“As with any decision, people should use their resources.”
A real estate transaction is a transaction of choices: the selection of an agent, an asking price, an offer amount, etc. The choices I have selected to discuss today include the selection of a title company and a lender. With thousands of lender options and a handfull of title companies here in the Washington, DC area, what title company and lender should you use?
As with any decision, people should use their resources. Your real estate agent, if chosen wisely, can be the best resource for all of your real estate needs. From painters to lenders and settlement companies, real estate agents know what companies are dedicated to great service. They know good and bad service professionals because they deal with real estate transactions on a daily basis.
Lender
“Let your real estate agent know that you are in need of a lender, and they will gladly refer you to a trustworthy company with pretty good rates.”
Let your real estate agent know that you are in need of a lender, and they will gladly refer you to a trustworthy company with pretty good rates. As with anything in life, if the rates are too good to be true, they probably are not a reliable lender. Imagine all parties sitting at the settlement table, and the purchaser, who has used an online lender, does not have the funds because the online lender dropped the ball. The deal is in danger of falling through. Unfortunately, this happens more often than you think.
If the purchaser has used a referred lender, the agent can speak to them directly if a problem arises. Because they have an established relationship, the referred lender will be more likely to jump through hoops if need be. A random lender or broker might not, and an online lender definately won’t.
I just closed on a real estate transaction last week and referred a great lender for the transaction, Greg Mullan of Bank of America. I knew I could count on him, and he would be a phone call away if a problem arose. By the way, Greg can be reached at (703) 914-7819 for any lending questions, and he can process loans all over the U.S.
Title Company
As with choosing a lender, purchasers in Washington, DC have the right to select the title company. Again, your agent will suggest some settlement companies they have been happy with in the past. I have used RGS Title, Settlement Pros, and Edmund J. Flynn (co-ops) in the past, and I have been very happy with the level of service they provided.
Bottom Line
In conclusion, working with companies and service professionals your agent suggests will increase the likeliness of a smooth and succesfull real estate transaction because all parties know everybody else will pull their weight. Real estate agents cannot receive referral fees from other service professionals because its illegal, so they refer people to them because of their dedication to great service.
