I finally realized why my realtor kept pushing me toward that specific lender

When I was buying my first place last year in Austin, my agent kept steering me to this one mortgage broker. At first I thought she was just getting a kickback, but she explained that some lenders flat out will not close on time. Turns out she had a file full of deals that fell through because buyers picked some online bank that took 60 days to underwrite. I think a lot of people don't get how much a slow lender can kill your offer if you're in a competitive market. Has anyone else had an agent get pushy about a lender and it actually worked out?

3 comments

3 Comments

oscarc121mo ago

That whole thing about lenders killing deals is real. In my experience, a good agent knows which lenders actually answer the phone when there's a problem and which ones just disappear. The online lenders especially can be a nightmare if you need anything done fast, like if the appraisal comes in low or there's a title issue. I had a friend lose out on a house because their big bank lender took three weeks to even assign an underwriter. Meanwhile, the local guy the agent recommended had the whole file cleared to close in 18 days. Your mileage may vary, but those lender referrals from agents often come from hard lessons learned.

karenh561mo ago

Totally agree with "hard lessons learned" part. I once had a lender ghost me for a full week right before closing. Turned out they were "restructuring" their loan department which was code for "we're a dumpster fire." Only reason I found out was because my agent's recommended guy had a cousin who worked there and tipped us off. Meanwhile I'm over here just hoping nobody checks my credit history too closely because apparently I've been paying my car insurance a week late for like three years without noticing. So yeah, sometimes the local guy is worth it just because you can actually find their office and camp out in the parking lot.

miller.rowan1mo ago

Funny you say that @oscarc12, but I've seen the exact opposite. Two buddies of mine used a big online lender and closed faster than friends who went with a local agent's recommendation. The local guy was backed up for weeks on a VA loan. One online lender had an underwriter assigned in 2 days flat. Sometimes the big guys have more capacity to move fast.