Be Proactive: Know Your Lender (Part II- From Call to Contract)

After posting From Call to Contract: Doing My Homework yesterday, I thought I would tell you all about why it took so long to submit an offer for my buyer when she was adamant about the condo she wanted on Sunday.

My client had already started the process with the lender of her choosing.

After we looked at a few condos and townhouses on Sunday she had already found the condo she wanted. When she walked into this unit you could see that she felt like "this was home". I could tell that anything we saw after this one would not mean much. So, since she would be submitting all her docs to her credit union Monday she wanted to be sure everything would be okay and then we would submit the offer in the evening.

Well, her lender procrastinated Monday, did not return calls, they were rude to my client on Tuesday morning and my client was so stressed out that I could hear it in her voice. She had been going back and forth on long distance calls to the mainland and it was so frustrating. I asked if she would like to check on VA loans with a Hawaii local lender and I referred her and gave her his number. After one hour we had a prequalification letter in hand. And that's that.

This Broker even told her that she could leave the credit union open as an option if she wasn't sure and needed to feel safe with a back up. She said NO! And she went on further to explain that if the credit union was going to treat her that way and not even get back to her quickly that she doesn't even want to consider them anymore to go through a whole transaction.

I do not like to get in the way of a lender that my clients chose although I sure will be on the ball once I see my client is not being taken care of. It is imperative that all parties involved in a real estate transaction be able to work in sync to make for a smooth transaction. I couldn't see this happening at all and neither could my client!

My client is now happy and a load has been lifted off her shoulders. She said she has a great agent and LO now and that if this LO is anything like me she'll be fine. Doesn't it feel good when a client knows you're thinking in their best interests? Isn't it nice for the client to know that we are going above and beyond to make sure they have as little stress as possible from the very beginning?

*Note: In Hawaii, the buyer does not have any recourse with a mainland (out of state) lender if something goes wrong. It is always advisable to have a local lender who knows Hawaii Real Estate Laws and the transaction process not to mention being on hand to walk the client through every step of the loan process as well.

**And.....I just got a verbal acceptance for the contract. Docs to follow  .....   WooHoo!