Can a Mortgage Expert Assess Your Deal?

July 24, 2000 "I am purchasing a house in Sacramento and have been offered a 9% 30-year fixed-rate mortgage for $200,000, and an 11% second mortgage for$37,500. Is this a good deal?"  My web site warns readers not to ask if a particular loan offer is reasonable, but they stream in anyway.  I can't answer this kind of question.  The price of a mortgage loan depends on the type of loan, term, loan size, down payment, type of property, location of property, the purpose of the loan, the applicant�s credit rating, and other factors.  Not one reader of the many who have asked me to assess a deal has provided all the relevant information.  In your case, you haven�t told me if the house is single-family, 2-4-family, or condominium, or if it will be your permanent residence.  And you have said nothing about your credit or the size of the down payment.  Read What Market Niche Are You in? Even if you provided all the necessary information, I could only determine if you had a good deal by shopping other lenders pretending to be you.  Assuming I was willing to do that, it wouldn�t help you much because your information would apply to the day you shopped, while mine would apply to the day I shopped.  Lenders typically post prices every morning, but they are good for less than 24 hours.  Each day, loan officers and mortgage brokers must wait until they receive new prices before they can make offers to consumers.  If you shopped on Monday and I shopped on Tuesday, the results would not be comparable because the market might have changed.  Read How to Avoid Lapsed Prices. The only way you can determine if you have a good deal is to shop other lenders on the same day.  (And then you better make sure you can believe the quotes!  Read Can I Rely on Price Quotes?)  I can't do that for you. Copyright Jack Guttentag 2002

Jack Guttentag is Professor of Finance Emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Visit the Mortgage Professor's web site for more answers to commonly asked questions.

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