I met with Alfonso, a local business owner purchasing his second personal home. While he is good with numbers, his bread & butter is residential and commercial construction. Alfonso was stuck between working with myself and another lender he was referred to. He mentioned this lender offering him a specific rate that was far below market & a monthly payment that sounded extremely attractive (and unrealistic). Because I have acute knowledge of mortgage interest rates and the financial markets that support them, I knew that there had to be a catch. I asked Alfonso to send me his preliminary loan estimate so I could get the full story. I found that while the other lender was offering him a very low rate and payment, they were charging him nearly 3% of his loan amount at closing in lender fees to offer him that rate. They also excluded taxes & insurance in order to present him his desired monthly payment. 

 I asked if he knew that he was missing information regarding his loan structure & costs of ownership. I then came to Alfonso with apples-to-apples comparisons that included all costs. Although we were a better deal with the same loan scenario, I was able to present some other options that he might prefer. We changed the financing strategy to lower the closing fees & better fit his long-term financial goals. He was pleased with my level of transparency, honesty, and attention to detail. We closed on his new home three weeks later.