Atlanta agents and their loan officers
Realtors recommend loan officers for a reason. It is not because the loan officer is “nice”; it is because they believe that that loan officer can “get you to the closing table”.
Not staying in touch and un-returned telephone calls from loan officers and real estate agents are the biggest complaints in real estate transactions. So, what’s the big deal about a skipped or delayed telephone call? What difference does it make if he/she doesn’t stay in touch? And if a loan officer misses an occasional telephone call, does it make a difference if he promises you a better interest rate?
Right now, Atlanta home interest rates are the best they have been in decades. Of course, a low rate is important to a buyer, but the difference from lender to lender may only vary 1/8% – 1/4% of a point. On a $250,000 loan, that is approximately $15-30 per month, or approximately $.75 per day! What if the lender cannot get you to the closing table? Consider this:
- Will the savings of $.75 per day be worth it to the buyers if they have to move into a hotel, store their furniture and start looking for another home to purchase? How much will these additional things cost?
- If the buyers have to start over again with another home and lender, will the interest rates will be as good at that time, as they are now?
- A delayed closing may cost a buyer additional interest and tax savings;
- What is the ‘cost’ of stress to all the parties when a buyer is late to closing or worse, does not close on the transaction?
Case in point: We were the listing broker for a home that was supposed to close almost three (3) months ago. No one in this scenario won and I blame “Vance” , their loan officer, for it. The closing date was extended six times, several days had two different closing times, often changed and reset by the loan officer. We were not sure if this closing would happen at all. The loan officer, “Vance”, did not return calls from me or the other Realtor (I was representing the Seller; the other Realtor was representing the Buyers, Vance’s client). Because of Vance’s lack of professionalism, no one, not the Seller, the Buyers, the two agents representing the Seller and Buyer, the paralegal, the closing attorney or the underwriter, knew when the closing would take place. That is a minimum of eight people that “Vance” directly affected by not returning our telephone calls! There was also the “missed opportunities” for the attorney’s office, as other buyers may have wanted the Buyers’ closing time-slots (at one point, it was the end of the month and the end of the year: a key time for Atlanta home closings). The buyers had to be out of their rental apartment and the Sellers, initially, were unwilling to extend the closing date. If ”Vance” kept all the parties informed, perhaps the Buyers could have moved into their new home on time and the Seller would not have had to agree to extend the closing date several times. But “Vance” didn’t return his telephone calls or keep any one informed as to why the closing was delayed. No one knew where the other party stood or if we would even close on the transaction. The loan officer’s inability to close this loan on-time, also cost the buyer their Homestead Exemption for 2009 (to file this tax exemption, a buyer must own his primary residence, as of January 1; this exemption represents a tax savings to a buyer in the State of Georgia). The final straw was when “Vance” told the two agents that the loan was cleared to close, but his mortgage company was not cleared by the state of Georgia to handle FHA loans! The buyer decided to switch loan officers and closed quickly.All this confusion for less than $1 per day.
If you are in need of a good loan officer, please call or email us – we call help. Listen to the advice of a seasoned agent – it will get you to the closing table!