Using online lender for home purchase

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justsomeguy2018
Posts: 1509
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2018 8:11 pm

Using online lender for home purchase

Post by justsomeguy2018 »

I used Lenderfi for my refi last year and got a pretty good deal/rate.

Are they (or others) recommended when purchasing a new home, or in a crazy competitive housing market, is it wiser to use and work with a "real live local person" to be able to close early and/or help navigate through the homebuying process (which I feel is more complicated than a refi).
brian91480
Posts: 683
Joined: Fri Jan 29, 2021 6:44 pm
Location: Minnesota

Re: Using online lender for home purchase

Post by brian91480 »

justsomeguy2018 wrote: Sat May 15, 2021 10:12 pm I used Lenderfi for my refi last year and got a pretty good deal/rate.

Are they (or others) recommended when purchasing a new home, or in a crazy competitive housing market, is it wiser to use and work with a "real live local person" to be able to close early and/or help navigate through the homebuying process (which I feel is more complicated than a refi).
I frequently recommend Prime Source Funding on this forum. (I do not work for them)

They take your information, keep it confidential, and shop your information to a network of dozens and dozens of banks. So it is like using "lending tree"... only you are spared getting 10000 emails and phone calls. Prime Source takes care of that for you.

They present you with the best deal they can find. And if you select one; they get paid a commission from whatever lender you selected. So no direct out of pocket expense for the service. It's a pretty cool business model. https://www.primesourcefunding.com/

--- Brian
christoph_kohl
Posts: 27
Joined: Sun Nov 11, 2012 2:22 pm

Re: Using online lender for home purchase

Post by christoph_kohl »

Talk to your realtor--my hunch is that most realtors absolutely hate dealing with online lenders.

Your offer might be deemed a weaker offer if the sellers get an impression that you're using a "hard-to-work-with" lender.
However, as a buyer, you could always get a pre-approval from a local lender, and then switch to an online lender midway once under contract.
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