Daren Thomas has been a successful mortgage lender for over 20 years, and his expertise has helped many clients save money through refinancing and in purchasing their dream home. This week, we asked him for his expert advice about mortgage and home buying after the housing crisis. When the housing crisis hit, a lot of the blame was focused on mortgage contracts that exceeded the borrower’s ability to pay. Now days it is hard for borrowers to trust a mortgage professional. This is where Daren Thomas enters the scene.
He says, “You will be sharing your most confidential information with this person, so it is critically important to find and deal with the best mortgage professional in your market.” The preferred mortgage professional should have at least 10+ years experience, a solid financial education background and, most importantly, they need to be local. Dealing with out of town lenders is typically a very frustrating experience for most borrowers. Seek out a few local realtors and title companies and ask them who they recommend. Daren recommends “calling and talking to at least two of the mortgage professionals referred and then go with the one you like best. You can also check out their websites to research their backgrounds to find the best fit for you and your needs.”
We also asked him for advice for a first time homebuyer trying to secure a mortgage. His first recommendation was that a first time home buyer should take a few preliminary steps to ensure that they don’t run into problems later on. Thomas highly recommends that the homebuyer review their current credit report to ensure there are no credit issues that would prevent them from getting pre-approved. They can go to the official website for the credit bureaus: http://www.annualcreditreport.com and obtain a free copy of their credit report once per year. If it turns out that there is an issue, they should visit his website and read through the Credit Tips page to guide them on how to resolve certain issues. Secondly, Daren Thomas recommends the potential home buyer to contact a local and reputable mortgage professional to evaluate their income and credit and get them pre-approved at no charge. They should already have a monthly payment range in mind that they are comfortable with. Again, they can visit his website and plug that payment into the Mortgage Calculator to determine how much of a home loan they would be looking to obtain.
Mortgage underwriting continues to be very strict and there has been virtually no new mortgage product development since the financial crisis started in 2007 and that continues to have a negative impact to growth throughout the country. However, Thomas is hopeful about the future of the housing market. He says, “All real estate markets are locally dynamic and the data in our local market has shown a steady recovery in real estate prices.” He certainly has the numbers to back him up: sales since the 4th quarter of 2012 have improved and continue to grow at an exciting pace.
For more information or to contact Daren Thomas visit: http://navarremortgage.com/.