Choosing A Mortgage Lender For A Waterfront Home Purchase
The short answer is to use a local lender in the area you are making a purchase. If you are buying in Charlotte County you are better off with a lender in that county. Lenders work with local appraisers and with that comes knowledge and experience on both the lender and very importantly the appraiser.
Appraisers on waterfront homes mess up many deals! Once you have committed to buying a waterfront home you will become emotionally involved at some level. I don’t care who you are its going to happen. Living the dream you have always thought about will permeate your soul once you have signed your purchase agreement to buy your home. I say all of this because some folks don’t always follow the realtors advice on choosing a lender and it always ends up with more heartache and stress than is necessary for everyone involved.
Many home buyers wish to use their favorite lender from back home or perhaps they have worked with in running their business and they want to be loyal. Some folks love their big bank such as Bank Of America or Wells Fargo. My simple words are DO NOT USE A BIG BANK!
Here are the issues with using an out of area lender or a big bank lender. First, if they are not doing their job, I cannot walk up to their doorstep and ask for accountability. There are some variables in a waterfront purchase that affect value that an out of area lender will not understand. An out of area lender also will utilize an “appraiser pool” for southwest Florida. This means you quite possibly might have an appraiser come from Tampa, Naples or who knows where to place a value on your home. This causes problems.
Out of area appraisers (including appraisers from the adjacent counties of Lee to the south and Sarasota county to the north), do not always understand important factors such as:
Sailboat water versus powerboat
Boat ride times, short versus long and the effect of the home’s location
Small seawall versus large seawall
Deep water versus shallow water
Distance to heart of town, the value of this
There are other factors that sometimes are overlooked and cause appraisal issues but these are the big ones that can cause problems.
The other biggest problem with lenders that are not local is simply accountability. Lenders cause more stress than any other component of a waterfront home purchase! Big banks will involve many departments and it is normal for someone to drop the ball and no one there really cares. The big banks often run a week to 3 weeks late on a closing. Many realtors/home sellers will not accept an offer that involves a big bank. That is quite a statement!
I write this blog with only good intentions that you will have a smooth transaction working with me or someone else. I have no special interest or work in conjunction with any lender so there’s only good will in this commentary for you.
