Finding the right mortgage broker

by Shawn Lackie

Nobody said it would be easy. But it’s all a matter of perspective. By it I mean finding a good and reliable mortgage broker. In many instances the decision can be an extremely simple one. You have a relative or a very close friend who you trust implicitly to give you the best quality service and really look out for your best interests.

Even these scenarios come with a certain level of risk. As long as you ask the right questions and stay engaged in the process you should be all right. But many folks don’t. They simply leave all the heavy lifting up to their buddy and assume all will go well.

Unexpected situations crop up. Some details were missed and others were lost in the translation. At least those problems can be remedied by some great responsive actions.

Where bad things aren’t going to solve themselves is if you leave all this in the hands of a stranger who has zero invested interest in what happens to you.

Case in point. Years ago I represented an older gentleman with the purchase of a home in Caesarea. He also had a home to sell in Oakville. With this particular home it was not an outrageous price. It is hard to believe but it was less than $250,000. His home in Old Oakville was mortgage free and had been for quite some time. So there was a sizeable amount of equity available. I suggested he take a nice large line of credit so he could quickly pay it down once we sold his home a few months later. It was better than locking into a term mortgage.

He had other ideas. So off he went to the bank he had been dealing with for decades. Yes, I said decades. In his mind he was a much valued long time client. His mortgage case was being handled by a young man firmly planted behind a desk. I asked my client for the phone number of this particular individual just in case. We settled all our dealings on a Wednesday with a five business day condition on financing. I suggested we get it looked after by the Friday just to be safe. I never heard a word for three days so I called the bank on the Friday and guess what? Our Bank Buddy was on an extended weekend holiday. So I asked who was looking after this case. No answer; no one knew. I waited until the Monday and our friend still wasn’t back. So when I called on the Tuesday and the young prince had finally showed up I asked what was going on. He said he didn’t know. He “forgot” to hand the paperwork off so it sat there unchecked for five days.

Needless to say things didn’t go well. I mentioned they had a ton of collateral in the existing home but to no avail. So we got an extension, my client jumped into his van and drove to a credit place in Brampton and got a line of credit within 48 hours. Just imagine how much stress could have been avoided here. And so much for “valued client”. As if.

Feel free to check out this story and more on my blog site at: https://slackie14.wixsite.com/buy-sell-and-more