FHA Streamline Refinancing: Is A Local Arizona Loan Officer Better? is a post from: Arizona Mortgage Team

If you are reading this, the chances are high that you are investigating what the FHA streamline refinancing program is and whether or not it makes sense in your case. Even though the FHA streamline refinancing program is relatively easy to understand when compared to other FHA loan programs, chances are that you will learn even more about the program by speaking with a loan officer over the phone.

Assuming that the loan officer knows what he or she is talking about! I am amazed at the number of people that I speak with that say “no one ever explained that to me before…” so I thought I would take a second to outline the “normal” choices that a consumer has when choosing a loan officer.

First, let me begin by saying that there are great loan officers at almost every lender – just as there are not-so-great loan officers at every lender. In general, there are three different groups of lenders where loan officers work that can help you with the FHA streamline refinancing program.

FHA Streamline Refinancing Lenders Groups

1. Group #1 National Banks
2. Group #2 Call-center based companies
3. Group #3 Local Arizona loan officers

In general, the FHA streamline refinancing lenders will all have similar interest rates and fees (they have to be competitive or they are no longer in business…) and the difference is how much of a local, personal touch you want to experience.

If you don’t mind dealing with someone who is sitting 500 or 5,000 (India!) miles away working in a call center overseeing your loan, you may want to choose working with a call center based company.

If you have a great relationship with the bank where you have your checking and savings account at – you may want to work with one of the large national banks.

If you prefer to work with FHA Streamline refinancing experts who live and work in the community that you live… then you may want to opt to go with a local Arizona loan officer who is an expert in the FHA streamline refinancing programs.

But… no matter what… you might want to hurry – before rates go back up!

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• FHA Streamline Refinancing: How To Get A “Free” Mortgage

FHA Streamline Refinancing: How To Get A “Free” Mortgage is a post from: Arizona Mortgage Team

Question:

How do you get a “free” mortgage?

Answer:

You really don’t. Title companies get paid, lenders get paid, appraisers get paid, the government recording offices get paid, credit reporting companies get paid… it is just a matter of who pays them – you or “the bank”.

Here is how to get the closest thing to a free mortgage that I can think of…

How to get the bank to pay your closing costs

Many times I speak with people who want a “no out of pocket closing costs mortgage”. Note – there is a difference between a “no out of pocket closing costs mortgage” and a “no closing costs mortgage”. The difference simply is that with one, you roll all of the costs into your new mortgage (you will pay the costs, just over the term of your mortgage) and with the other you get the bank to “pay” your closing costs.

Why will the bank pay your closing costs?

They will pay your closing costs in exchange for a slightly higher interest rate.

Put simply, the situation may look like something like this: If you are willing to pay your closing costs and have them rolled into your loan, the rate on your mortgage may be 5%. OR. If you don’t want to pay your closing costs and have the bank “pay” your closing costs – your interest rate might be 5.5%.

A subtle but important difference.

There really isn’t such a thing as a “no closing cost” mortgage – it is just a matter of who pays the closing costs — you or the bank. And if the bank pays them? Expect your interest rate to be higher than it would be if you paid them.

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• No Closing Costs vs No Out Of Pocket Closing Costs
• FHA Streamline Refinancing: Is A Local Arizona Loan Officer Better?