At the moment we’ll take a tough have a look at “HomeAmerican Mortgage,” yet one more house builder affiliated mortgage lender.
They provide house buy financing to Richmond American Houses clients, which is a top-10 house builder nationally.
As a result of they’re operated by the identical guardian firm, they will supply a streamlined course of and residential shopping for expertise.
And maybe extra importantly, prolong particular financing provides like massive mortgage price buydowns.
Learn on to see should you ought to use their in-house lender or look elsewhere for a greater deal.
HomeAmerican Mortgage Quick Details
The affiliated mortgage lender of Richmond American HomesOffers house buy financing on newly-built homesFounded in 1983, headquartered in Denver, ColoradoLicensed to do enterprise in 16 states and Washington D.C.Funded $2.75B in house loans final yearMost energetic in Arizona, California, and ColoradoAlso function a title/escrow firm and insurance coverage company
HomeAmerican Mortgage is a full-service, direct lender based mostly out of Denver, Colorado.
They obtained their begin method again in 1983 and are a subsidiary of MDC Holdings, Inc., which is a publicly-traded firm (NYSE: MDC).
MDC additionally owns Richmond American Houses, which builds single-family residences in additional than a dozen states all through the nation.
Merely put, HomeAmerican Mortgage exists to serve these house consumers, providing buy loans solely (no refinances).
That is much like Lennar Mortgage and DHI Mortgage, which exist to serve Lennar and D.R. Horton house consumers, respectively.
They’re at present licensed to do enterprise in 16 states and D.C., together with Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
These are additionally the states the place their new house communities are situated.
Ultimately look, they’ve about 50 sponsored mortgage mortgage officers working on the firm, per the NMLS.
And like many different builder-affiliated lenders, additionally they function associated subsidiaries to regulate the complete house shopping for course of.
This features a title and escrow firm, American Dwelling Title and Escrow Co., together with an insurance coverage company, American Dwelling Insurance coverage Company, Inc.
Final yr, HomeAmerican Mortgage funded about $2.75 billion in house loans, per HMDA information.
They’re most energetic of their house state of Colorado and in California, with the 2 states accounting for practically half of whole mortgage manufacturing.
The corporate additionally does quite a lot of lending in Arizona, Florida, and Nevada.
Easy methods to Apply
To get began, you possibly can go to a brand new house gross sales workplace at one in all their communities or just head to their web site and click on on “Apply.”
Earlier than you apply, you might wish to focus on pricing and mortgage choices with a licensed mortgage officer.
Their digital mortgage software is powered by fintech firm Mix. It permits you to full the app from any system, whether or not it’s a pc, pill, or smartphone.
And you may hyperlink monetary accounts to avoid wasting time, add obligatory paperwork, and eSign disclosures.
As soon as your mortgage is submitted, you’ll be requested to supply supporting documentation to generate a dedication letter, which can be topic to last underwriting approval.
You’ll be capable of examine mortgage standing 24/7 and get in contact together with your mortgage crew if and when you have got questions.
It’s additionally potential to generate a mortgage pre-approval letter through their on-line software, although if shopping for a brand new house through their guardian firm this might not be obligatory.
Mortgage Applications Provided by HomeAmerican Mortgage
Dwelling buy loansConforming loans backed by Fannie/FreddieFHA loansVA loansHomebuyer assistanceFixed-rate and adjustable-rate choices
As famous, HomeAmerican Mortgage is a purchase-only mortgage lender. So that they’re fully targeted on getting house consumers into new properties.
There are not any mortgage refinances supplied, however they’ve a big selection of obtainable mortgage applications to go well with totally different preferences and wishes.
You may get a conforming mortgage backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, or a jumbo mortgage if buying a dearer property.
As well as, they provide each FHA loans and VA loans, although USDA loans look like absent from their lending menu.
After all, their new properties might not be situated in rural areas anyway, so that is moot.
Additionally they point out the supply of bond loans and rural housing loans, which feels like homebuyer help through state, metropolis, and municipal housing companies.
They provide each fixed-rate and adjustable-rate loans, together with a 5/1 ARM on FHA loans, and a 7/6 ARM for typical loans.
HomeAmerican Mortgage Charges
Whereas they don’t listing their every day mortgage charges on-line, they do say they provide aggressive ratesThis is seemingly as a result of they don’t depend on brokers or a intermediary.
After all, the true cause they could be capable of beat the competitors is as a result of house builders usually supply big incentives should you use their affiliated lender.
The Richmond Houses web site usually options particular financing provides should you get underneath contract and shut your mortgage by a sure date.
Ultimately look, I noticed charges as little as 4.875% on choose adjustable-rate mortgages, and 5.75% for 30-year fastened charges.
These offers are sometimes exhausting to beat as a result of the builder can supply a considerable amount of closing price help that may be towards a everlasting rate of interest buydown.
Nevertheless, make sure you take note of all lender charges and the mortgage APR, which takes into consideration all (or most) of the mortgage prices.
And put within the time to collect different quotes from third-party lenders and unbiased mortgage brokers as effectively.
Apart from doubtlessly discovering a greater deal, having different quotes might help you negotiate extra successfully.
[Should I use the home builder’s mortgage lender or a third party?]
HomeAmerican Mortgage Opinions
Whereas they seem to have the most recent expertise, a wide selection of mortgage applications, and low mortgage charges, their critiques are rather less convincing.
They’ve obtained a poor 1.4/5-star score from about 120 Google critiques, which clearly is questionable.
A equally low rating of 1.5/5 might be discovered at Yelp, although it’s from a smaller pattern measurement of about 30 critiques.
In the end, they don’t have a ton of critiques on-line. So take the time to learn via them to see what the problems have been.
However they do maintain an ‘A+’ score with the Higher Enterprise Bureau (BBB) and have been an accredited enterprise since 2009.
And there are solely seven buyer complaints over the previous three years on the BBB web site, with only one within the final 12 months.
To summarize, HomeAmerican Mortgage might be an excellent choice should you’re shopping for a Richmond American Dwelling as a result of they provide below-market mortgage charges.
But it surely sounds just like the service can generally expertise some hiccups. Nonetheless, should you can abdomen it, the financial savings may be value it.
Simply make sure you collect exterior mortgage price quotes as effectively to see what else is on the market, and to provide your self leverage when negotiating.
HomeAmerican Mortgage Execs and Cons
The Good Stuff
Digital mortgage software powered by BlendCan apply for a house mortgage on-line through their websiteSpecial mortgage price offers for Richmond American Houses customersA+ BBB score and few buyer complaintsMortgage guidelines and glossary on their websiteAffiliated title/escrow/insurance coverage corporations for one-stop procuring
The Maybe Not
Don’t listing charges and costs onlineAren’t licensed in all statesOnly supply house buy loansPoor buyer critiques