While buying your first home or refinancing your current mortgage can seem daunting at first, Embrace Home Loans offers online lending services with several guarantees to make you more comfortable.
Pre-approval and final approval can take some time, and you might be wondering if you can afford the current interest rates and terms. We’re going to walk you through the details, so you’ll make an informed decision when it comes to one of your most significant investments — your home.
What is Embrace Home Loans?
Embrace Home Loans began over 30 years ago when interest rates dropped, and homeowners needed to refinance for cheaper mortgages. The current focus of the company is speed so that buyers can be approved for a mortgage and close on their home. With their “Approved to Move” program, shoppers receive full approval for their mortgage (not just pre-approval) before they put an offer on a specific address.
As their name suggests, Embrace welcomes many different backgrounds for lending. They claim to find loans for “unconventional” applicants, such as self-employed business owners, lower-income buyers, or those with a history of bankruptcy.
They also offer a Closing Guarantee: if you don’t close on time because of a delay on their end, they will credit you a certain amount.
Why Embrace Home Loans and Choose an Online Home Loan a Local Bank or Broker?
Working with Embrace Home Loans removes the middle-man in the mortgage process. Since the company underwrites their loans and work directly with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, they claim to offer better rates, timelines, and service.
Working with your local bank is convenient; however, you’ll want to speak to several different banks to make sure you’re getting the best rates. Doing all of the research on your own takes up quite a bit of time, but you don’t want to pay more simply because of location.
A mortgage broker evaluates many loan options for the buyer and does all of the work to find the best loan — but you will pay for that service at closing.
Purchasing or Refinancing thru Embrace Home Loans: The Process
One of the top reasons to choose an online home loan for Embrace Home Loans was the speed of processing. Many of the steps below are the same for any mortgage, but you should be able to get through the approval process faster working directly with the lender instead of a broker.
Purchasing a Home
If you have decided to buy a new home, the following are the steps to getting a mortgage with Embrace Home Loans.
The first step is the pre-approval process. Based on your income and credit factors, you’ll be pre-approval for a particular home value the lender believes you can afford. Don’t get too excited; you should run the number through a simple mortgage calculator to determine the monthly payment.
After that, you will need to gather your documents. Your lender and realtor will guide you through this process, but you will send a lot of records to the lender to confirm your income. When you have gathered all of the documents you will need, you’ll wait to be approved to move. Embrace offers this unique service allowing home buyers to approach a seller with a fully-approved loan instead of the pre-approval letter. That may set you apart in a desirable neighborhood and get them closer to a contract. During the standard approval process, the lender will perform an appraisal of the home, a title search, and confirm your credit standing.
In between signing the purchasing agreement and your actual closing, the property will go through several different home inspections. Even though these cost some cash upfront, these inspections ensure you don’t have too many problems down the road. In fact, you might decide to back out of the sale if these inspections bring up costly repairs.
The last step is closing on your home. Some states require lawyers, so they’ll be present at the closing. Your realtor will walk you through the process, but get ready to sign a lot of documents. Then they’ll hand you the keys to your own house.
Refinancing
If you’re looking to refinance, these are the steps for working with Embrace Home Loans. First, do the math and find out if you will be saving money with this new mortgage? Sometimes the monthly payment goes down, but you might be paying more over time.
Next, confirm the value of your home and begin looking at new mortgage rates. With the online quote form at Embrace, checking the price of a new loan is fast and straightforward. To be safe, you should check with a few other lenders to ensure the best terms. After that, you’ll need to pull together all of your home loan credit score documentation and apply for the loan online. Just like your first mortgage, you’ll need documentation proving income to apply for refinancing. And of course, you should know your credit score before starting the process.
If you are approved for the refinancing, review all documents carefully. You will be responsible for your own closing fees (when you bought your house, the seller might have paid these, or you split them). Make sure you’re prepared for the costs!
Finally, you’ve closed on your new mortgage, and if you did your homework, you should be closer to paying off that mortgage.
Is Embrace Home Loans Right for You?
Now that we’ve covered the mortgage process, is this the best lender or your new home? Before you start comparing rates from various lenders, we’ll wrap up with some simple pros and cons.
Pros:
- Quick turn-around time for mortgage approval
- $2,500 Closing Guarantee
- Lending Specialists in locations across the United States
Cons
- You spend your own time to compare the interest rates across several lenders before deciding
- The guarantee only applies to a delay they caused. Your closing could still be delayed for other reasons.
- While they have plenty of specialists, there’s a chance you won’t find one in your area. You’ll be working entirely online or over the phone.
Be Confident Availing Embrace Home Loans
Consult your friends and family for recommendations before choosing an online lender, local bank, or mortgage broker. They’ll want to share if they got a good deal! Don’t forget to google reviews of any names you receive. While you’re searching for the right mortgage, add Embrace Home Loans to the list of considerations, and check out these Zillow reviews to find the right loan officer in your area.
Featured Image: CC by A-SA 2.0, Brent and Amanda I, via Flickr
