[Cedwards38]

Hey everyone! I'd like a little advice.

I'm getting in the mood to do a little checking around on mortgage deals.
We currently have a mortgage through Citizens First Wholesale Mortgage and my initial reading is beginning to suggest that there may be some better opportunities elsewhere.

Any suggestions of local banks or anyone else where you have done business and feel like you have a great deal on a mortgage? Or maybe you suggest we stay where we are.

We'd really appreciate any advice you might throw our way! Thanks in advance.

[Bogie Shooter]

The Villages FL Mortgage Rates - Find the Best Home Loan | Zillow

[Cedwards38]

Anyone have any experience with Quicken Loans? How about BNC? Anybody ever use Lending Tree?

[kstew43]

I do have to mention that when we were getting close to signing on the dotted line we were very much pressured to go with Citizens. We were told they are competitive, whicht hey are not....... We were told that outside mortgage companys like quicken and our local bank down south would not know how to do a correct appraisal and they would have to wait for the sale office to allow them the comps that would get the high appraisal, that as they informed me would probably not let us close within the 30 days and that would cost me dollars.

This is a just so you know...... we have yet to decide on the right house and will work our best to use an outside source, close to the area for financing.....

[OBXNana]

We have not, but our daughter and son in law used Lending Tree with success. They felt the rate was similar to the local banks, the paper work was easily understood, and the process went smoothly. They are computer oriented and didn't require any assistance or have a need to ask any questions from a human.

We have personally used Shane Cook with Prime Lending on several house purchases. He is able to write a mortgage in 48 states. Shane is located in Kitty Hawk, NC, we're in PA, and he is our go to person. When we purchased in The Villages he studied the contract and worked with our sales person to make sure everything would happen without any surprises. I think, he would be classified as a broker and works with several banks to find the one where you can get the best rate. We closed within the 30 days contingency on the contract with a day to spare. Shane has never let us down regardless of the wording on a sales agreement or the state we are making a purchase.

We avoid the on line sites. Several years ago we did some research and read each individual bank pulls your credit report. This may have changed.

[billethkid]

Explore every possibility especially outside TV.
Citizen's is not competitive. When we did ours 10 years ago they were 1.5 % above almost anybody.And the BS company line about them knowing how to handle what the developer requires is just that...BS.

There is no mystery to mortgage lending and processing.

For another thread someday, I personally believe there is a conflict of interest when the sales agents push Citizen's Bank and lie about what outside institutions can or cannot do!!!!!

[OBXNana]

We settled on our property in The Villages 2/14. We didn't feel pressured to use the local bank by our sales person. In fact, she willingly worked with our lender. However, she was our second sales person. The first one we worked with during our 10/13 preview was not responsive to our emails and did tell us it would be almost impossible to work with an outside lender because of the 30 day time line. We found our second sales person as a result of going to many open houses and picking the one we felt we could best work with.

In January 2014 the rate was 1.25% less than the local bank.

Shop around.

[Cedwards38]

Thanks everyone!