Hi, My husband was a lender for 23 years and now works on the CDC side. What I have learned is that I want to know first what kind of experience the lender has with my deal and their approval rate. Of course you are going to want to know their interest rates, are there points involved, what down payment is required, what are the terms of the loans and how would they structure your deal.
I want to know how that institution looks at a possible deal (what their criteria is); are they credit score based, personal income and savings based, cash flow based, income potential, etc. And what does a strong deal look like to them? Lastly, it seems to be becoming more and more necessary to ask if their institution requires any strings.
Banks and lending institutions want to establish a relationship and some now require that you commit to additional services with them (strings) or transfer your other accounts to them. This is where I start.
@Buddy Platzke in my experience the most important questions to ask a lender are about the dealbreakers. (Full disclosure I typically do commercial/portfolio lending). If either you or they are going to say "no" to the loan then figure out that as quickly as possibly. Wasting time is a cardinal sin IMO.
What is a "hard no" to either you or the underwriter?
-A hard no when I'm borrowing money is typically when a bank is looking for me to collateralize additional property or get my wife to sign for debt.
-A hard no from the lenders standpoint is typically anything about 80% LTV or below a debt service coverage of 1.25.
A dealbreaker for you might be having to put down more than 20%. One for them might be that they require sixty days of bank statements with seasoned funds.