Forms, Forms, and More Forms!

We got a call from West Coast Escrow that we needed to go and sign our loan documents today. When we get there all of a sudden Jud our broker appears and slides into the empty seat next to us. When we first met him he told us he would be there when it came time to sign our loan documents. We had completely forgotten about that so it was such a nice surprise because we had a few questions and having someone we trusted next to us answering them helped.

We must have signed a million things and it wasn't as scary as I thought. Closing date still looks like May 5th. Crossing our fingers!

The Three Amigos

Rather than bore you with the escrow process, I'm going to keep it short. Most people don't know what to expect during escrow, but we did. Remember how I said we had a great team? Well between Rick, Jud, and Jud's right hand man, Eli Pindler, there were no surprises. And I mean NONE. During our escrow process we have been fully informed every single step of the way.

I have talked about Jud and Rick plenty, but I want to talk about Eli because he was a huuuuge part of our experience. He works with Jud to make this process a smooth transition for the buyer. Anytime I had a question, and I'm not lying or exaggerating, Eli got back to me within minutes!! Responses always came in a timely manner even when I would e-mail after business hours. Some days that was just the only time I had time to catch up. Eli returned my e-mails when he should have been at home relaxing after work. I was shocked that we got so much personal attention and care. When we asked stupid questions, he was so gracious and patient with us. We can't praise him enough. He was a dream to work with.

I know I may sound like a broken record, but our team was awesome and in Los Angeles, sometimes it is hard to weed out the bad apples. I don't cut anyone breaks and I am very hard on people so when people are good to the Mister and me, we like to share. If you have any questions, or experiences you want to share, please feel free to comment or e-mail.

Jud "The Great" Whyte

After our pre-approval expired we had to begin the search for a new lender. We didn't have time to start from scratch and shop around again. Because the market was so competitive, the minute we found a house we liked, we had to submit an offer right then and there. Taking a week or two shop around for a lender was not feasible. Rick suggested the idea of using a mortgage broker. The advantage of using a broker is that they are able to shop around to get you the best rate because they have access to hundreds of lenders. Sounded good to us. He suggested we sit down with Jud Whyte at First Capital Mortgage.

Two minutes into the interview, my first thought was, why did I not meet this man before?!?!? I had never received that much information about the lending process. I learned things that no one had ever told me. He literally mapped out how we would get from point A to B. Yes, there were diagrams involved, yes he moves at the speed of lightning, and yes he still manages to be thorough and concise. And the best part? He broke it down in simple English. Let me put it this way, I recommend anyone who is interested in buying to sit down with Jud even before getting their agent. I say this because if for example there are problems with your credit, or if there is something that would worry a lender, Jud can get you in in good shape or at least put you on a path to become more attractive to a lender. See him before you go off falling in love with a home. Trust me, it will save you a lot of grief.

The Mister and I lucked out. Between Jud and Rick, we had the best team we could have possibly asked for.

Anyone have any good/bad experience with any other mortgage brokers? Please share!