Buying a home can be daunting!  But not if you have good help.  The right Realtor (me), Lender (you will know how to chose in a minute) and inspector.

There are many ways to categorize lenders and many ways to chose.  What follows is my opinion and I will give you the reasons for that opinion.  It is NOT the only way.

For the purpose of this blog, and for the current market, I will have only two categories,  direct underwriters and non direct underwriters.

A direct underwriter is a lender that is someone that can do all the required processing of your loan and paperwork right there in the same office you go into to apply for the loan.  Not just the same company, but the very same building.  They have jumped through all the hoops to qualify to do that and they are not one of the huge companies that you send all your information to some giant processing center.

The reason this is important is because when your file gets sent to a processing center, you become one of thousands instead of a real person.  Also, that nice person that took your information has no control at all as to how fast things get done.  They get to it when they get to it.  Depending on the company, you may also be in the mix with all the foreclosures and short sales that the company is processing.

In the last year I have been personally involved or someone in my company has been personally involved with multiple loans that have closed weeks late because of this process of closing.  Most of those company’s are simply very backed up.

When you deal with a direct underwriting company, they have a lot less files to deal with and a lot more control.  The person you talk with knows exactly what is going on and you close when they tell you they will close.  (Closing is when all the paperwork gets signed, the money gets issued and you bought the house).

Currently in the Idaho Falls area I am aware of the following lenders that are direct underwriters:

1. Interwest Mortgage (Call Joni)
2. Citizens Community Bank (Call Jason)
3. Bank of Commerce
4. Bank of Idaho
5. Westmark Credit Union

There may be others, I am just not aware of them and have not done business with them.  All of the above company’s I have done business with and they do a very good job.

Next time, looking for your home!