders that offer a variety of programs. In turn, finding the best loans and rates while saving you the hassle of contacting multiple lenders.

Robert Readle with Coldwell Banker Executive Realty sits down with one of his trusted industry partners, Mandy Giess with First Assured Mortgage to discuss mortgage brokers and how the home loan process has changed. Mandy has a long background in the industry, with 13 plus years in banking, time at a title company, a credit union, and is now a mortgage broker at First Assured Mortgage.

ROBERT: So, tell me what is different about working as a mortgage broker at First Assured Mortgage?

MANDY: There is a lot of benefits to being a mortgage broker. You have a variety of different lenders to work with, so you get to pick and choose who’s best for the person you are working with.

ROBERT: That is one of the biggest benefits that we’ve seen – every client is different, sometimes different lenders are a better fit for them, whether they have damaged credit or maybe they have stellar credit and they’re just looking for the best rate they can find. That is one of the things we really like about working with First Assured Mortgage. But, on a related topic, what has changed about the home loan process? What do buyers/borrowers need to know going into this?

MANDY: There is a lot of things that have changed over the years. You must verify a lot more, it’s a longer and timely process, especially with COVID. The rates have dropped quite a bit, so everybody is busier, the timeframe has gone from 30 days to 45 days to 60 days. So, it’s more strenuous and we must ask for a lot more documents, which just takes more time, but it’s worth it.

ROBERT: Yeah, it’s changed and gotten tougher, which is even more reason to have a mortgage broker in your camp, working with you to get the best lender. So, somebody looking to buy a home, where do they start, what should they do?

MANDY: Well, you definitely want to come to me first. If you don’t know what you qualify for then you must know what you’re approved for before you can start the process.

ROBERT: And sometimes there’s groundwork too. You got to work on getting all information compiled and by the time you’re making offers and writing contracts, you still got a lot of work to do if you haven’t already done that stuff. Thanks for taking time to visit with me. I wanted everybody to get to know you, understand the process and the framework that you are working in now, and hopefully they know where to go and who to call when it’s time to get started.

If you want to get in touch with Mandy, you can reach her via phone at (785) 621-4447