If you’re looking for a Chicago mortgage broker, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re looking for information on mortgages, you’ve come to the right place.

This blog focuses on Chicago mortgages but, obviously, most of what applies to/ happens with Chicago mortgages applies to mortgages in Illinois and, for that matter, throughout the United States.

To get a good mortgage rate, you need to be prepared. Being prepared means more than having your tax returns, bank statements and pay stubs ready.

FHA loans are for everybody, HUD says (HUD being the Department of Housing and Urban Development, they run FHA). But it’s not.

However, it’s a great program, with several loan products, that can help quite a few people. If you need to know more about it, or know it’s for you, give me a call at 847-840-8884

Call 847-840-8884 to find out how to get ready so your closing doesn’t get delayed or, worse, cancelled.

Before I cover what I can do for people looking for a Chicago mortgage broker, a note about mortgage rates. Always read the fine print.

Online, you see various Chicago mortgage companies’ rates, and some of them are very low. That’s because they talk about what the perfect applicant could get should the perfect applicant apply for a 3-Year ARM mortgage loan.

ARM’s (Adjustable Rate Mortgages) have a fixed rate in the beginning, then the rate adjusts based on an index, usually the LIBOR. A 3-year ARM has a low, fixed rate for the 1st 3 years, then the rate adjusts based on the index rate at the time it adjusts.

In other words, unless you’re looking for a 3-year ARM Chicago mortgage, that low advertised rate does you no good.

PS The above are part of programs that have specific requirements, not all people qualify.

So, if you’re googling Chicago mortgage, Chicago mortgage broker, Des Plaines mortgages, Evanston home loans, mortgage refinance or anything remotely similar and one of the above situations apply to you, call me at 847-840-8884 to see if you qualify for a mortgage anyway.

Or read below to find out about what to do to be prepared to apply for your Greater Chicago mortgage loan, from the things you should do months before you actually apply to the paperwork you should have ready the day you apply.

Wait a minute! Aren’t the darn Chicago mortgage brokers and loan officers supposed to prepare the people’s information and send it to a lender?

Chicago Mortgages - Trump Tower
Yes, all Chicago mortgage brokers and loan officers do prepare the paperwork.

But that’s not what I’m talking about.

You get a better mortgage rate and get your loan faster and with fewer headaches if some things happen before hand.

A chicago mortgage broker, no matter how good, cannot fix things for you in a second.

If you just walk into a mortgage company and apply for a loan and you need the loan fast, your loan officer/mortgage broker will take your info, analyze it, figure out which of their lender is most likely to accept to give you a loan.

The result?

You may get the loan. If you get it, you will not get a great rate unless your financial portrait is perfect.

If you talk to me at least a couple of months before you need to apply, I analyze your info.

The result of your talking to me long before you actually have to apply for the loan?

If your financial portrait is great, I let you know and you can get your loan whenever you choose at the best available rate.

If your financial portrait needs improving, I tell you that and what steps you must take to improve it. And, then, we apply for a mortgage loan for you and you will definitely get the loan and the interest rate will be more favorable.

So, call 847-840-8884 now and let me help you get a better mortgage loan.

Do all Chicago mortgage brokers and loan officers know the things I do about how lenders look at prospective borrowers?

I don’t know: I don’t know all the mortgage brokers and loan officers out there.

What I know is this: there are many people who get a mortgage loan that has an interest rate that is higher than it should have been. I know this because I’ve met a good number of them.

If you’d rather not pay more in interest than you have to, call me now at 847-840-8884.

By the way, if you’re refinancing because you need money for a wedding, take a look at my wife’s wedding dresses – they’re awesome!

Shop for your loan. You’re on my site and I want you to use me. But only if you’re sure I’m the one for you. I’m awesome but if you don’t see it it’s better we don’t work together.

Interview real estate agents, attorneys, home inspectors, title companies, appraisers to find one of each that’s great at what he or she does and who you would like working with.

(Yes, lenders will not accept an appraisal you order, so you will end up paying for two appraisals. However, buying a home is a huge investment, probably the biggest of your life.

The reason I suggest you hire your own appraiser is this: when you hire an appraiser, they are allowed to talk to you about the home you’re thinking of buying; you can ask them all kinds of questions – when you hire them – and they’ll research and come back with answers. Answers you need to know.)

Read carefully and understand everything before you sign anything. You are going to sign a gazillion documents when you apply. You are going to sign a ton of disclosures later. (If you change the terms of the loans mid process, you’ll sign even more.) Some documents ask for very sensitive, some tell you very important information.

We check and will find out at some point in the process and your application will come to a halt, maybe a permanent one.
If you get away and nobody catches on, you could run into major problems (you get a bigger loan than you can comfortably afford).
To do otherwise is to commit fraud.
There’s a clause in the note you will sign that allow lenders to collect all the outstanding principal in one payment under certain circumstances. False information on the application is one of the circumstances that trigger the early payment. (If you can’t re-pay – you don’t have that kind of cash on hand or it takes longer to get a new mortgage – they can foreclose on you.)
Be honest about all sources of funds you will use to purchase your home. Lenders want to lend to people who have stable incomes that are likely to continue. But they also want to lend no more than borrowers can repay. Telling them that the $2,000 deposit on 10/25 and the $1,900 deposit on 11/23 are bonuses when they were your brother lending you money can qualify you for a higher loan amount but it’s not a good idea – for the same reasons as above.

Be upfront about any credit problems you have or have had in the past. We run credit checks, some times more than one time. Odds are too good that we will find out. If we find out later, it will, at the very least, postpone by a good chunk of time the date when you get the mortgage. At worst, we don’t catch it, you get your loan on false premises, which is fraud.

Be wary of unsolicited loan or refinance offers that you receive in the mail or through e-mail. Even if it’s from us. Because there are some scammers out there. You must always check out the company behind the offer and only work with companies that are reputable.

Always pay your mortgage on time. Payments made 30 days late are reported to credit bureau agencies. That means your credit scores go down. That means

You might have a harder time qualifying for a loan for some time after that.
These days, insurance agencies use credit scores to determine your premiums.
A lot of employers look at the credit history of people they’re considering hiring.
By the way, you having disputes with the lender or mortgage servicing company doesn’t change any of the above.

If you are having problems paying your mortgage, contact your lender or loan servicer immediately. Different lenders have different ways of dealing with people being late, some more lenient than others. But it’s always a great idea to talk to them. In the worst case scenario, you know precisely where you stand.

In Chicago, I cover the following neighborhoods: