Best place to get first home loan?

mouse · Feb 28, 2013

My wife and I just completed our second year of taxes for our business. This two year mark gives us the independent work history to start checking out home loans. We are looking to move in a rural area (thinking about Hood River Oregon) We been looking into the USDA rural development loan, but this is our first time with this stuff. Where would be the best place for us to go and talk to someone? We live in Hillsboro Oregon. I have zero clue where to start. Some facts about us:
zero debt
45K saved up for house
after taxes our income came out to 65K a year (MUCH less our first year. I assume this will take down our average)
wife and 2 kids
self employed
We work online and ship all of our products so we can kind of move anywhere with a good post office.
Any advice to lead us along with be greatly appreciated. thank you.

Kimber Custom · Feb 28, 2013

call Steve Salveson - Stearns Lending (503)716-5910

Tinga · Feb 28, 2013

USDA loans often times have a 1-2 year wait time on them. Check with your local credit union and ask there.

alphapygmy · Feb 28, 2013

We went with Onpoint Credit Union in Hillsboro last year with our first mortgage. It was a nightmare. Virtually none of the paperwork on their end was done on time, lost paperwork, and a complete lack of any urgency or professionalism on their part. It wasn't just a bad apple we had to deal with, it was systemic throughout their mortgage unit. We ended up working our way through 4 people to a regional manager and it was almost the same with everyone of them. Our realtor said it was the worst loan service she had seen in her 20 years of real estate. Typically I'm a believer in credit unions over banks and my family has accounts at two different credit unions and we've been generally much happier than at our old banks. If I could do it over I would start with Quicken Loans just because JD Power rated them first for mortgage origination satisfaction. I'm not affiliated with any financial institution, just relaying our experiences with Onpoint. :s0159:

tunus · Feb 28, 2013

I had a recent experience with Wells Fargo Home mortgage. My situation was very similar to yours except I had to move some money around from oversea's bank accounts. The whole process took much longer than expected and these foreign transfers totally freaked out the underwriters at WF. The only thing that saved the deal was the fact that I had a prior relationship with one of the local managers who helped me manage their internal review process.

Banks are not very eager to finance home at rates as low as they are at the moment.

jmurray192 · Feb 28, 2013

Costco.com. They pool a ton of lenders and work out a reduced rate. Im looking to buy and we used them. Saving about 1000 because of it. Have to be a member though

Allfat · Feb 28, 2013

When my wife and I bought a house this past summer we went through a mortgage broker, Mortgage Express. The lady I dealt with the most was local to me and she was a referral from my realtor. The process was very smooth with no issues at all. After we entered a contract for the house, we got started on it right away and closed in less than 3 weeks. We did have to go to their office in Salem to sign the final paperwork, but all other meetings were done at local coffee shops, very laid back. We were presented with all the paperwork in both electronic and paper copies, all professionally done. After it closed, they sold the mortgage to Chase, and we have been paying monthly since. I was very happy with the whole process, both the professionalism and the speed and accuracy that they completed everything with.

Good luck with your house purchase!