Thinking off doing something dumb aka buying a house to live in in SF. Married, no kids, but planning one soon enough. My TC ~300, wife’s TC 145. Both want to keep working post kid. Been banking w/Chase the past 5 years (not in Ca) but they’re really dropping the ball with my mortgage approval. Wells Fargo offerred a better rate, has been easy to work with, but does have a way of ending up in the news for big mess ups. First Republic is close to WF for rate, but I’m unsure how well their mobile things work, how service is, etc as a smaller player. Given the rate discounts for having (eg) 500k invested in the same bank we have the mortgage with, I anticipate moving all of our banking services wherever the mortgage ends up. Anyone have opinions about the above three, or a 4th option we should look into?
I wouldn’t trust Wells Fargo for anything. They were literally systemically stealing from their customers and when they got caught they tried to blame it on their low level employees.
Go to multiple banks. Get approved by one and take it to others. Everyone here talks about multiple offers for their careers. It’s just as useful for mortgages and the same balance. Do it but don’t make people hate you
Already done this and have the offers. Ready to move, but don’t want to accidentally move to a crummy bank over an interest rate difference. Could get Chase to match my lowest offer, but they’re being really hard to work with at the moment. Rather, their mortgage person is.
I’m assuming this is a jumbo loan judging by your TC and location. Jumbo loans are normally sold off from the primary bank (Chase/ Wells/ etc) to another financial institution and you interact with a servicer of your loan anyway. With that said, I still dislike Wells
Wells is garbage - decades behind in tech, and shitty unethical practices. Chase is best, and Vanguard for asset management per ^^.
Quicken loans, and nobody else for me. Best app, best website and best/fastest process.
Quicken (Rocket Mortgage) came in a solid 1% high on interest rate. I did a WTF on their online chat, got to a person, and they came back still higher on interest rate than everyone local.
What rate did you get and on what type of loan?
Get hold of a mortgage broker who can shop around for u. Credit unions offer some sexy rates. I have locked in a 3.3% 30 yr fixed.
Just go with whoever has the best rate. Loyalty doesn't matter here at all and relationship discounts can be established easily/temporarily. Citi has the best rates right now. Terrible bank but who cares? Lock the rate. With relationship you can easily get under 3%.
The worst bank ever to get a home mortgage. But yes good rates at the moment. If u can endure 2 months of sheer agony of working with imbeciles , it may pay off
Why 2 months? Refinances with them. Setting up an account was a pain but they pay you cash in exchange. Rest was normal, 3rd party notary even. They destroyed every other rate by a large margin so no brainer.
I work at first republic bank. Don’t worry about the mobile. FRB has an 30+ year history of organic growth. Worry about security, service, rate, and overall relationship. We take servicing to another level. Most of our clients never step foot into the branch. Dm message me if you want to chat more about first republic bank.
Check with a credit union as well for a comparison point
Schools suck in SF if your kid loses lottery they get bussed off to the ghetto. Don't do it unless you can afford private school the whole time if they lose lottery.
How much is that lottery weighted on where you live? IE if the house is in a more acceptable district does that put you at better odds than if it isn’t? Is your kid stuck forever, or just for the year? For that matter, where are the good non SF school districts?
Not saying I wouldn’t do it, but adding 45 minutes to my commute now so that I’ll be in what is hopefully a better district 6-7 years from now when the kid hits kindergarten is going to require some meditation.
Vanguard for asset management