1st Family Mortgage? opinions (Huntsville, Madison: refinancing, good credit, loans)

[hey teach]

Anyone here who has worked with 1st Family Mortgage? I would like your feedback on your experience with them. I have been told they can get the best rates around, but they are terribly slow.

Also, would like your recommendations on the companies you have used for mortgage or refinancing.

[stewartbra]

My wife and I refinanced in January; we used Brian Hamaker. The process went fairly smoothly and we never had to leave our house! Brian and another lady (an underwriter maybe?) came to us...

Conrad Thompson (of 1st Family Mortgage) seems like an all right guy based on his radio interviews/advertisements. However, I associate 1st Family as servicing those with poor credit. That could be completely untrue though.

[BMW Dave]

Well I am currently in the mortgage marketplace.

I have consulted First Family and they do seem very nice, but their only location is on South Parkway and I am in Madison.

I am considering

Wells Fargo (My Current Bank)
Eva Bank
Mortgage America

I went to Platinum Mortgage and they saddled me with a woman I didn't enjoy working with, also they have higher origination fees.

I also associate First Family as servicing those with poor credit. I have excellent credit and it appears I can get the BEST rate from the bank themselves, so if your credit is well above average you will actually get a similar rate with lower origination fees by dealing directly with the bank.

All the mortgage companies are loan originators, somewhere down the line they get to a big bank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, Fannie or Freddie. Something like that, so by going with one of the mortgage companies you are basically dealing with a middle man who will help you perhaps if the big bank won't approve you, but you will pay more either with an interest rate or origination fee. They have to make money somehow.

But that only works if the Bank itself approves you on the first try.

Also you have the credit unions, Redstone and the other smaller ones. My dad didn't have good luck with Redstone 10yrs ago, so I just don't personally want to go there for a mortgage.

MadisonLTC is a current licensed realtor and I haven't been an active agent in years and I am only just now buying my first home, hopefully she will have more info and correct any of my mistakes.

[Keeper]

I had Wells Fargo years ago and was very happy with them. They also came to my house for the closing. We got a great rate of 4% and that was the best rate around back then.

[RatSnake]

I am looking at Supreme Lending - I think over in Madison - near the new Target.

They have a website.
Their rates are very low - I compared them with two brokers outside the state. One out-of-state broker does huge volumes in California and initially came lower. Supreme Lending has been able to match those rates.

I actually moved my money to a 'local' bank thinking I would get a better rate / lower closing costs - did not happen.

The less excellent your credit is, the more documentation is required. This is par for the course now.

[Reactionary]

I haven't used First Family Mortgage for mortgage services, but I would consider them if I needed a mortgage or refinance.

I have worked with Conrad Thompson on a successful (volunteer) project - the 2010 Huntsville Governors Forum. Thompson is the same person in real life as his ad persona - he'll save you money, plus in my experience he'll keep his committments. Thompson is an all-around good guy.

Six of seven Republican candidates for Alabama governor to appear at forum | al.com

[LCTMadison]

Originally Posted by BMW Dave

Well I am currently in the mortgage marketplace.

I have consulted First Family and they do seem very nice, but their only location is on South Parkway and I am in Madison.

I am considering

Wells Fargo (My Current Bank)
Eva Bank
Mortgage America

I went to Platinum Mortgage and they saddled me with a woman I didn't enjoy working with, also they have higher origination fees.

I also associate First Family as servicing those with poor credit. I have excellent credit and it appears I can get the BEST rate from the bank themselves, so if your credit is well above average you will actually get a similar rate with lower origination fees by dealing directly with the bank.

All the mortgage companies are loan originators, somewhere down the line they get to a big bank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Chase, Fannie or Freddie. Something like that, so by going with one of the mortgage companies you are basically dealing with a middle man who will help you perhaps if the big bank won't approve you, but you will pay more either with an interest rate or origination fee. They have to make money somehow.

But that only works if the Bank itself approves you on the first try.

Also you have the credit unions, Redstone and the other smaller ones. My dad didn't have good luck with Redstone 10yrs ago, so I just don't personally want to go there for a mortgage.

MadisonLTC is a current licensed realtor and I haven't been an active agent in years and I am only just now buying my first home, hopefully she will have more info and correct any of my mistakes.

The majority of loans written are sold on the secondary market and must conform to Fannie guidelines to be sold. However some banks offer programs that they keep in house, like PNC and BB&T both have a 100% CON/No PMI but it is convoluted with restrictions. If you fit the mold, its a great loan program.

Just because you originally go with a "big bank" who does buy up paper on the secondary market does not mean you are going to "save" on the origination end. Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Citibank, etc all are pretty much going to be competitive in the market with other banks/mortgage companies on rates/fees. I would not use that as a consideration for what bank/mortgage company I went with. It is finding the perfect balance of low fees, great interest rate, loan program, and a VERY educated loan originator to navigate you thru the process.

Last time I dealt with 1st Family, they were NOT upfront with my client about their fees. DO NOT LIKE. I have never dealt with them since, and don't care to.

I am not a RFCU mortgage fan either. I have had nothing but problems with their mortgage dept, probably because the loan officers generally do not have the education/experience many others in the mortgage industry have.

I have a fantastic lender in Madison, who always beats everyone on rates AND fees, and her customer service is unrivaled. Don't just look at the interest rate...you need to look at what each lender is charging you in fees, that is where they really vary. Customer service is VERY important....I just closed a property the other day that was supposed to close over a month ago because the lender waited TWO WEEKS to notify us of a potential problem which affected our original closing date......and did not return any of my follow up calls as well. You are welcome to DM me for my recommendations on lenders.

[RocketCityMama]

We tried to refinance through them, gave us this decent rate, we had to use their appraiser, $500 later, and then after them dragging their SLOW feet, we couldn't close by the end of the month, and they claimed it was because we needed more paperwork by then. However, they neglected to let us know in enough time, and so we basically threw away the $$ and no refinance.

Only good thing that came out of it, was we know what our house is appraised for and it hasn't gone down in the 4 yrs we've owned it.

[Maya Blue]

Originally Posted by BMW Dave

Well I am currently in the mortgage marketplace.

I have consulted First Family and they do seem very nice, but their only location is on South Parkway and I am in Madison.

They also have an office in Athens off of 72 and I-65 next to Starbucks.

[FiveDime]

We recently refinanced through First Family and I have no qualms with them. It did take longer than I expected, but I believe that has more to do with how lending works post-2008 than anything else. I have good credit but I was still surprised at how much more crap was required than just a few years ago. We also encountered an issue that was not their fault at all but which extended the amount of time required to close, so our original paperwork expired. When this happened we had to pay extra money up front to keep the same interest rate, and when everything was said and done they (1st Family) refunded this difference without my even asking (I had thought I was just going to have to eat the extra $ and chalk it up to stuff happens)...I thought that spoke mountains about their character and business philosophy.

The "funny" thing about our re-fi was...Wells Fargo had been servicing my mortgages for over a decade (first in Florida and then our new home when we moved up here) and I always liked them, but when we were starting to re-fi (beginning of this year) Wells had just recently started calling me, harassing me to make my payments starting about the 8th or 9th of the month. Now, for years I have been paying online on the 15th or 16th, and have a very well established pattern of doing so, but started getting these calls for reasons I couldn't ascertain (they'd tell me things like, "Yes we know you don't get late fees until after the 16th but your payment is due on the 1st, and you will be sent to collections as soon as the 2nd if you don't pay"). They were really driving me crazy for a few months with this garbage, but rather than start going up the chain to stop it I just stopped answering their calls, knowing the problem would solve itself as soon as the re-fi was finished. Now they (1st Family) had told me from the start my loan would almost certainly be sold off, and likely immediately...I knew this was how things work and had no problem with it. When I got to the closing my agent and the closing attorney were both looking quite amused but also a little embarassed...I could tell something was up. That's when they broke the bad news to me...my loan was going to be sold to Wells Fargo before my first payment was due LOL. Luckily, they haven't seen fit to continue their previous practice of annoying me starting the 8th or 9th of every month...

We also took out a HELOC after the re-fi, and first tried to get that through Redstone. I'll just say that didn't work out and leave it at that. First Commercial did come through quite well for us in that regard.