Advantages of a Local Lender

Advantages of a local lender, vs an online or out-of-the-area lender.

If you are considering purchasing a home, it will be to your advantage to work with a local lender.  There are several reasons for choosing a local lender:

- a local lender knows the local market, local conditions, requirements, and limitations better,

- the process is going to be faster, in particular for the appraisal.  Most likely, it will be a local appraiser who will be hired.  An out of the area lender is going to hire their "contacts" in the area, which could be quite a ways away. A local appraiser will know better the neighborhoods and the sales activity, which will result statistically in a more appropriate appraisal,
- very importantly, a local lender will be available to answer questions and concerns about the offer and the buyer, at the time the sellers and the listing agent are reviewing the offer.  This factor alone is of paramount importance, and will make or break a decision in your favor,
- it is usually easier to reach someone who is local and whom your agent knows, and doing business "in person" is still the best for these important steps in your life,
- in any environment, competitive or not, it will be in your favor if the listing agent knows the lender too, and their track record.

BTW, do you know that most people surveyed think that you need a 20% down payment to purchase a home, but that in fact the average down payment is 13% in the US, according to the National Association of Realtors?
If you are thinking of a purchase I can give you names of proven local lenders. This is definitely the first step in your journey and I can help with it.

Thank you for reading,
Francis

My Home Valuation tool
Detailed, local trends etc...
Current mortgage rates   (pretty stable, and low.. )