When I first started blogging I wrote a post titled, "75 Things I Wish I learned in High School." I touched upon the fact that I wish I had learned how to buy a house. It's such a huge step in our lives and yet there's no one that really tells us the right way to do it. That's why I decide to write a blog series about my experience and tips on buying a house!

My first post in this series was of course the introduction titled, "We Bought A House!" In that post, I explained that I wanted this series to be both educational and entertaining. Buying a house is pretty serious and I want to help others figure out the best way to do it!

Today's blog post is on finding a mortgage lender. When it came time for my husband and I to look for a lender, it was pretty obvious who we were going with. In fact, we only contacted one company. Of course, that won't usually be the case. 

Since my husband is in the military, we contacted Veterans United. It was a late Friday night and we didn't expect to hear anything until the following Monday. We were taken by surprise when we got a call less than an hour later. This brings me to my first tip!

The first contact with a lender is very important!
We were shocked that our lender got back to us on a Friday night. Their timely manner made us feel like we were important to them and that they would continue treating us that way. It's important that you feel important to your lender. There are a lot of last minute questions, changes, and contracts during this process. You want to work with someone that is going to get back to you very quickly. Our lender always answered our calls, emails, and agent very quickly. She also made sure to email and overnight us with any contract or paperwork that we needed to review. 

Make sure to contact various lenders!
I know that this isn't what we did, but it is still an important tip. You don't want to get stuck with a lender that doesn't treat you the way that you'd like to be treated. It's also important that you're getting the best deal with the best lender. It's important that you shop around a little. You wouldn't buy the first car you saw on the lot, so why would you go with your first mortgage lender?

Check out lenders reviews!
Reviews are always important! I'm the kind of person that will read every review before making a decision, but I'm not saying that is what you need to do. Just make sure you are reading the highest and lowest ratings. While going through reviews, make sure to remember that some people only review when they have strong feelings about something. In fact, I only wrote teacher evaluations for the professors I either loved or hated. I never really had anything to say about the ones that were okay.

Make sure you are being heard!
It's important that your lender listens to you. There is no reason to get approved for a loan that you really can't afford. Our lender made sure to ask exactly how much we wanted to spend each month. She then told us how much our budget should be when taxes and insurance are figured in. She made sure that we didn't pick a house that we couldn't afford, because she didn't give us more of a loan than we could handle. She listened to our wants and needs and helped us understand what our budget was.

Ask lenders questions!
Buying a house is a HUGE decision, you don't want to make any mistakes. That is why you need to make sure you ask questions. If you don't understand your interest rate or lender fees, it's ok to ask questions. You should never make a decision if you don't understand something. Your lender isn't just there to approve you for a loan; they should be there to answer questions and help you through the lending process.

Compare mortgages and lenders!
Finding a mortgage lender is obviously important, but you also need to find a great mortgage offer too! You'll want to pick a company that provides both. You might love one lender, but if they don't give you the best offer than maybe it isn't the best idea to work with them. You are the one buying the house, make sure you're getting everything that you want!

That's all I've really got on finding a mortgage lender. It is just one of the many steps of buying a house, but it's a very big one! There are tons of lenders all over the place, it's just a matter of time until you find the right one.