Here’s the second installment in our series to help our buyers avoid the 9 Common Mistakes Buyers Make:

Mistake #2: Choosing the wrong bank or mortgage broker.

Start with the premise that everybody will tell you they can help you with the easiest application and lowest rate, no problem. Then skip a beat and acknowledge that the bank must be comfortable with a commercial jumbo mortgage ( it’s not residential and it’s a higher rate). If the NYC townhouse you plan to live in has more than four units, based on the current certificate of occupancy, then your choices will be narrowed down to half a dozen banks. They should be approached directly, or by a mortgage broker who regularly does a large volume of business with that bank. We do recommend banks and mortgage brokers, to whom we send many millions of dollars of business each year, but they must continually pass our simple test: if they ever say they can provide a particular mortgage, and then they fail to do so, we will never recommend them again. Don’t despair; we’ll help bail you out at the last minute, as we have many people before, but who needs the unnecessary headaches?

Need Solutions? Want your Manhattan brownstone purchase to run smoothly?
Call Cathy anytime at (212) 769-2900 or email her at cathy@townhouseexperts.com.

Next up in this series: Mistake #3: Not getting pre-qualified by a bank.