Perhaps its just sometime in our DNA, but it seems that most people will leave mortgage financing needs to near the end of their acquisition, refinancing, or development planning process.
I guess the working assumption is that locating and securing an appropriate mortgage is going to be relatively easy and fast to do. At least that’s what a lot of the advertising your read and see are basically screaming at you.
And while it may very well be possible to get a mortgage in very short order, is it going to be able to meet all your requirements and provide the best available terms in the market?
When it comes to getting a mortgage for either a residential or commercial application, there are two key things you should consider that can save you a lot of money and headache over time.
The first thing I have already alluded to and that’s to start early. When I say early, I’m talking months in advance. For residential mortgages as an example, you can lock in an interest rate on a preapproval for 120 days which is basically 4 months ahead of when it may be required. The beauty of these pre-approvals is that if the rate drops further during the 4 month locked in period, you still get the lower interest rate.
The second key thing to consider is to find and select a mortgage broker that you’re 1) comfortable with, and 2) has a focus in the type of mortgage you’re going to be needing. More lead time is more time a good mortgage broker has to shop the market and try to figure out the best possible deal you can secure. No matter how good a mortgage broker may be, if the process is “under the gun” to get completed, the deal secured will rarely be the best deal due to timing.
And if you’re working with commercial real estate, the lead time becomes even more important as the commitment and closing processes for different commercial mortgage applications are almost always longer than you can imagine.
Even if you’re working on a development project that won’t be starting for 6 months or more, its still a good idea to get started on the project financing process with a suitable mortgage broker so that there are no surprises in the future and if the available commercial mortgage financing is going to be demanding certain requirements prior to funding, you will have sufficient lead to time to get everything in place and avoid the mad scramble when the project is about to start.
I'm a Toronto Mortgage Broker that arranges mortgage solutions on residential and commercial real estate property. With over 30 years of mortgage financing experience, I'm able to quickly assess your financing requirements and provide relevant solutions for your immediate consideration. Joe Walsh Google+ YouTube Channel