A local lender can help you enjoy a smooth, efficient home-buying process.

Buying a home is one of the biggest investments of your life, so you want to be sure you’re in good financial hands. Unfortunately, not all lenders are the same, and some can easily turn your home-buying dream into a nightmare. These can include “big box” companies that broadcast flashy advertisements about quick pre-approval processes, but quality is far more important than speed. The last thing you want is for a deal to fall through in the final hours due to a financing issue, and this is a common occurrence that has made agents wary of working with these companies.

I was recently working with a client who’d been pre-approved by a big box company. The numbers didn’t seem to be adding up, however, so I reached out to the company and found out their pre-approval was contingent on the sale of a car with negative equity. For them to sell the vehicle, they’d need to use up all the money they had for a down payment. Problems like this can easily sink a sale right before closing. Additionally, online pre-qualifications only do a preliminary check of income and credit score. They don’t dig deeper to see if the loan actually has the ability to close.

“Choosing a local lender helps ensure you can enjoy a smooth home-buying process. ”

The best place to find quality is at a local, established lender, and we’re always happy to refer clients to one of our lending partners. Local lenders also provide services you can’t find through a big box lender, such as the ability to provide up-to-date pre-approval information on evenings or weekends. Local lenders are also familiar with the state and local taxes that may affect your purchase—property taxes can have a huge impact on your purchasing power, so it’s important to have a lender who understands this.

Choosing a local lender helps ensure you can enjoy a smooth home-buying process. If you have any questions or would like to learn more about the benefits of local lenders, feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to hearing from you soon.