Anyone have experience with Lennar Mortgage?
Danville, CA · Member since 2023 · 35 posts · 15 votes
Anyone have experience with Lennar Mortgage?
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Nick BelskyBusiness Member
Lender · Orlando, FL · Member since 2021 · 1k+ posts · 704 votesI am closing on a primary with Lennar Mtg in about a week. As others have pointed out, the incentives are crazy hard to pass up on. I am a licensed mortgage broker myself, so have the resources to test their offers pretty well.
We went around and spoke with about 5 local builders and visited their sites, did walk throughs, etc... The first 4 had incentives, but when I got back home and ran the numbers through my wholesale channels, I was able to get really close on the rates (they were 6-6.25%, I was 6.25-6.5% on 180 day locks), but I was able to beat them by around $5,000 in cash to close. Even with their $14k, $15k, $16k, etc... incentives, I was able to beat them out in the end.
When we got to Lennar, it was a bit different and perhaps timing had a role to play here. We walked a model where it was nearly completed and the original buyer had decided to walk away, so the home was put back on the market at a $15,000 discount of the original list/contract price. As we discussed this with the agent, she was notified that the price had dropped another $10,000 that morning. We were there at 10am. Long story short, we ended locking in a 4.75% on a 30 FRM, got $18,000 in concessions, and another $10,000 off the last contract price. Too good of a deal to pass up even though Lennar is notorious for not giving way on finishes or upgrades. The appraisal came in and appraised nearly $30k over our contract price. All around win-win.
WIth Lennar Mtg financing, Iwas NOT able to get anywhere close to their rate or cash to close with my wholesale resources. The process is much more choppy and confusing that what I offer my clients with a consumer loan, but we are CTC and had very few conditions to chase down. We are a pretty clean file. As one whom does mortgages for a living (and is a bit of an anal control freak with such things) I expected professional courtesy of being a little more transparent with the UW and Title items going on in the background. They did NOT extend those courtesies even with prompting.
I was forced to use their title affiliate as well, Lennar Title. My attorney charged a significantly lower settlement fee but if I didn't use Lennar Title, then I'd forfeit my incentives... a practice I despise among builder's lenders, but this is how they trap you into using their AfBAs. It took a while to get an actual LE even after the initial disclosures came out. I found as odd. They did send them but only after asking for them 2-3 times. Another thing to note is Lennar Title keeps asking for the closing funds to be wired long before we were CTC. I hadn't seen an initial CD yet and wasn't about to send them anything until I could verify the numbers were at least close. I should be able to review the CD any day now but flat out told them to quit emailing me everyday asking for the funds. I will not send them until I see a CD that is accurate. Again, we haven't closed yet and will be in the next week, but I can't foresee too many things going askew from this point in the process.
I was NOT forced to use their insurance company, Lennar Insurance, to maintain the incentives. My Brightway agent was able to get me a policy under $1,000 whereas Lennar Insurance was closer to $1,250 for the premium. We are purchasing in Florida, by the way.
Overall, not too bad, not difficult by any means, but annoying at times. Some of the automated emails they send are a bit confusing. That may only be due to me being intimately familiar with the lending process and they do things quite differently than I do with my clients.
Hope that offers some valuable insight to anyone considering Lennar Mortgage.
Cheers!
Belsky Mortgage, LLC522 Reviews
7 Replies
In related news, I used DR Horton’s mortgage company when buying a new property 3-4 months ago. It was a $5k discount and a 6% 30 year fixed mortgage a non-owner occupant, just too good to pass up. Plus they’re going to sell the loan before you ever make your first payment, or at least DR Horton did.
That being said, I did get hit with a late fee for property taxes 2 days after I closed with DR Horton’s title company (which I was also forced to use)
- 2yErik EstradaBusiness MemberLender · Member since 2022 · 6k+ posts · 1k+ votes
Quote from @Collin Mitchell:
Im in the process of buying (4) new homes from a builder.
They have been dragging their feet on getting me the contract. Come to find out, it's because they want me to use their own mortgage company. Lennar Mortgage which now offers DSCR loans. The rate is the same or slightly higher but comes with a $9K discount per house. I would prefer my own Lender that I know well but it's appealing as it would make this cashflow much better.
Has anyone ever used Lennar mortgage, an if so, what was your experience?Thanks!
Hey Collin,
Can your current lender offer you a lender credit, to be as competitive?
Is Lennar mortgage a broker or direct lender?
LuxePrivate Investments LLC 572 Reviews - Lender · Washington DC · Member since 2015 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes2y
Worked for Lennar mortgage/ Eagle Home/UAMC all subdivisions 2012-2015. The credit you get is not dollar for dollar street interest rate. They are giving $9 grand off sales price or as a lender credit? Off the sales price is a better deal as it also discounts property taxes for life.
Get written quote with your MORTGAGE middle FICO on the SAME day they give you a quote for a full documentation 30 year fixed loan no prepay and then you can see if their lender credit is worth it today.
- 2yDoug SmithPro MemberLender · Tampa, FL · Member since 2013 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
As a lender, we know it's going to be a nightmare when we're financing a loan on a new build by track builders like Lennar, DR Horton, etc. They build in so much into the purchase price to give the buyer "closing cost credits" that it basically makes comepeting impossible. When we do get a customer that wants to work with us, the builder tries to torpedo us at every turn. The do everything they can to try to make us look bad/incompetent to the buyer/borrower to get them to transfer over to their lender...which they make tons of money on. Unfortunately, it's a fact of life if you're using the in-house lender for a large-scale builder.
@Collin Mitchell did you end up executing with or without Lennar Mortgage and if so any learnings/advice? Thanks.
- Lender · United States · Member since 2020 · 1k+ posts · 499 votes2y
Always use a broker. We're worth the 1-2% lol.
- 2yNick BelskyBusiness MemberLender · Orlando, FL · Member since 2021 · 1k+ posts · 704 votes
I am closing on a primary with Lennar Mtg in about a week. As others have pointed out, the incentives are crazy hard to pass up on. I am a licensed mortgage broker myself, so have the resources to test their offers pretty well.
We went around and spoke with about 5 local builders and visited their sites, did walk throughs, etc... The first 4 had incentives, but when I got back home and ran the numbers through my wholesale channels, I was able to get really close on the rates (they were 6-6.25%, I was 6.25-6.5% on 180 day locks), but I was able to beat them by around $5,000 in cash to close. Even with their $14k, $15k, $16k, etc... incentives, I was able to beat them out in the end.
When we got to Lennar, it was a bit different and perhaps timing had a role to play here. We walked a model where it was nearly completed and the original buyer had decided to walk away, so the home was put back on the market at a $15,000 discount of the original list/contract price. As we discussed this with the agent, she was notified that the price had dropped another $10,000 that morning. We were there at 10am. Long story short, we ended locking in a 4.75% on a 30 FRM, got $18,000 in concessions, and another $10,000 off the last contract price. Too good of a deal to pass up even though Lennar is notorious for not giving way on finishes or upgrades. The appraisal came in and appraised nearly $30k over our contract price. All around win-win.
WIth Lennar Mtg financing, Iwas NOT able to get anywhere close to their rate or cash to close with my wholesale resources. The process is much more choppy and confusing that what I offer my clients with a consumer loan, but we are CTC and had very few conditions to chase down. We are a pretty clean file. As one whom does mortgages for a living (and is a bit of an anal control freak with such things) I expected professional courtesy of being a little more transparent with the UW and Title items going on in the background. They did NOT extend those courtesies even with prompting.
I was forced to use their title affiliate as well, Lennar Title. My attorney charged a significantly lower settlement fee but if I didn't use Lennar Title, then I'd forfeit my incentives... a practice I despise among builder's lenders, but this is how they trap you into using their AfBAs. It took a while to get an actual LE even after the initial disclosures came out. I found as odd. They did send them but only after asking for them 2-3 times. Another thing to note is Lennar Title keeps asking for the closing funds to be wired long before we were CTC. I hadn't seen an initial CD yet and wasn't about to send them anything until I could verify the numbers were at least close. I should be able to review the CD any day now but flat out told them to quit emailing me everyday asking for the funds. I will not send them until I see a CD that is accurate. Again, we haven't closed yet and will be in the next week, but I can't foresee too many things going askew from this point in the process.
I was NOT forced to use their insurance company, Lennar Insurance, to maintain the incentives. My Brightway agent was able to get me a policy under $1,000 whereas Lennar Insurance was closer to $1,250 for the premium. We are purchasing in Florida, by the way.
Overall, not too bad, not difficult by any means, but annoying at times. Some of the automated emails they send are a bit confusing. That may only be due to me being intimately familiar with the lending process and they do things quite differently than I do with my clients.
Hope that offers some valuable insight to anyone considering Lennar Mortgage.
Cheers!
Belsky Mortgage, LLC522 Reviews
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