mortgage and appraisal questions?

[darkkent]

my wife and I are buying a new home at the end of the month and are going through my wifes friend who is a mortgage broker.

however as she is a friend of my wifes and i dont know her all that well, plus i don't know anything about how the commision works for brokers, I am not convinced yet that she is offering the best rates out there.

these are the rates currently being looked at...

5 year fixed - 5.49% OR
variable - prime - .65 which would be 4.10% right now

do these sound reasonable or should i shop around / tell her to come back with something better ???

also, she mentioned I need an appraisal done and that she can get someone to do it for me for $400.00. that sounds steep to me but once again I dont much about it. any one here do appraisals???

thanks in advance!!!

d.

[skandalouz_08]

5 year fixed rate sounds a little high.

5 year variable rate you should be able to get 4% or P-0.75%. That's what Scotia is offerring me right now.

Appraisals normally come back between $250-$350 depending on price of house and how much travelling is involved. Any house under $500K and within the city shouldn't come in at much more than $300.

Look into another broker, because it seems like you're getting screwed if she won't move on rates or prices.

[el-nino]

5.49 is a decent rate.
p-.65 is a great deal
p-.075 is also a great deal with Scotia but you have to qualify at a higher rate. OP may not be able to qualify at a higher rate so so p-.65 is good.
400 is way tooo much. 350 on the high end.

[el-nino]

also, its a free service unless she is charging you. Commissions should not be added onto the mortgage.

[Beerking]

Is a threesome included?:drool:

[00redLUDE]

builder's rate is p-0.75 variable so if you can get something like that you are doing well. It use to be p-0.85 but that has since change.

RBC has never charged for appraisals for me and that was a big selling point for us to go with RBC

as stated already, brokers should never charge you for their services. If they do, get another broker

[tm88]

wow man, walkkk away from whoever this is.

[el-nino]

Originally posted by tm88
wow man, walkkk away from whoever this is.
Its not a bad deal considering todays rates.
The only thing thats expensive is the Appraisal.

[barmanjay]

that's interesting that they are making you pay for an appraisal

the banks will usually appraise the property themselves,.. unless you are going through an alternative lender or a "b" lender.

edit: I do know someone that does appraisals,.. I just need to dig around for their number,.. I'll have it by the end of the day.

and for an alternative or 'b' lender,.. that rate is excellent.

the norm for them is sitting sround 6%

the most recent "excellent" variable rate I've seen my clients get - 4.14 variable

[barmanjay]

found it

F. Blair Code, CRA, BA (ECON)
Price Aspinall Appraisals
403-283-0197 EXT 227

he's a fellow jeeper, real nice guy and does lots of foreclosure appraisals

[Pacman]

Just call up your bank and get their best rate. Then compare to what the "friend" is giving you.

[bignerd]

Usually if your bank "pays" for "your" appraisal they also keep it and do not provide a copy to you. If you pay for it you will get a copy of.

Be sure if you use an appraiser of your own that they are on the approved list of appraisers where you plan to get financing at-no point in paying for an appraisal then finding out the lender will not accept appraisals from the company.

The cost of the appraisal is a touch high, standard is about 300-350 in Calgary.

The rates are not bad at all, the Prime minus rate you were quoted was pretty standard and I think the fixed rate is also reasonable although rates are going down tomorrow I believe so you might be able to do a touch better if they drop.


Brokers are paid a commission from the lender based on the amount of mortgage they take to them-not on the rate. Doesn't matter if the broker gets you a $300,000 mortgage with a 2% rate or a 20% rate-they get paid the same amount. As they do not get paid at all if you don't choose to go with them, it is in the brokers best interest to get you a product that you like or they don't get paid.

The broker should not be charging you any extra fees for their service. Some brokers will charge a fee when having to place a private second mortgage and have to source private funds as those are much harder to put together. They must disclose any fees to you up front.

Also edited to add that if you require a zero down or 40 year ammortization your choice of lenders (and therefore rates) will be limited as many lenders have already stopped offering these programs.

[roopi]

I used a mortgage broker (but went with a HELOC instead) but I had to get an appraisal done. This was 2 years ago and it cost $220.00.