Why it's important to be prepared BEFORE you hire a Lender

We put a lot of energy into trying to educate and empower home buyers in an effort to help folks be able to avoid being misled, misinformed or simply being treated as some lender or real estate agent’s big “Pay Day”.

Today, all that work paid off. I received this email from Sean O’ Rourke.

He was kind enough to allow me to share this with you because I think that his experience is something that happens quite often when applying for a home loan and even more often with education professionals looking for a CalSTRS 80/17 purchase loan.

Sean’s experience is a great testament to “Why it’s important to be prepared BEFORE you hire a Lender”

Thanks Sean! I really appreciate you giving me permission to re-print this:

Scott,

I wanted to take a minute to drop you a quick note about how impressed I am with your team.

My wife and I thought that we were years away from getting into the home buying game. (we haven’t been pre-approved yet but I’m confident will get there) Late last week I discovered that our dream may be possible with the existence of the CalSTRS loan. We talked with family about it over the weekend and we decided that perhaps the best course would be to see take each step and see where we end up. On Monday, we were pre-qualified for a CalSTRS loan with Haven West Mortgage. I had never heard of them and I didn’t know really know much about who they were or what this process was. Over the course of Monday night I thought perhaps my best bet would be to secure financing through Bank of America as they are my bank and why not have all of our financial obligations with them?

On Tuesday, I met with one of their loan officers and I asked him how many CalSTRS loans he had done. He said not many but they were fairly straight forward and there should be no problems. I left BofA feeling pretty good that everything would be fine.

Now I need to say that throughout this entire process I discovered your website, your videos, your blog and have been reading as much information as I could. (BTW, you need a better website name ) Just yesterday, I read the article about the Bait and Switch that often happens. By then I was fully aware that a CalSTRS loan is an amazing product and it’s too bad more people can’t take advantage of it. Alright, so last night my BofA guy calls me. Asks me to submit all of the documentation etc. But then says that a lot of his customers he has heard of in the past have left a CalSTRS loan and gone with FHA instead. I finished the call thinking yeah ok whatever let’s see where this goes, but I cannot fathom that that could possibly be the case. Furthermore, I’m insulted that he thinks I walked into his office not being informed and educated about what I’m doing. I’m a pretty smart guy and I don’t like even a hint of being taking advantage of.

After that call I listened in on Mario’s webinar and was informed even more. I asked a question regarding what had happened to me and your colleague Peter responded to me fairly quickly via email. Then I called him on my way home. First, I was skeptical about using a financial institution other than a well known one because you just don’t know what’s out there. I asked Peter to explain to me why Broadview went to all this trouble if you guys don’t make much money of each loan. It just boggled me as to why a lending institution that makes little money off these loans would go out of it’s way to educate consumers. We had a very informative conversation and he answered all of my questions.

I wanted to tell you that because of your business honesty, commitment to education, the fact that your in it for the long haul made me trust you and earned my business. We’re not even pre-approved yet with Peter but I’m already amazed by his knowledge and professionalism. I can rest assured that although this home buying experience may have ups and downs I do not have to worry about how the lending side of things is being handled. Thank you for all of your hard work and what you do.

If there’s anything that I can do to help you get the word out more or referral or something please let me know. I simply feel that you’re this amazing business that not many people are aware of and who get taking advantage of. BTW, any workshops happening in the LA area anytime soon?

Thanks again,

Sean

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Sean O’Rourke
TV Producer