Real Estate Agents and Home Loans

There are several things you can do to make sure that your real estate agent is not guiding you towards the wrong lender.
There are two things that you need to pay special attention to: you need to check the background of both the real estate agent and the lenders that are suggested and you also need to request a loan quote and compare the APR with other home loans offered by different banks and lending institutions and go through the contracts carefully in search of hidden fees and costs that may turn the transactions more expensive.

Checking the Background of Both The Real Estate Agent And The Lender

The best way of checking the background of a real estate agent is to require a list of clients to the actual real estate agent. This is a common practice and the real estate agent will not have no problem to provide a list of satisfied customers. If he does have a problem, you may have found a good reason to doubt him. As regards to the lender, you can do exactly the same.
Fortunately lenders, due to their field of business are more exposed to control and there are many bureaus and consumer protection centers that can provide you information on specific lenders.

But the best source for background checking is probably the internet. There are many forums and sites out there both for consumers and for specific fields like real estate and financing offering reviews written by consumers, users and clients of companies that can give you a good idea of what to expect from your chosen real estate agent and lender. It will also provide you with the tools to compare what others have to offer.

Request A Loan Quote And Compare APRs

Contact the lender and have a friend contact them too. Request a loan quote from the lender and if you and your friends are in similar credit situations you'll see whether the agent is charging a high commission on the operation or not. Then, with the quote, compare the APR with the percentages charged by other lenders in your area for similar amounts and credit situations.

It is normal to see variations of up to 1% on the APR from one lender to another, and you can always bargain with the lender a bit in order to get a fair price.
However, if you see the difference is just too high, you may then want to consider another lender and probably, another real estate agent too. Remember that even small variations on the interest rate, when calculated over high amounts and long repayment programs imply thousands and thousands of dollars.