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Ames area mortgage lender recommendations

Mr Janny

Mr Janny

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Mar 27, 2006
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Anyone have any? We're looking to buy a new house, and want to go with the best lender we can, preferably one that will not sell our loan to Citimortgage. Maybe that's asking too much. Our current mortgage was initiated with a local bank, but they immediately sold it, which I understand is common practice, but, I've not been impressed with Citimortgage at all. Just looking for some recommendations.
 
Most banks, even local ones, will sell their mortgages. You need to ask them directly if they keep it "in-house".

In that vein, the mortgage lender you use doesn't really matter. Joe Smith can't "get you a better rate" than Bob Jones. They all have the same rates so just go with whoever you like better. We bought ours through Countrywide and then refinances with a one-branch local bank who ended up selling it. 98K left!!
 
Will a bigger bank, like Wells Fargo, be as likely to sell off your mortgage?
 
First National Bank of Ames has been good to me. They'll sell your loan to Iowa Bankers Mortgage Corporation which is in Johnston. I've never had any issues with IBMC.
 
mtowncyclone13 said:
Most banks, even local ones, will sell their mortgages. You need to ask them directly if they keep it "in-house".

In that vein, the mortgage lender you use doesn't really matter. Joe Smith can't "get you a better rate" than Bob Jones. They all have the same rates so just go with whoever you like better. We bought ours through Countrywide and then refinances with a one-branch local bank who ended up selling it. 98K left!!
Click to expand...

I know that most sell their mortgages. I just was asking specifically about Citimortgage, as that is who currently use, and I am not a fan.
 
Avoid Wells Fargo if you can. We went through them in Ames and it was a horrible experience. In most cases you aren't going to see a huge difference in rates, but the difference lies in how well they handle the process. In my experience, credit unions will generally go out of their way to help make things easy for you and explain the process. When we went through WF, they just told us to sign and initial without really going through the paperwork. We were constantly having to call and make sure things happened like the appraisal (which in the end didn't by the closing date).

While this may be just one bad agent, we were so turned off with them that we just didn't want to deal with them again

Once the loan is setup, I've never understood why it matters if they end up selling it. Just setup an automatic payment and you really don't have to deal with them again for 15-30 years.
 
Thanks, all. This is really great info.
 
I would recommend First National as well.

My wife and I just moved back to Ames and bought a house after six years outside our lovely state. First National seems to be the most responsive to client's needs and seems to have a quicker / less burdensome underwriting process. I would recommend them.

Full disclosure: we didn't use First National for our mortgage, but somewhat wish we did now. Nonetheless, I would highly recommend the loan officer we used at the other bank, but I am led to believe after dealing with First National on multiple occasions to assist my clients that they have a less burdensome underwriting process and have a more streamlined approach. It's not the loan officer's fault; I just get the impression his bank handcuffs him.
 
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Clonehomer said:
Avoid Wells Fargo if you can. We went through them in Ames and it was a horrible experience. In most cases you aren't going to see a huge difference in rates, but the difference lies in how well they handle the process. In my experience, credit unions will generally go out of their way to help make things easy for you and explain the process. When we went through WF, they just told us to sign and initial without really going through the paperwork. We were constantly having to call and make sure things happened like the appraisal (which in the end didn't by the closing date).

While this may be just one bad agent, we were so turned off with them that we just didn't want to deal with them again

Once the loan is setup, I've never understood why it matters if they end up selling it. Just setup an automatic payment and you really don't have to deal with them again for 15-30 years.
Click to expand...

Interesting. I just refinanced with WF and had a good experience. They did my original mortgage as well.
 
Any lenders at Ames WF to avoid, in particular, and ones that are good?
 
I think it really depends on what you need/expect. For us, we needed a mortgage loan and that's it. Since we refinanced two years ago I have made zero calls to the lender. What does "service" have to do with it? What exactly do people do that needs servicing?
 
I just bought a house in Ames. My mortgage was initially with Great Western, which provided the best terms overall: 15 year fixed at 2.65% with lower fees than average.

It's been sold to Fannie Mae and will be serviced by some org in Arkansas. Don't really care about that since I don't expect to need them to do anything but accept my money. I don't expect to refinance since that's about as low as it can go.
 
I worked at WF about 13 years ago in the Mortgage servicing area. After the taxes and insurance gets paid you're usually golden. If you switch insurance you just need to let them know. I actually audited the company that handled the servicing for WF.

One piece of advice. If you ever get a letter that they are going to force place insurance, take care of it as soon as possible. It's a complete nightmare.
 
Some local banks sell the loan, but then act as the "servicer" on behalf of the larger bank that they sell to. This is our situation, so if we ever have questions, we still go through our local banker that originated the loan. If that's what is important to you, then the question you should ask is who will service the loan, rather than who will purchase the loan.
 
I can recommend at least 2-3 local first class lender that will loan in Ames. Local banks and Cyclone fans
PM for information. I personally have loans with all I recommend. I will provide direct contacts vi pm.
 
We went through Ames Community Bank for our mortgage loan, they're now called VisionBank. I found that the guy there who helped us (Barry) was a wonderful person to work with, despite our situation being probably a huge pain for him. Ultimately, they sell the loan off to IBMC like First National does. However, I can't say enough good things about working with him.
 
IcSyU said:
Wells holds a good chunk of theirs and buys even more. They're one of the biggest servicers of home mortgages if I'm not mistaken.
Click to expand...

This is correct. WF is currently the largest servicer of mortgages in the nation (just under 40%) and they keep it simple with "vanilla" mortgages without all the derivatives that got the industry in trouble in 2007-2008. I can't formally recommend WF since it's against my contract due to where I work within the company, but what I said holds.
 
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