patrick.net

The safest thing to do is to have no debt at all.

Then you avoid all those problems.

Especially if it costs less to rent a place to live than rent money for a place to live. Renting money = paying interest.

Which means you don't have to pay it back! Until the robo-signing re-starts.

Try zillow.com, and search their mortgage section. They have reviews for all the lenders on the site.

RedStar says

Try zillow.com, and search their mortgage section. They have reviews for all the lenders on the site.

Like the reviews may not be cooked. RE industry is rigged. :)

Credit unions (which are not for profit) often retain ownership of the loans they write.

My current loan is owned and serviced by the CU which originated it; and one before this was owned by the credit union although they farmed out servicing to some other organization.

There's generally some affiliation requirement for membership, although it can just be living or working in a certain area. For instance Provident is open to people in most if not all of the SF Bay Area, LA city, Sacramento county, and a few other places in California. In Colorado I belonged to the CU (University of Colorado) credit union originally open to students/faculty/employee but later opened to people in the surrounding counties plus a few other cities.

Cut out all the middle men and just drive up to the discount window at the Federal Reserve where they print all money that exists(or ever will) into existance.

There will be a line at the drive through so make sure to peek inside as you approach the building to see if the inside line is shorter than the drive through line (if so park and walk inside to save a min or two of waiting for the free money).

They are lending it at .025% or maybe zero (depends on the day of week). Make sure to pay this money back with even larger 'loans' you get from them in the future - if you dont you might accidentally pay for something with earned income.

I am going through the same process. Its been a few years since I last bought in the good ol days before the bubble, but it seems the whole housing industry is filled with more sharks and middle-men than I remember.

Just think from the moment you decide you want a house, all the people who you may meet, all of whom want to provide some shitty service to intercept some of your money:

2 Realtors, attorney, escrow company, title company, mortgage brokers, banker, inspectors, surveyors, appraiser, insurance agents....the list is never ending. And god forbid you want to do some improvement and open yourself up to that sub-industry.

Anyway, any of these are potential leeches....to answer your post though, there are good books explaining the game. A great one for the mortgage mess i found "Mortgage Rip-offs" I highly recommend, but there are others.

Good luck

Having no debt is the safest path is saying that all the capital markets are dumb and you are the smartest person in the world! Debt is a good thing if used wisely. Do not over leverage yourself and try to get a good rate. Right now you can get a home loan for 4.0% and inflation is around 3.0%. Combine this with a mortgage interest deduction, you will at least be getting a free loan or making money on your debt.

Having no debt is obviously safe. Your house cannot be repossessed by the bank if you don't owe the bank.

Yes, sometimes it makes sense to borrow money, but even if you get a loan for 4%, you still lose big time if you overpay for the house.

Compare the cost of owning (renting money) to the cost of renting the house. Then you'll know what to do, at least from the financial perspective.

Disclaimer: I'm in the business.

Low or no debt preferred.

Credit unions are great, but make sure the credit union is lending their funds. Some CU "in house lenders" are really mortgage bankers that have nested within the CU because the CU doesn't have the knowledge base to fund and service loans made from their asset base.

Ask around. Someone can give you the name of a mortgage professional out there who treats the business as a career, not as a pathway to temporary wealth. That person may shepherd you well through the mortgage maze as they did for the person who referred them to you.

Current Yelp! reviews are another good resource. Plenty of lenders on Yelp! but their last review was 3 years ago which gives them an "A" rating - "A" for "Avoid".

My .02c

SGIP