How long has he/she been in the business? Experience is an important factor when choosing a mortgage officer. Most mortgage officers do it part time. There are thousands of loan programs out there and only some of them, maybe only one of them, is right for you. Working part time doesn’t allow enough time to become aware of all of these programs let alone becoming familiar with them. And one more thing: Full time mortgage officers are committed to earning a living doing what they do. They don’t have something to fall back on. It is important to them that their clients get taken care of. They cannot afford to have people saying negative things about them and they will go bat for you.

How long has the company been in business? I wouldn’t take a chance on new companies. There are so many mortgage companies out there that know what they are doing and have a good reputation, why would you take a chance on one that didn’t

How many mortgage officers does the company employ? Larger companies that write more mortgages can usually get better rates, and they often-times have resources to make the approval process go faster. It doesn’t need to take a month anymore. We have entered the computer age.

How easy is it to contact him/her? It doesn’t matter how competent your mortgage officer is if you cannot get them to answer the phone when you have a question.

There are lots of reasons that real estate deals fall apart. The wrong mortgage officer is only of those reasons but it is a reason that you can avoid by doing your homework. Choose carefully!