Locking in a Great Mortgage Rate

We are definitely in the final stages of our moving countdown! And I’m trying to keep things as stress-free as possible (since my work as an administrator during COVID has been stressful enough for everyone in our family). The more I work in advance and get things down ahead of time, the less stress I feel. This week was all about locking in a great mortgage rate.

We are building our home with KB Home, and they have their own mortgage lending company. Those folks have been working with us for months to try and get our business. However, in the 60 days leading up to the closing, we started looking into other lenders as well. If you ever try something similar, I recommend getting quotes from these two places:

• Bankrate
• LendingTree

You put your details into a very simple interface, and then it shows you quotes. Then you can select what you want and folks from those companies start contacting you.

Honestly, we waited too long to work with Bankrate, but LendingTree was really helpful. They connected us with BetterMortgage, which was an awesome company!

I was able to get quotes from KB Home and Better Mortgage. I used the quote from Better Mortgage to improve the offer from KB Home.

Negotiating is really hard for me. But I am good at saying, “Well, here is what the other company is offering me.” And then that’s usually all it takes for the first company to improve their offer. And then I go to the other company and say, “Here is what the other company is offering me.” And that’s all it takes!

I was able to directly compare each offer by asking for Loan Estimates and comparing them line by line. When it got confusing about which line item corresponded with what, I would simply ask one of the loan officers to answer it for me.

I ended up with a 2.75% rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage with 0 points and a $2,455 credit. Woo-hoo!