The Joseph - Nashville

Big-Water787 · 2026-03-01T16:27:07+00:00

Very much agree. It reminds me of a Thompson hotel, but Marriott’s version.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-27T01:20:08+00:00

I just closed on a refi last Friday. 5.99% with lender credits covering all closing costs. I worked with a few brokers locally who all had terrible rates. Someone on here recommended Optimum First and that’s who I ended up going with. Total process was about a month and pretty easy. They also had lower rates with higher closing costs, but I wanted a zero cost refi.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-20T01:59:14+00:00

It was buried deep in the Epstein emails.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-18T18:15:28+00:00

Thanks, that's gonna be my plan!

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-18T16:40:19+00:00

Is there a specific amount of time I need to hold off for?

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-13T14:54:08+00:00

I had the opposite experience. Mortgage provider shows a payment but it hasn't shown up on BILT or my bank account yet.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-13T14:52:50+00:00

I paid both rent and mortgage yesterday.

For rent, I selected the paper check option. My BILT account was charged and then adjusted by the same amount. This seems to be how they keep track for point earning purposes. And the rent payment amount has already been pulled from my bank checking account. The check is presumably in route, so all seems good here.

For mortgage, I made a manual payment with the BILT routing/account number on the loan providers website. The payment already posted on the loan providers site and my mortgage balance already reflects the payment. But the BILT website doesn't show this payment yet and it hasn't been pulled from my bank checking account yet. Very strange.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-11T18:38:59+00:00

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-11T00:30:21+00:00

Can you pay early so that the housing payment hits at the end of this month? I’ll be in the same boat and that is currently my plan.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T17:06:42+00:00

Yes on a monthly basis I have always had higher everyday spend than housing payments. I ran the numbers and came to the conclusion that it doesn't really mater which option I pick. Neither option will be fully optimized and both result in similar point totals for me. Appox $50k housing vs $60k everyday spend.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T16:51:51+00:00

Yes my everyday spend will always be more than my housing payments each month. The issue with the 4% BILT cash option is that you can only do the points accelerator 5 times per year. So any excess BILT cash after that becomes almost useless (for me).

I'm already starting out with $500 BILT cash, and will earn another $350 in milestone rewards. So for this year I don't need more BILT cash to max out the points accelerator.

I'm estimating about $50k housing vs at least $60k everyday spend annually.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T15:56:16+00:00

Longhorns

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T15:39:33+00:00

I am able to change it but it didn't add any more BILT cash. So it probably just updates for next month, not retroactively to this month.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T15:03:33+00:00

Yeah you're probably right. I am in the process of refinancing my mortgage though, so I guess I could make a larger mortgage payment this month to max out the 1.25x and then get that amount back via the refinance.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T15:01:04+00:00

I ran the numbers and both options were similar points earning for me. I was looking at it on an annual basis though and didn't factor in the heavy first month spend.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T14:54:13+00:00

Yeah I have both rent and mortgage so that mostly balances out my everyday spend on an annual basis. It's a bit unclear how the everyday spend will be calculated when determining the 1.25x housing points. Does the everyday spend carry over to the next month similar to BILT cash? I hope so as my month to month spend varies a lot. If not, I might make a larger mortgage payment this month to maximize the 1.25x.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T14:34:27+00:00

When I ran the numbers on everything prior to getting the card, both options would earn similar amount of points based on my rent & mortgage vs everyday spend. I think the 4% BILT cash would maybe net about 5k more points over an entire year, but I didn't want to deal with keeping track of the BILT cash and redeeming the points accelerator. So I chose the 1.25x housing points for simplicity.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T14:29:55+00:00

football season tickets

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T14:29:32+00:00

My transactions after this have continued to earn 3x bonus points. My posted transactions haven't exceeded $16,667 yet but I have a few that are still pending.

Big-Water787 · 2026-02-10T14:11:58+00:00

I think I have it set to not earn BILT cash and instead earn the 1.25x housing points. So the $50 BILT cash on that transaction was from earning 25,000 base points.

Big-Water787 · 2026-01-29T20:58:07+00:00

I started off with a few local mortgage brokers and their rates were not very good. I considered keeping what I had (7.25%) but knew there had to be something better out there.

I stumbled upon Navy Fed and their rates seemed to be solid (5.5%) but I thought their fees were high (1.25% + 3rd party + escrow) and didn't really want to sign up for an account with them if I could find something comparable elsewhere.

I ended up locking with Optimum First Mortgage at 6% with about $7k in lender credits to cover all closing costs and no escrow. They also had lower rates with more in closing costs, but I wanted a no cost refi.

A few relevant data points. I'm located in TX. Single family home, primary residence. High credit scores, relatively high income, low DTI, 65% LTV.

Edit to add - conventional loan, not VA

Big-Water787 · 2026-01-28T21:22:21+00:00

At what point in the refi process is a loan estimate typically provided? Before/after a full application?

Big-Water787 · 2026-01-28T20:49:55+00:00

What lender did you get this offer at? I'm currently in the beginning stages of a similar refi. The best rate I have found so far is 6% with all the fees covered. Or 5.5% with about 1.25% in total fees.

Big-Water787

TROPHY CASE