There are many lenders in Bay County from which to choose. Our suggestion to any of our customers looking for a lender is to call or visit the website of 2 or 3. Not so much to shop rates but because you want to develope a relationship with your lending officer and that starts with the first impression.

The most important thing you can do when starting to look for a home is not call your favorite REALTOR®. More important than that is to call your lender and get prequalified. In case you don't know, prequalifying only takes a few minutes and when you are done you have a good idea of the basics. Things like; how much you may be able to borrow, how much payments (including escrow) will be, what we mean when we say escrow, the current interest rate, how long your loan would be for, how much you will need for a downpayment and what other costs you should expect. The main questions they will ask you concern your monthly income before taxes and your monthly credit debt. If you have that information on hand when you call things will go very quickly and smoothly.

By the time you are done with that call you will know whether or not you are comfortable with that loan officer and also have an idea of their level of knowledge in their field. You really deserve both someone good at their job and easy to work with. So here are some of the great companies that our customers have used and suggested others might like, too. Please feel free to give us your recommendations too.