Good Faith Estimate: Fact or Fiction?

Every single person out there, no matter what they are buying, wants the lowest rate, the lowest fees and the lowest payment. When it comes to mortgages today, they would typically like a 30-year fixed interest rate. In order to properly compare different lenders, a customer needs to get their hands on a Good Faith Estimate.

We all know that there are mountains of papers to sign for a loan application, very few (if any) ever read every single page and the same number do not even know what they are signing.

There are 4 basic questions every single homebuyer has on a loan:

1) What is the interest rate?

2) What are the fees?

3) What is the payment?

4) Is this fixed or adjustable?

Through all of the mountains of papers, there is 1 single sheet of paper which answers all four questions -- the Good Faith Estimate.

At the time of loan application, every single client should received a Good Faith Estimate. They should also ask the following question -- is every single fee that I can expect to pay estimated on this document?

As an example, are all title fees, state taxes, escrows & impounds, lender fees, surveys and any others listed? I cannot tell you how many Good Faith Estimates I look at in which the Loan Officer has left out the title fees and the escrows / impounds.

Now to be fair about it, at the time of loan application, there is no title / escrow company picked out; however, those fees can still be ESTIMATED. This, of course, is the reason that they call it a Good Faith Estimate.

If you are not receiving a Good Faith Estimate immediately, call someone else. If you are beginning a transaction and have questions which are not being answered, call me at 1-440-838-5291 and I will walk you through the only document that you have to pay attention to -- the Good Faith Estimate.