No technology thoughts here; instead, I’m looking for any advice you folks might give to a first time home buyer. I’ll have much more on the move later, but in the meantime I’m trying to wade through the complexities of mortgage options. The interweb of course is offering a multitude of options (Smartmoney‘s been the best resource thus far), but I’m looking for some real world advice having already solicited a variety of opinions from family and friends.
A few of the questions I’m pondering:
Fixed v Adjustable – being both financially conservative and possessed of the belief that the interest rate 5 years from now will be considerably higher, I’m leaning towards the higher cost but more conservative fixed rate mortgage. Any reason that’s incredibly wrong?
Bank v mortgage broker v E-Loan – I’ve got a few options here; going with a regular retail bank like Bank of America, going with a mortgage broker that works out of the office of my realtor, or turning to an online service like E-Loan. Anybody have experiences here they can relate?
Points? – I understand conceptually the reasoning behind points, but can’t really digest whether it’s worth getting a smaller bridge second mortgage to avoid paying them. I’m not going with a zero down mortgage or anything ridiculous, so whatever points I’d have to take wouldn’t be that bad, but maybe it is worth avoiding them.
Anyway, for those of you expecting some technology commentary, apologies for the distration and now back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Update: I already thanked the many commenters both public and private below, but wanted to be sure and do so on the front page. Really appreciate all the advice, guys. Also, I did solicit a response from ELoan last night following Christopher’s suggestion and wow, the rate is much better. 5.75 no points for a fixed loan, versus my current 6.25 offer from BofA with points. Not sure what I’ll go with, but in case anyone’s curious here some experiences with ELoan.
