What difference can having a great lender on your team make?

Question

What are some of the things that separate good lenders from great lenders?

River Sava · Answer

Having a great lender can truly make or break your deal. You want someone who maximizes your profit, is always available and has a proven track record. Would love to chat with your further on this and offer insight!

Kaci Hunter · Answer

Having a bad lender can be a deal breaker, literally.

I spoke with a fellow BP member. She was working with a lender that took her two weeks just to get preapproved. Ridiculous. While you're trying to get preapproved, a great lender has already closed the deal.

The number one complaint I hear from realtors is lack of communication from the lender. Shouldn't take more than a couple of hours to respond to a phone call, text, or email.

@Scott E. makes a great point. Shop around. You'll find certain lenders are better at certain products than others. Many lenders pick a niche and try to win all those by being the expert. I think of it like being a Chic-fil-a. All they do is chicken and nobody does it better. :)

I agree @Adam Bartling that choosing a lender is like choosing a CPA. They need to know YOU, your goals, and their products.

Adam Bartling · Answer

Its just like CPAs, some CPAs just do their job.  Others ask you questions and help make goals and tax strategy to accomplish your reduction in taxable income.

Items that come to mind for a Loan Broker to provide:

-Running own comps (some of us have some access to good software)

-Keep up with legislation. ex. Jan 2022 Fannie Opened up Single Wide Mobile Home lending.  Nov 2022 Lone level pricing adjustments went away on FM.

-Access to many different types of capital, SBA, Build Out, All Asset Classes,

-Responsiveness

-Maybe you Loan Broker puts investment deals in front of you with developers

-Maybe he is 6'1" bald 245lbs ex college football player, retired army and lives in Sugar Land.   LOL

Tristin Crum · Answer

I was working with a national lender on my last purchase, they lost documents multiple times, they communicated terribly, I was always talking to someone new when I called in and nobody knew what was going on with my personal case, the staff were always confused and didn't know what they were doing. Their level of incompetence pushed my close out 45 days past the original closing date. I will never work with a national lender again, especially PennyMac. Funny thing is, they still call me asking for me to buy a property with them because I have had mortgages sold to them.

We ended up moving to a new lender, they were amazing, they communicated phenomenally, they didn't lose a single document, they remembered every detail of our case, and they closed us in a week.

The lender you're working with matters immensely from my experience and I will never forget that.

Jonathan Taylor · Answer

@Vincent Lattuca similar to what @Adam Bartling was using to compare. A great lender can see through what you are asking and what you are needing.

They can help you maximize your cash that is in line with you goals.

They are easy to get ahold of and responsive.

They continually educate themselves.

You need someone you can rely on since as an investor you wear many hats.

Mitch Lickey · Answer

Finding a great lender that understands investing and really digs in and gets creative can be a game changer. If they can help look at the bigger picture and make strategic suggestions about how to finance various deals to maximize your goals - that definitely sets a great lender apart.

Scott E. · Answer

Unfortunately even the great lenders can't do it all. If you're laser focused on 1 strategy then it's ok to have 1 lender. But as you progress as an investor and look at different types of deals, you'll need several different lenders.

For my business, I have different guys/gals I call depending on whether I am:

1. Buying a primary residence

2. Buying a small house to flip ($500k-$1M)

3. Buying a larger house to flip ($1M+)

4. Buying a new development residential deal

5. Buying a buy & hold commercial deal

And for any of these scenarios, it's not a bad plan to have a few private money contacts in your rolodex as well.

Sarita Scherpereel · Answer

@Vincent Lattuca lenders that really understand strategy! I love lenders that are more technical and work the numbers. To me that’s the difference.

Eliott Elias · Answer

A great lender can be the x factor. They may not make you rich, but if the lender is investor savy can unlock a lot of doors for you

What difference can having a great lender on your team make?

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