Mortgage Broker or Bank?

[Crazy8]

So I busted my a$$ all summer and saved every penny I could for a down payment. Now I'm ready to dive into the home ownership game. I'm looking for any feedback as far as Mortgage Brokers or Banks for a first time buyer. Good, bad or ugly. Thanks.

 

[RETODD]

ING has some decent rates...I've only dealt with them in the savings account space and am very happy.

ING DIRECT Canada: Mortgages

 

[femme.fatale.]

we went through mortgage broker, got 2.25%... bank offered us 5%....?

 

[Taminator]

Worked in real estate for many years and worked with many brokers, banks and lenders as a result...mortgage broker's will get you a lesser rate every time.
Most brokers are paid by the bank they get your loan through. Do not use one that charges you, the good ones don't charge the customer, those are the ones you want.
It's standard for banks to have broker rates that are below the best rate we can do on our own. Most will come to your house at your convenience and work with you to put the best option together for your circumstances. They shop your mortgage and will have a few options for you. Each one will usually have a favorite lender they use that they give lots of business too, that will be where they go first as they have the best bargaining power. They are also good at customizing the application and approaching the lender best suited for your needs. Worth it IMO.

ps...I can recommend two awesome brokers out of Calgary that have worked with many of my clients from Edmonton (I sell vacation homes to Alberta residents...) PM me if you want any contacts.

 

[magnet]

just have to be careful with brokers that they are truley honest read the small print carefully. Have some friends who went through the broker/ private lender thing. when it came time sell their place, they faced HUGE penalty and it was even bigger if they decided to borrow from someone else for the new property, and rate also went up for they new property. just my two cents. The wife and i have always had good luck going with banks but really shop around as rates are quite different from bank to bank. good luck and happy shopping lots out there right now.

 

[Bogger]

We talked to ING, RBC and TD... we got quotes from the other two and took them to our RBC broker who matched minus .75% the best rate offered by the others.... The only one they could/would not match was the ING 10year fixed at 4.99%... we ended up going with a 2 part mortgage 75% fixed at 5.1% and 25% @ prime plus 1% they also gave us a 30K credit line @ 2.25%.

RBC is offereing 5yr @ 4.54% and 7 year @ 5.35%. If you want to speak to an account manager who will work with you, always make herself available and go out of her way to accomodate then call RBC kingsway Mews branch in edmonton (Kingsway) and ask to speak with Milani Santiago... Tell her Ian and Arlene reccomended her, she'll help you out.

Good luck and congratulations.

 

[ZRrrr]

Good timing for this post as ours is coming due as well. I have been nosing around and it looks like some of the brokers are offering fairly decent rates.

Saw one at 3.44% for 3 year fixed.
One at 3.69% for 5 year fixed.

 

[OverBore]

I dealt with ATB and they beat the mortage brokers providing you deal with one of their mobile mortage specialists rather than a person sitting behind the desk at a branch office.

For some reason the staff at the branches always quote a higher interest rate.

 

[j335]

2.8% for 2 yr fixed
3.99% for 5 yr fixed

These are some rates I got from my broker...

 

[Taminator]

Definitely would avoid private lenders when at all possible, best for emergency situations as Magnet said, the fine print will kill ya. The best brokers will use the big banks, a lot of times going to your own bank. There's always a set amount a broker can get below the bank rate, get your best bank rate and the broker should be able to take that to the exact bank and get a specific amount less. It seems to be around a point, give or take. The ladies I've worked with probably did 100 or more clients for me and not one client has a bad thing to say about the process or the financing. Before, you couldn't get me to use a broker, now we use one. I had the broker just call our bank where we had our mortgage renewal at and just that call saved us 1.5% of our already negotiated rate.

 

[sledneck_03]

i went with a broker, if its a good broker they will have lower rates than the bank will hand out..........for example we have tons of stuff in scotia and so do my parents and my father phoned and the best they told him they could get me was 4.5%......went with a good broker and i said i want a large bank not some ch!t bank and i got 3.99% locked in for 5 years at the credit union. You can get 2.5% or so but its only 30 months or so......3.99 for 5 years is unreal, wont get that low ever again

 

[Superford]

just locked in for 5 years @ 3.9% @ TD

 

[Sledgirl]

I've always had far better rates from a broker than the bank's "best" rates. If you think your business means so much to your bank, that they will give you a good deal, think again. Your mortgage is likely the biggest lump sum you will ever spend. Would you buy a new truck from the first place you came to, without shopping around, then not attempt to haggle them for a lower price? I don't think so.

Also, you can save YEARS off your mortgage payments by making your payments weekly, but paying the same total amount per year. So it won't cost you a dime more to save thousands of dollars. Don't expect bank staff to volunteer this information, either. In my experience, some of them haven't figured it out for themselves, even.

 

[ZRrrr]

Bank staff is paid on performance. Like a commissioned sales person. I saw some stats recently that were down right scary. Majority of people believe the bank holding thier mortgage have their best interests at heart. These people will automatically resign a mortgage with the same bank thinking the renewal notice sent to them shows a "preferred customer" rate. In reality the renewal rate is not negotiated and is likely on the high end of the bank rates. Do your homework!

If your a risky type and think interest rates won't go up much in 5 years, you can get a starting rate of 2.15%!!! If the rate went up a quarter point a year, in 5 years it's only 3.4%.

 

[Sledgirl]

These people will automatically resign a mortgage with the same bank thinking the renewal notice sent to them shows a "preferred customer" rate. In reality the renewal rate is not negotiated and is likely on the high end of the bank rates. Do your homework!

What cracks me up is when they act like they are doing you a favour! Then SURPRISED that you didn't renew with them. This time around, the bank's employee called the broker to find out the rate we got, then called us to counter 0.01% lower. I told my broker she should have low-balled the rate by a couple percent and see what they did then.