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Archives Below. For latest, go here.





Recommended Lenders:
General Recommendations
Specific Recommended Lenders
Lenders to Avoid

Lender Recommendations

Below you'll find some of the lenders that Adam and/or Garrett Realty Partners are affiliated with or have worked with in the past with positive experiences. Go here for more details on the kinds of questions to ask lenders and tips on choosing a loan.

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While no lender will be able to do a perfect job, ask Adam for expectations, both positive and negative, with any affiliate. He can often mention some negatives as no one is perfect, but prefers to not publish that information. Adam has purposefully excluded certain lenders at times due to negative experiences. Even when Adam does not refer a lender, let him know if you are having issues, as sometimes you can transfer which lender you are using with the same mortgage company, and sometimes the seller will let you change mortgage companies. 

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Any programs mentioned below are subject to change, so contact the lender about the current programs, and please let Adam know if he needs to update any information below.

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Lenders

Lender Recommendations

Affiliate Lenders Below:

Garrett Mortgage - Solid options including no downpayment no mortgage insurance options for those without 20% down looking to save $. Seller allowed to pay 100% of closing costs for conventional loan even with no money down while that's typically capped at 3% by most other lenders anywhere below 10% & most lenders don't offer no down payment conventional.

Mike Hartnett  - Many loan programs including 16 varieties of renovation loans

Non-Affiliate Lenders Below:

Lender (online) offering $2,000 in closing cost assistance for every $100k in cost, up to $10k for my referrals

Lower (online)- No hard pull for a quote & low-cost refinances

Steven Carpel - reimbursement for credit repair

Lori Marrow - mortgage broker with many programs

NASB (online)- low rates & quick to respond

Lender (nonprofit) with better rates & rate buy down option than any on this page & where credit score is not considered (but takes longer than any other mentioned options & some above median income households will be restricted to buying in below median income areas)

Veteran's United - typically over $500 in savings via my referral

JiJi George: Speaks English & Indian languages including Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Punjabi, Tamil, Bengali.

Keep in mind that with Veteran's United & the 1st non-affiliate lender above, if you don't mention that I referred you upon initial conversation/reaching out to them, you may not be able to receive the incentive. Those referral incentives are purely for your benefit. I get nothing but a happy client. In the case of affiliate lenders, while I don't get any financial compensation directly, compensation to my company helps my company stay in business & mentioned options like with Jeremy Malmgren are typically unavailable with most lenders.

Lenders with Offices in Garrett Realty Partners' Corporate Office

Below you'll find the lenders that have offices at Greg Garrett Realty. 

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Garrett Mortgage Powered by Langley Federal Credit Union

Mortgage Banker

 
- Excellent option for high-income borrowers who don't qualify for VHDA (even those that do qualify should compare the numbers) who want no MI, 100% financing, & don't want to pay extra for not having to pay MI
- For those purchasing a home less than $350,000, Home Saver Program has no down payment requirement & no MI for "1st time home buyers" (those who haven't owned a home in the past 3 years), with price limits that go higher than VHDA & cheaper than VHDA (including no 1.75% upfront charge that VHDA has) in many cases
- Excellent no PMI 5% or 10% down conventional loans without the rate increase or fees that you'll find with many other no PMI conventional products (670 credit score required)
- Langley Federal Credit Union is the largest credit union headquartered in Hampton Roads with 12 branches here & easy to get into. As a local credit union, they have greater flexibility to bend their own rules or other rules than many larger credit unions and banks
- Service their own conventional loans (unlike some of the options listed below; the problem with banks/credit unions that don't service their own loans is that you can have a great experience buying a house, but once the mortgage is sold to another bank, a terrible one. Some of the banks/credit unions that sell mortgages sell them to extremely poor rated institutions, including at least one of the lenders below sadly. By using a bank that services their own loans, you eliminate this problem)
- On some of their conventional loans, the seller is allowed to pay 100% of closing cost assistance for most costs of closing (not including buying down the rate, but including reimbursement for home inspection, appraisal, & earnest money deposit), which is very different than the standard 3% max on most <10% down conventional loans with many other banks & credit unions
- Able to help with credit repair
- Higher jumbo rates don't start until $750,000 (usually $472,000 with many other banks/credit unions)
- Allow escrow holdbacks, where, without increasing the rate (which increases with many renovation loans), buyers can pay for appraisal required repairs that sellers are unwilling to pay, increasing the number of potential properties for buyers
- Free HELOC's with no closing costs which only take 2 weeks to close
- can recast the loan for lower payment for $125 with no closing costs
- $5000 credit card available without another credit pull following a home purchase with them
- Do 20-year mortgages (which some lenders don't and which are an excellent option to consider, I might add)

Dan Smith

Lenders with Affiliations with Garrett Realty Partners

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Mike Hartnett
Branch Manager
 
Offers some programs that others don't, including 16 varieties of renovation loans including for jumbo loans & manufactured homes.
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Lenders with no affiliation with Garrett Realty Partners who provide unique offerings

Other Lender (ask me their name since I shouldn't publish it) - $1,000-$2,000 in closing cost assistance for every $100,000 in cost, up to $5,000 or 10,000, for buyers I refer to them without having any negative impact on the rate. I need to directly add you to a portal to acquire this assistance. One buyer with an over $500k preapproval missed out on this incentive because they reached out to this lender without my referral introduction. There is no income limit so if you're buying a >$500k home it might save you $10k. 
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Lower - I really like Lower, enough that they're 1 of the 3 lenders that I did a hard pull with in 2021 for a mortgage. They offer a quick initial application, low rates, no hard pull for a quote (which is rare for lenders, though keep in mind that the interest rate after a hard inquiry could be significantly worse in some cases), are textable on weekends (which is rare for online lenders), don't have the delays common among online lenders, & I can vouch for them to listing agents in a way I can't with other online lenders because of all of the business that I have done with them. 

One of the best aspects of Lower is the low-cost refinance options with them. You'll still have some title fees, but Lower itself doesn't charge for refinances after 6 payments, significantly reducing the cost of a refinance. If you expect that you'll be doing a refinance in the future (i.e. if rates lower in the future substantially), that's important.

Keep in mind that they don't allow escrow holdbacks or reno loans and don't do VHDA loans at the time of this writing.
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Steven Carpel
Mortgage Banker
 
Offers some programs that others don't, including a reimbursement of the first 4 months of paid credit repair with 1 company at closing.
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Lori Marrow
Mortgage Broker
 
She offers some programs that others don't. At times she has offered 0% down VA construction loans and 3.5% down FHA construction loans, & a 2.75% interest VA mortgage for someone with a <620 credit score for instance. 
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North American Savings Bank

For an out of town lender, they are a good option. In my experience, Jeff had good response time and low rates (VA in example of buyers that used them). His many excellent reviews are warranted in my opinion. 

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Program where I am not supposed to publicly advertise their name due to a rule of theirs that offers better rates more effectively possible than any lender above:

Expect the most demanding time needed to get approved out of any other lender above, with the worst reviews of any lender above, but also typically better rates (including less than <.5%) for lower costs possible than any lender above through their unmatched rate buy down features with starting below market interest rates, especially for those below median income for their household size. Also, these loans have no income limits in large below-median income areas (even 1% below median) and credit score is not considered. For those with plenty of funds for a buy down or even those without, this option is a solid one since the seller can buy down the rate very often, especially in light of the "no closing costs" & no down payment requirement. In addition to being time consuming to acquire, there is a little annual volunteering needed for the life of the loan, however means of volunteering include as easy of measures as sharing about the program on social media. 
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Veterans United - If working with me as your buyer's agent, if you use Veteran's United, be sure to let them know that I referred you. That can save you over $500.​
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JiJi George
Mortgage Loan Originator

Speaks English (full professional proficiency) & Indian languages including Hindi (full professional proficiency), Urdu (limited working proficiency), Malayalam (limited working proficiency), Punjab (elementary)i, Tamil (elementary), Bengali (elementary).

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Lenders To Avoid
Lenders to Avoid
I generally recommend avoiding lenders who are not able to be texted for responses on Saturdays & at night (even if you don't text) & avoiding those who are not local (with Lower & the "Other Lender" with the closing cost assistance available being the notable exception) unless they offer products that are superior to local options where locals will not match it (Such as NASB above or another lender above that offers 1% closing cost assistance rebates to those I refer to them. Lenders who are not local typically experience more closing delays & are not informed about the local appraisers. In addition, for those seeking VHDA financing, VHDA loans are not an option with lenders who are not based in VA. If an out-of-town lender is offering a better rate than local options, give a local lender the out-of-towner's rate sheet and see if they can match them. If they can't, see if I know a local lender who can. Also, keep in mind that if any lender does not have online reviews, they have one more reason to be deceptive. Some lenders, especially out-of-town lenders with no reviews (in town lenders have a word of mouth reputation to uphold as well), have less reason to be honest.
 
I have seen where an out-of-town lender did not include a number of closing costs in the rate sheet and had lower estimated costs than a local lender not because of actually having lower costs, but due to inaccuracy. While the closing costs of the local lender appeared on the rate sheet as over 60% higher than the out of towner, the reality was that the closing cost inclusions that were based on the out of town lender were actually higher, not lower, than with the local lender after the local lender was willing to match the rate of the out of towner and remove a half discount point. If looking at a rate sheet, the primary closing costs to look at that vary by lender are loan origination fee, discount points, appraisal, credit report, & sometimes an additional processing fee. Most other closing costs are not dependent on the lender, so if a rate sheet from one lender has a number of additional costs, make sure that you ask about those the lender does not include them. In addition, make sure that both lenders are using the information from the title company that you are planning on using. When rate shopping, I recommend getting all quotes on the same day. If getting quotes on different days, I recommend checking to see if rates fluctuated in between times here. 

Ask me for my list of additional lenders to avoid available following exclusive buyer brokerage of >2 months. I do not keep that list public.
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