Lenders

People who work in the Mortgage industry tend to be some of the smartest people in the real estate industry. They have to retain massive amounts of information about all the different loan programs. And, they have to have better than average problem solving skills. They have to be able to change directions when they encounter an obstacle.

There are two kinds of lenders. There are Mortgage Brokers and Mortgage Companies.

Mortgage Brokers function as a kind of money clearing house. They match up borrowers with people who have money to lend. The Broker has no relationship with the mortgage after closing. Someone else is going to be servicing the loan. It costs more to close a loan with a Mortgage Broker because that is the only possible point at which they can be paid for their services. Don't let that scare you. They earn their money, believe me!

Mortgage Companies typically lend their own money. It costs less to borrow from them because they are going to make their money off the interest charged and the fees collected while the loan is being serviced. Mortgage Companies tend to do best with "clean" borrowers, people with good credit, a W-2, no foreclosures, no financially challenging situations. Having said that, don't assume that they can't help you. If they can help you, it will cost you less money out-of-pocket to close. That is always a good thing! You want to run your loan application through a Mortgage Company even if you think there may be something in your credit history that might not be easy to work around.