First of all, congratulations! You've just closed on your mortgage loan and you've either accomplished the enormous goal of buying a new home, or you've improved your financial situation with a refinance. So that's it, right!? Not so fast! There are a few things you'll want to keep in mind over the next few weeks related (or, in the case of the spam attacks noted below, seemingly related) to your mortgage loan.

Your Payment

Ok, so the exciting part is here - no more requests for documents, no more waiting, you are DONE with the loan process. But now it's time for the less fun piece of the puzzle - the monthly payments. When we close a loan, it is often (not always) sold quickly to an investor/loan servicer. Unless otherwise noted, your first payment will be due on the first of the month two months from when you closed (for example, if your loan closed in June, your first payment will be August, unless otherwise noted). In your closing documents, one of the forms you'll want to keep tabs on is the "First Payment Letter". Often, the first payment will be due to our company, since not every loan is sold before the first payment due date. If your loan IS sold, you will be notified by mail and you'll receive all of the information needed to make your payment, set up online accounts or auto-debit, and otherwise manage your payments going forward.

We will always call just before your first payment is due (sometimes just after, but well before your 15 day grace period is up) to ensure you have all of the information you need to make your payments, but don't panic if you don't see anything in the week, two weeks, or even three, after you close - there are often behind the scenes actions being taken to finalize the loan documentation, package, and sell your loan to a loan servicer, so your paperwork won't always arrive super quickly. And while we will always ensure you have the info you need, we also invite you to call with any questions you may have.

Our Reviews

You'll receive a very brief survey asking for information about your experience working with our team. While we realize it's annoying to get these requests, your feedback is super important to us for several reasons:

• For one, as more people find their lender online, positive reviews and feedback help show others the high level of service we provide, even (and especially when) we're not local
• More importantly, your feedback allows us to note what our borrowers find most important - what you liked about our process (as much as anyone can really like borrowing money, at least), and also highlighting areas we can improve. Our team believes that there's always room for improvement, so even if you had a great experience, we'd love to know ways we can get even better
• Google reviews are immensely important to small businesses like ours - being found in search engines allows us to spend less on marketing, and that allows us to pass some savings along to customers.

Please take a moment to complete a review, and if there's anything you'd like to discuss about your loan process you can always reach out to us directly as well.

The Junk

Unfortunately, your mortgage transaction (and the title to your home) is public record, meaning spammy companies will use your transaction to pitch you products and services you don't need. Often, they'll send you things that look like they're important, or they'll put our name in bold font to deceive you into thinking they're coming from us. If you have ANY questions on anything you receive in the mail, calls, or emails, don't hesitate to confirm whether it's from us or not - these companies are often unreputable and preying on you believing you need to take action based on their messaging. If you're unsure, call us. There's unfortunately no way to stop a lot of this garbage from hitting your mailbox, but you can avoid falling victim to scammy or spammy companies.

These notices will often come from places with generic names like "Mortgage Servicing Center", or they'll try to sell you a service that sounds official or necessary like "send $____ for a copy of your official deed to be sent" (your deed can always be obtained, at no cost, from the title/escrow/attorney company that did your closing).

Saving Money In The Future

While your loan may be a 15, 20, or 30 year mortgage, most people will not hold their loan for that long. Due to economic changes and life circumstances, most people will have somewhere between 10-15 mortgages in their lifetime, even if they only have 4-5 homes. This may be due to buying and selling real estate, the need to access equity in your home, to change your loan terms, or due to life circumstances like upsizing, downsizing, divorce, or death. If you ever have questions about whether you're in the right loan for your current circumstances, you can always reach out, but we will also constantly monitor the market to ensure you're in a good position with your current loan - should rates drop to the point where you have an opportunity to save money, you'll hear from us. If homes values spike and you quickly gain additional equity in your home, we'll notify you if there's an opportunity to either access affordable equity, remove PMI, or get some other benefit from a refinance.

You'll also be signed up for our FREE TO YOU platform, Homebot, which will provide market and home updates custom to your home and area. While not perfect, the system is one of the best in the US in terms of providing accurate information on your home and the local market. It also includes a home search tool so if the time comes to find a new home, you'll be able to search listings (without getting spammed or having internet trackers follow you like they do from sites like Zillow) directly from Homebot. So if you see an email from Homebot shortly after closing, be sure to sign up and accept delivery of your free report - it's just 2 emails a month and will always seek to provide relevant info.

THANK YOU

We know when it comes to getting a mortgage, there are literally thousands of lenders and loan officers, and we're honored to have had the opportunity to work with you! Our goal is to provide an efficient, easy process while offering competitive rates & loan terms, along with ensuring you're ALWAYS in the best loan for you. I hope we'll keep in touch and invite you to reach out at any time if you ever have any questions related to your loan or property. We're always happy to help whether it's tomorrow, next week, or years from now.

-JM