I'm a bit fired up this week.  I had to work with a mortgage broker who delayed a closing for us.  What the public needs to know is there is a DIFFERENCE between a mortgage banker and a mortgage broker.  A mortgage banker loans their own money.  They can make decisions in-house on your financing. And because they have their own money to lend, they already know what they can and cannot offer you in the way of rates, terms, etc.  And because of this, they are usually able to get loan approval faster and more efficiently, without last-minute surprises.

A mortgage broker does not loan on their own money.  He is the middle man, the guy who goes between you (the buyer) and the investor (who has the money to loan).  The trouble here is this middle man doesn't always know what requirements his investor will have. He can guess about the loan product he is offering you, but until he gets a final okay from his investor, he is just speculating about your loan.

Why am I fired up? Because all too often I see closings delayed due to last-minute surprises from mortgage brokers. This week, on the day of closing I got a 10am phone call from the mortgage broker, saying there were additional loan conditions which the investor was requiring.  Typically, loan conditions take a few days to be satisfied, so needless to say it's not cool to find out about additional loan conditions the day of.  Long story short, we did postpone closing and fortunately, buyers did have somewhere to live in the mean time.

But my advice, save yourself and your Realtor and the seller some aggravation.  When you contact a lender, ask if they are a mortgage banker and have their own money to lend.  If not, ask your Realtor to help you find someone who is.  It'll make the process of buying a home so much easier!