# Mortgage Providers



## mudpuppy (Mar 18, 2016)

I may be in the market soon for one of those giant tax deductions (mortgage, not children!).  It's been 14 years since I got a mortgage.  I seem to hear bad things about banks, so I got my last mortgage at a local credit union and I've had a very good experience with them.  However, their rates now are a tad higher.  Anyone have recent experience shopping for a mortgage and have any recommendations or advice?


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## willsee (Mar 18, 2016)

I've had three mortgages with three different banks and never had a bad experience with any of them

1. Through Chase.  Other than that the mortgage guy I worked with looked like he abducted kids it was fine.  This was my primary bank so it was fairly seemless.

2. Through Paducah Bank.  They sold my mortgage to Franklin American Mortgage Company.  I just mailed checks to them every month.

3. Through Republic Bank, local bank.  They hold my mortgage and gave me 100% financing.  Again I just mail checks to them as well.  I'm sure I could pay online somehow.

I looked into some of the online only companies but I just couldn't feel comfortable enough to do it.  Many other people do with success though.


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## snickerd3 (Mar 18, 2016)

the buying and selling of mortgages by banks seems to be a more common occurrence now a days.  If you are willing to let the mortgage to be bought/sold the rates tended to be a little less than those that were not sell able.


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## Ship Wreck PE (Mar 18, 2016)

For some reason, my mortgage has been with Wells Fargo and they have not sold me to some unknown company ?? I have refinanced with them once and they still have not sold me yet.


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## matt267 PE (Mar 18, 2016)

My mortgage is through a loan shark. Really nice guy.


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## Supe (Mar 18, 2016)

Mine has changed hands several times now, at least three.  I went through the preferred lender of the realtor, and the rates were better than anyone else at the time anyways.  Its now with OCWEN.


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## Road Guy (Mar 18, 2016)

You moving to the east side?


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## Road Guy (Mar 18, 2016)

For refinance I have just always went to lending tree and "take offers". Which I need to do


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## knight1fox3 (Mar 18, 2016)

matt267 PE said:


> My mortgage is through a loan shark. Really nice guy.


How'd you get the bruise on your face though? :dunno:


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## matt267 PE (Mar 18, 2016)

knight1fox3 said:


> How'd you get the bruise on your face though? :dunno:


Just a misunderstanding.


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## P-E (Mar 18, 2016)

Last couple refinances ended up being with Santander.  Went through a broker


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## mudpuppy (Mar 18, 2016)

So those of you who've had your mortgage sold, have never run into issues with changing servicers?  I do know one EB member who had major issues with this, where the checks sent in for a few months were cashed but not credited to the mortgage.


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## Dexman PE PMP (Mar 18, 2016)

When I bought my house, we went with the lender provided by the builder (gave a ton of credits/bonuses/etc), but the loan was sold to Wells Fargo before the first payment was even made.  About a year later I refinanced with a local Bank &amp; Trust because I have a friend who is a mortgage broker there and they gave me competitive rates with no closing costs.


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## Supe (Mar 18, 2016)

mudpuppy said:


> So those of you who've had your mortgage sold, have never run into issues with changing servicers?  I do know one EB member who had major issues with this, where the checks sent in for a few months were cashed but not credited to the mortgage.


I set up autodraft with the very first one, and it has transferred over to all the others without a hitch.


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## knight1fox3 (Mar 18, 2016)

Anchor Bank as they service the loan locally.  Went with them at the recommendation of a friend.


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## envirotex (Mar 18, 2016)

Funny that this topic should come up, as our mortgage was just sold last month.  So far, there haven't been any issues with the new company, and I have talked to the new mortgage company three times on the phone.  The main issue I had was with the old mortgage company.  Went online to make my payment, mortgage account wasn't shown anymore.  Called the old company...oh yeah, we don't own that mortgage anymore...WTF?  I'll let you know in another couple of months about the new company.


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## MA_PE (Mar 18, 2016)

last refi was with a local bank becasue they had low rates.  It's been sold at least once.  No problems.


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## ptatohed (Mar 18, 2016)

mudpuppy said:


> I may be in the market soon for one of those giant tax deductions (mortgage, not children!).  It's been 14 years since I got a mortgage.  I seem to hear bad things about banks, so I got my last mortgage at a local credit union and I've had a very good experience with them.  However, their rates now are a tad higher.  Anyone have recent experience shopping for a mortgage and have any recommendations or advice?


I have been very pleased with Aim Loan.  https://www.aimloan.com/


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## NJmike PE (Mar 18, 2016)

matt267 PE said:


> Just a misunderstanding.


fell down the stair


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## snickerd3 (Mar 18, 2016)

have you sold the other house yet?


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## Road Guy (Mar 18, 2016)

never had an issue with the mortgages being sold, local, NY bank, I don't really care, just want the best rate and terms..


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## mudpuppy (Mar 21, 2016)

On another note, anyone know anything about flood insurance?  One of the properties we're looking at is partially in the flood plain.  It looks like the house itself is outside "Area A" but is right on the very edge.  Not sure who makes the determination whether the house needs high risk flood insurance and if not if it's eligible for low risk flood insurance.


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## snickerd3 (Mar 21, 2016)

probably the insurance company?


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## mudpuppy (Mar 21, 2016)

I think the mortgage company hires someone to determine this--I remember paying a fee for the determination when I bought my house, but I don't remember who they hired to do it.  I'd like to find out if we'd need it before making an offer.


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## Road Guy (Mar 21, 2016)

You could just add that in as a contingency item.

You should be able to locate what is called a F I RM map for your county that should help you determine if your house is in a floodplain or a flood way.￼


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## Ship Wreck PE (Mar 21, 2016)

Just pay cash and you won't need any ole flood insurance.


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## snickerd3 (Mar 21, 2016)

so is the house you are looking at loads bigger than your old one?


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## csb (Mar 21, 2016)

The insurance company is merely a provider. The flood stuff is done by your friendly local government, who has to provide that info to FEMA every year.


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## mudpuppy (Mar 21, 2016)

csb said:


> The insurance company is merely a provider. The flood stuff is done by your friendly local government, who has to provide that info to FEMA every year.




So I would need to talk to someone at the township?

As for snick's questions, no we haven't sold the house in GA yet, but we're getting close.  We're waiting on the results of the second FHA inspection after repairs were made.  So we're just looking at this point, but I'm trying to get things lined up for if/when the GA house closes.

And yes the places we're looking are much larger than my house (with a much bigger mortgage).


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## csb (Mar 21, 2016)

Correct. They are also the people to change the map or grant variances.


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## Dleg (Mar 21, 2016)

By the time we signed our (VA) mortgage a couple weeks ago, it had gone through several different firms and ended up being owned by Wells Fargo. :dunno:


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## mudpuppy (Mar 22, 2016)

I happen to have a civil engineer friend who works as a consultant and a township engineer.  He says, "If the flood plain touches the property you are required to have flood insurance unless you hire a professional surveyor to determine if the house is above the 100 year flood plain."


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## snickerd3 (Mar 22, 2016)

^fun so you have to pay one way or another


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## Road Guy (Mar 22, 2016)

Surveyors are pretty cheap though, especially in Michigan you could probably get it done for less than 1500 bucks


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## K19 (Mar 22, 2016)

The flood zone issue is a bit more involved. A "Zone A" designation indicates that it is the likely extent of the 1% annual chance (fka 100-year) flood, but FEMA has not established a flood elevation, at least one accurate enough to hang their hats on.  In contrast, areas where FEMA has determined the 1% floodplain through detailed study are designated "AE" with the base flood elevation indicated.

I'm less familiar with the legal mechanics of flood insurance, but it seems that when in doubt officials generally operate on the presumption that you're in the more stringent flood area unless you can demonstrate to the contrary.  So if you're toeing the line of a Zone A, you actually need a civil engineer as well to estimate the flood flows and depths occurring in the area (by accepted engineering methods) to then compare to the elevations of the structure/property.

I've done 4 or 5 of these studies myself and my general takeaway has been that FEMA is quite conservative when drawing up Zone A limits, i.e. even employing the most generous assumptions (rainfall/runoff, streamflow, etc.) calculated flood elevations rarely get close to the extents shown on a FIRM.  So yes, owner has to pay for survey and engineering, but it usually results in not having to pay for flood insurance year in/out.


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## mudpuppy (Mar 23, 2016)

K19 said:


> The flood zone issue is a bit more involved. A "Zone A" designation indicates that it is the likely extent of the 1% annual chance (fka 100-year) flood, but FEMA has not established a flood elevation, at least one accurate enough to hang their hats on.  In contrast, areas where FEMA has determined the 1% floodplain through detailed study are designated "AE" with the base flood elevation indicated.
> 
> I'm less familiar with the legal mechanics of flood insurance, but it seems that when in doubt officials generally operate on the presumption that you're in the more stringent flood area unless you can demonstrate to the contrary.  So if you're toeing the line of a Zone A, you actually need a civil engineer as well to estimate the flood flows and depths occurring in the area (by accepted engineering methods) to then compare to the elevations of the structure/property.
> 
> I've done 4 or 5 of these studies myself and my general takeaway has been that FEMA is quite conservative when drawing up Zone A limits, i.e. even employing the most generous assumptions (rainfall/runoff, streamflow, etc.) calculated flood elevations rarely get close to the extents shown on a FIRM.  So yes, owner has to pay for survey and engineering, but it usually results in not having to pay for flood insurance year in/out.




Thanks, that's really helpful.  The property I'm looking at is in Zone A so it seems I'll be in for a little more expense. It is adjacent to a Zone AE so I'm guessing that might make things a little easier?

Here's the map I'm looking at (click to enlarge)... the red arrow points to the house.


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## K19 (Mar 23, 2016)

So the property is along a tributary of what appears to be a major watercourse - it is helpful that the base elevations have been established along the latter through detailed study is beneficial, though how helpful... it really depends on what tools an engineer in your area has to work with. Assuming the tributary is ungauged, one would need to estimate peak flow at this point along the tributary by other methods - I'd first look at FEMA's Flood Insurance Study (these are the publicly available reports describing how the FEMA maps were developed) for the major watercourse to see what's published for catchment areas and computed flows (both upstream and downstream of the confluence), then to see if their are any relatively recent USGS regional regression models for estimating flows in ungauged catchments.  After that there is the matter of evaluating the hydraulics of the watercourse, controls (e.g. culverts), etc. to determine the flood elevations associated with those peak flows, which can range from simple to very complex.  If you already have a surveyor ask them if they have an engineer that they call upon for this sort of work, and see if they can give you a quote. HTH!


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## mudpuppy (Mar 23, 2016)

K19 said:


> So the property is along a tributary of what appears to be a major watercourse - it is helpful that the base elevations have been established along the latter through detailed study is beneficial, though how helpful... it really depends on what tools an engineer in your area has to work with. Assuming the tributary is ungauged, one would need to estimate peak flow at this point along the tributary by other methods - I'd first look at FEMA's Flood Insurance Study (these are the publicly available reports describing how the FEMA maps were developed) for the major watercourse to see what's published for catchment areas and computed flows (both upstream and downstream of the confluence), then to see if their are any relatively recent USGS regional regression models for estimating flows in ungauged catchments.  After that there is the matter of evaluating the hydraulics of the watercourse, controls (e.g. culverts), etc. to determine the flood elevations associated with those peak flows, which can range from simple to very complex.  If you already have a surveyor ask them if they have an engineer that they call upon for this sort of work, and see if they can give you a quote. HTH!


Definitely helps, thanks!  I do have a local civil engineer friend that might be able to work on this.  There is a "LOMA" listed on the house a couple properties down, in the same Zone A--would this be of any use in making the flood elevation determination?


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## Road Guy (Mar 23, 2016)

You mean LOMR -letter of map revision?

The fema stuff really is fairly specialized, I would really want someone who "does that for a living" to do the calcs if it were me...

I deal with it on a lot of roadway jobs but i don't actually "run the numbers". So I wouldn't do it myself (as a civil)

Do you know when the house was built and are there any plans on file that may have the 100 year flood elevations on it? Looks like either someone put the house just outside the floodplain or someone tweaked the floodplain to

Not include the house..

If it's close and u really like the house (looks very nice from the aerial) I would not skimp on the insurance.. If there is a flood the only help anyone will offer you (without flood insurance). Is a low rate loan to make the repairs so you can still pay the note.. I watched people scrape mud out of there living rooms during the Colorado floods in 2013 and even though they lived 100' from Boulder Creek "canyon" they opted against flood insurance.. It was a very humbling experience to see..


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## mudpuppy (Mar 24, 2016)

The house was built in 1978, not sure if there are any plans filed with the township.  Agreed that it looks like they may have deliberately placed the house just outside the flood plain.  I would definitely get flood insurance if I bought this place.  I'm mainly trying to determine if the house is for sure in Zone A or not, because the premiums are very different from what I've read.  I don't think I'd buy it if it requires Zone A flood insurance (could be $thousands/year).  We love everything else about it (37 acres, mostly wooded, two garages, huge kitchen, two pole barns, greenhouse, built in dog kennels, two ponds, wood burning boiler, hot tub, concrete driveway, etc.)

The engineer I know here does a lot of work with waterfront property and has experience with dams, so I put in the question if he could do the calcs or if he knows someone.  On the other hand, we haven't talked to the owners yet, so perhaps they already have done this.  In either case, I'm learning a lot here on EB about flood zones so this has been very helpful.

I've got a meeting set up with a real estate agent, and hoping to get a showing next week.


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## Dleg (Mar 24, 2016)

I'm with RG on insurance.  Having been through a few disasters now, I know first hand the lack of coverage that will come from the feds if you aren't insured.  If you make a decent living (and we all do in this forum), the best you'll ever get is a "low interest" loan from the SBA.  My new house is up on a hillside, well outside of any flood zones, so I was fortunate enough to not need any, but I did opt for earthquake insurance, simply because the risk is there, and 20% deductable is still better than a loan for the full replacement value....  But it didn't cost me thousands, only hundreds a year, so I understand your hesitation.


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## mudpuppy (Mar 24, 2016)

mudpuppy said:


> I don't think I'd buy it if it requires Zone A flood insurance (could be $thousands/year).


I should clarify--I mean I wouldn't buy the house if the high-risk (Zone A) flood insurance is required.


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## Road Guy (Mar 25, 2016)

I probably wouldn't either.

My parents are within 1 mile of the Gulf Coast (Dunedin). There is only 1 company in Florida that actually provides the Flood &amp; Hurricane Insurance for this zone, so they basically have to bend over and pay whatever the insurance company wants to charge.

And they are like 0.8 miles from the Coast. My parents are teachers and things like doing research is not their strong point, but I am pretty sure they wish they had done the research that you are doing and they could have found a house 0.21 miles away and they would not be in the 1 mile impact area... ( I still don't really understand it, I tried to read through the language but its not my cup of tea). I would have moved a few blocks inland and not have worried with it.  They are basically paying (in insurance) what someone who can see the ocean is paying..


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## jeb6294 (Apr 14, 2016)

I didn't want to start a whole new thread and this is semi-related.  Since I got my house, the Auditor's website had out market value set at $259k which is what we bought it for...makes sense.  At the end of 2014 I got a letter saying they decided to reassess my house and now they've decided it's worth $280k.  Doesn't do me a damn bit of good besides bump my monthly mortgage payment up about $200 because of the increased property taxes.  During the divorce, the ex- said she wanted an appraisal on the house.  Even though the mortgage is in my name she was fishing for some $$$...you owe me half of the equity we've built up in the house sort of thing.  Didn't really work out for her though because her appraiser came back at $232k which is a little lower than what was owed.

Fast forward to yesterday.  I used the appraisal to file an appeal with the Auditor's office about the value they had for my house and my hearing was yesterday.  The county's appraiser objected to the appraisal saying it was too low because it was at the low end of the comps he had listed.  The board said they weren't going to give me the $232k I had asked for...me making a sad face...but they were going to drop it to $242k because that was the average of the comps...happy face.

I would have been fine with them saying they'd put it back to what it was.  Now I'm just waiting to see how much lower my taxes are going to be.


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## Road Guy (Apr 14, 2016)

well at least they met you in the middle somewhat?

I need to refinance, I am at 4.5% - I have used lending tree in the past, what other options to find lenders have you used?  I see some fairly reputable ones on Zillow also?


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## Dexman PE PMP (Apr 14, 2016)

I have a friend who is a mortgage broker at a State Bank &amp; Trust.  He's cool as hell, but the bank he works for sucks.


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## jeb6294 (Apr 15, 2016)

I was perfectly happy to get $242k.  I would have been fine with them dropping it back down to the $259k it was originally.

Aside from getting my property taxes down, I just started the paperwork to refinance since I'm currently at 5%.  I did a Google search for refinance rates and two sites, Zillow and Bankrate, came up with a quick easy way to get some interest rates based on some basic information.  Most places ask for the info and then jump to a page asking for your contact information in order to get the rates.  Thanks, but I'd rather not get a bunch of annoying calls from 18 different banks.

eRates had the best rates and had good reviews on the Bankrate site so I went with them.  So far it has gone alright.  I have an actual person that I can contact.  He emailed me a table with a few different options and I was able to call him to discuss the differences.  Looks like I'll be going from 5% down to 3.375%.


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## willsee (Apr 15, 2016)

Let us know how it goes.

I don't know why but getting a mortgage through online only troubles me for some reason.  I know it's not founded in anything but for whatever reason I still like my brick and mortar.


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## jeb6294 (Apr 19, 2016)

When I first bought the house, it was through a "brick &amp; mortar" bank...same one I had my checking account at...and I don't think I ever saw an actual person when I did it so it really doesn't seem any different aside from the fact that the rates are so much lower than what the banks have.


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