We’re in the process of selling here in Ohio and buying in Nashville. I see the online ads and they all look good but they do scare me. I locked in a couple weeks ago at a pretty good rate locally and I can choose to have it redone one time for free b4 we close. We close at the end of July if everything goes right so I’ve been watching rates daily. 

This will be our forth house we have bought and I feel like each time the local lenders sale the mortgage anyways. It just seems like an easier process with a local lender. 

Yeah, I read some horror stories on Optum on reddit.  Other ones like Rocket seem to have decent reviews, but Rocket I don't think is the cheapest and probably much closer to the lowest bricks-and-mortar banks.

I think I'll take an online quote or two and see if I can get Chase and someone else to match, or at least give me an additional discount over their published rates.  PNC seems to be pretty competitive, too.

I don't know if a reasonably priced place is even going to come up.  Lot of places I'm looking at are priced too obscenely to even try to "lowball" (which would really just be a fair market offer).  Sellers that locked in 3.5-4% years ago are expecting the buyer to subsidize their new mortgage, which generally isn't happening which is why a lot of markets are starting to look frozen.

I haven’t had to get a mortgage in awhile, but I just can’t see the big banks having better rates than a local lender. And definitely would have worse communication/ customer service. 

gut wrote:

Yeah, I read some horror stories on Optum on reddit.  Other ones like Rocket seem to have decent reviews, but Rocket I don't think is the cheapest and probably much closer to the lowest bricks-and-mortar banks.

I think I'll take an online quote or two and see if I can get Chase and someone else to match, or at least give me an additional discount over their published rates.  PNC seems to be pretty competitive, too.

I don't know if a reasonably priced place is even going to come up.  Lot of places I'm looking at are priced too obscenely to even try to "lowball" (which would really just be a fair market offer).  Sellers that locked in 3.5-4% years ago are expecting the buyer to subsidize their new mortgage, which generally isn't happening which is why a lot of markets are starting to look frozen.

Honestly if you’re able to find a good realtor they usually know the best lenders. I have usually shopped 2-3 lenders but this one in Nashville came in with a great rate I didn’t even shop it and try for less. I’ve learned a good realtor makes all the difference. In Texas we bought for 490 and sold a year and a day later for 693. Our realtor was amazing and we got lucky that my wife has connections to her from high school.