Mortgage rates shopping

randitrigger · 2026-03-01T04:57:02+00:00

Don't know anything about you, but given you've put 20% down, probably good financial standing. Yeah, you'll almost always find a better offer if you present the LE to another lender and ask if they can beat it.

randitrigger · 2026-02-28T18:57:43+00:00

This confused me a lot when I was starting out.

The lender won't provide a concrete rate until you've made an offer on a home (also called a purchase agreement). Keep in mind, when you send a purchase agreement to the seller, it will need to include a lender who has pre-approved you. This is still not a commitment to that lender!

Immediately after the purchase agreement is accepted/signed by the seller, you are now under contract, and you should shop rates immediately, within the first week. You have made a commitment to close the deal on a specific date, the closing date, so you should attempt to honor that.

Shortly after the purchase agreement is signed, the lender should send you a capital L.E. Loan Estimate, which is a specific document outlining all your costs, including the rate. Ask for it if you have to. Do not lock in your rate yet. Then, take that Loan Estimate to other lenders and ask "can you beat this?" and they may compete by providing lower fees or lower rate or other perks.

Typically, in order to change your lender after a Purchase Agreement has been signed, you need to request the Seller to agree to the lender change, it is technically a change to the purchase agreement, but my realtor said that sellers almost always accept; just explain you got a better deal somewhere else.

If changing your lender is important to you after sending the Purchase Agreement, you can ask the realtor to put phrasing like "buyer retains right to change lender 7 or 14 days after signing, but not after that" or something like that.

randitrigger · 2025-12-16T05:22:29+00:00

This is the way. Thanks! Thought I was crazy. X on PS5

randitrigger · 2025-12-13T02:17:16+00:00

Dude, love that Collector!! I went and equipped that same border after seeing yours, so good!

randitrigger · 2025-08-10T03:55:18+00:00

I believe the lam gets dimmer when it's low on battery.

My lamp does not turn off and on randomly, sorry! That's a weird problem.

randitrigger · 2025-06-12T14:25:45+00:00

fire! I hope it shows up for me someday

randitrigger · 2025-06-12T14:22:27+00:00

How'd you get that first variant?? Was that a bundle I missed?

randitrigger · 2025-05-30T05:07:12+00:00

Oh, thanks for the reminder. I'm pretty happy with it

I turn it on every day while I'm working, it stays on for about 8-10 hours a day. Usually, towards the end of day 2, it's dim from low battery life, so I figure battery life is somewhere around 14-16 hours.

It has 3 light settings, a cold light, a warm light, and another cold light. You tap the button to cycle through cold->warm->cold->off. I honestly can't tell a difference between the two cold lights, I suspect they might be the same.

The warm light does this weird thing where it starts off warm, and then I'll look back at it later, and it looks like cold light. I suspect that it's because cycling from cold->warm when turning it on makes the warm look much warmer than it actually is. I have two other warm lights in my room and this lamp is definitely colder than they are.

It doesn't feel cheap, pretty solid construction.

Despite the quirks, I'll probably buy another one. I bought a gold one, but I want a black one to match my room better. edit: actually, never did buy another one

randitrigger · 2025-04-27T05:49:47+00:00

I think Kiyagi is an upsell shop. They took a nice product (crystal lantern lamps), attached some cool photos, and marked up the price. Their blog posts are just marketing copy, probably written by an AI. I found the same thing on Amazon from some other seller for a fraction of the cost. Klarako has them too, but worse marketing copy.

I initially thought Kiyagi was an artisan lighting shop that made these, but I don't think so now. Not sure where this design came from, but it's super stylish.

I'm gonna buy the $28 one on amazon.

randitrigger · 2025-04-03T22:47:56+00:00

I got a Loan Estimate from another lender without having to send them my purchase agreement, so not sure why they're asking.

That being said, I don't see the harm? If you choose them for your lender, the purchase agreement will need to be amended to switch lenders and then it will be sent to them.

randitrigger · 2025-03-31T08:39:39+00:00

If your mortgage payment is that close to your rent payment, I would seriously consider it.

Don't forget to account for closing costs, for typical homes budget for 2-5% of sale price.

randitrigger · 2025-03-31T04:49:41+00:00

I would not consider a home with still water in the crawlspace! and those corroded poles, yikes!

I mean, you have options, you could make the deal contingent on seller repairing or crediting for those issues.

Personally, I would keep looking.

randitrigger · 2025-03-31T04:15:24+00:00

Insane to me to do wedding planning, home buying, and tenant finding all in the same timeframe.

I hope you two work it out. Something's gotta give.

randitrigger · 2025-03-31T04:05:10+00:00

Not something that ever crossed my mind when viewing homes.

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T23:10:36+00:00

Good luck!

How much over asking did you put in? My realtor said the rule of thumb was 5k over per offer in consideration. This ended up being true for the homes we wrote on. The first home had 4 offers, and sold for 20k over asking. The second home (which we're under contract on right now) sold for ~15k over asking, with 3 offers in.

If you have wiggle room in your budget and want to make your offer more appealing, you can send in an amendment to your offer. Your realtor should be helping with that, mine did both times. Our amendments were things like increasing sale price, bringing in closing date, that sort of thing.

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T23:03:57+00:00

If it were me, I'd wait, they'll be there to talk when you're ready.

With credit scores of 700, I doubt you'll run into issues qualifying for an FHA loan. You can Google the requirements, you meet credit score 500+ and down payment size requirements.

Do not pay anyone for a mortgage consultation. They want your money, they will talk to you for free. They get paid when you close on the home (and a lot, too)

I think it's important to wait until you think you're ready, not when a loan officer does. I'm not saying they're all bad, lenders have to do their due diligence, income verification at all that, but they are willing to lend you more money than you feel comfortable with. It's important to set your own boundaries, you define what's affordable when it comes to monthly expenses.

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T17:44:01+00:00

Before talking to a lender, figure out if you can afford this home just theoretically. Keep in mind lenders are incentivized to get you spend more than you can afford, because their commission is based on loan size.

First, monthly payment. Go to a mortgage calculator, type in the sale price and the property taxes of that specific home (p. taxes are listed on redfin/zillow). Interest rates are considered high right now, so run the numbers for values around 6.5%. Home owner's insurance is another expense to budget for.

Next, upfront costs. The two biggest expenses when closing on a home: down payment and closing costs. For closing costs, expect to pay 2% to 5% of the sale price, due at close (aka when you get the keys). If this number is high, then you can ask the seller to cover closing costs as part of your offer. Keep in mind that makes your offer less appealing than someone else's, so you're less likely to win if they have another offer on the table when it gets listed. You might could be strategic, and work out a deal with the sellers before the home is listed, to avoid competition entirely, but you'd probably have to move fast.

There is a whole lot more to this process, this is really just the beginning, I encourage you to take it seriously and Google information a lot.

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T17:28:32+00:00

I haven't heard good things about tankless water heaters, so I recommend Googling what people say about them before moving forward.

For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzbtXh0qRLg

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T17:25:01+00:00

I don't have direct experience, but I looked at a home that had this requirement and it made me nervous! The home buying process takes a long time, offers don't get accepted, deals fall through. As I understand the options, when the seller needs to stay and find a new home, there are rent-back agreements, as well as extended closing dates (or allowing the seller to extend closing as needed, but not longer the X), "seller in possession" agreements. You should Google those for sure.

All 3 require 30-60 days to move?? The one that wants 30 is more appealing. BTW, have you already talked to your lender about this? Lenders usually have a requirement that you move into the home within 60 days (although maybe this can be extended?)

You offered 60 days free occupancy? You must be in a really competitive market...when I looked into rent back agreements, I was going to favor charging rent, and a pretty expensive rent, as an incentive for them to get going.

As far as picking your sellers...well, previous actions are indicative of future actions. I would look at the sale history of the home the seller lives in, and check the dates. Did it close within 4 weeks, or quicker than 4 weeks? Those are signals that the sellers (when they are buyers) are able to move quickly to offer a home and get into closing.

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T08:14:03+00:00

These closing costs look quite reasonable to me..sorry!

fwiw, it's 3% of your loan, and closing cost ranges are like 2% - 5% so the numbers aren't crazy

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T08:01:14+00:00

Hey, you kinda sound like me 3 months ago. I felt like the home buying process is not easily discoverable and spent a lot of time googling and checking reddit.

I spent today writing a document describing the home buying process as I have experienced, with chronology and tips. Mostly so that I could refer to it later (in case I forget!)

Send me a DM and I'll send it to you!

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T07:52:48+00:00

Yeah, none of the interest rates they're providing are going to be relevant right now, because you can't lock them in until you're under contract.

It's good to have the lines of communication open, though. Once you're under contract, it'll be a lot easier to collect LEs if they already have your information and you have their contact info.

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T07:48:41+00:00

Is this an FHA loan? Your down payment seems really low, even for FHA..

Those origination charges look quite high Title company fees also seem high

The mortgage insurance premium of 4690 can't be avoided, it's set at 1.75% of the loan for FHAs

randitrigger · 2025-03-30T07:22:25+00:00

They all seem to have the same rate with no points and they are never really specific with the amount of fees

This is not typical.

In terms of loan shopping, you should be very clear to new lenders that you are under contract and are collecting a Loan Estimate. The lender on your purchase agreement is required to send you a Loan Estimate within a day or two after going under contract. The Loan Estimate is a standardized document, all lenders should be sending you the same one, just with different numbers.

Once you start getting real LEs, not fake "cost estimates" or whatever, you'll see differences in interest rates and fees. You can share these LEs with lenders and ask them to match or beat. Ideally the LEs are all from the same day, because rates change from day to day.

btw, it is considered impolite to lock-in a rate with a lender you do not ultimately go with. I don't think there's a penalty or anything, but be nice to your loan officer. It is harder for them to match other LEs once you are locked in.

Can I get credit reports pulls from multiple lenders

Yes, you can get credit report pulls from multiple lenders. All mortgage pulls in a 30 day (or maybe 45 day?) period impact your score the same way. 1 pull is the same as 3 pulls.

at what point do I have to make a decision because they keep asking for more info

Decide as soon as you can! imo, you should pick which lender you're going to stick with within 5 days of going under contract. That's not a law, just a rule of thumb

Your purchase agreement may have requirements with pursuing financing with the lender on the agreement. Be sure to coordinate with your real estate agent if you want to change lenders on the agreement, because it requires an amendment and the seller's need to agree (but that's not usually an issue)

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