I made 12 phone calls today. 2.5 hours of talk time. Here’s what I learned:

1. All mortgage companies cost the same-ish.  If their rates were lower, their closing costs were higher.  If their rates were higher, the closing costs were lower.
2. Some mortgage companies sell your loans.  3 of the mortgage companies I called today gave me an unsolicited aside:  “We buy loans.  We don’t sell them.”  Does that mean that you should always go with a direct lender?  Nope.  It just means that the mortgage company might not be able to view or change things if the mortgage is owned by someone else.
3. You don’t need to give out all your information (address, social security) to get rates and closing costs.  You can get ballpark numbers as long as you provide the purchase price, the down payment amount, and the type of mortgage.
4. If you call a company and they won’t give you any estimated numbers without giving all your information, hang up.  Call again.  A different mortgage specialist will be glad to help you without giving all your information.
5. Closing cost fees are where you can differentiate a mortgage company from another.  Ask the mortgage people to break down their closing fees.  Fees can include:
   • Property appraisal
   • Credit report
   • Lender’s inpsection
   • Mortgage insurance application
   • Assumption
   • Mortgage broker fee
   • Tax related service fee
   • Application
   • Commitment
   • Rate lock
   • Processing
   • Underwriting
   • Wire transfer
   • Abstract or title search
   • Title examination
   • Document preparation
   • Notary
   • Attorney
   • Title insurance
   • Recording
   • City/county tax stamps
   • Transfer tax
   • Survey
   • Pest inspection
   • Condominium application
   • Prepaids for interest
   • Prepaids for hazard insurance
   • Prepaids for property taxes
   • Prepaids for mortgage insurance
   • Prepaids for flood insurance
6. The rates and payments assume you have great credit and good stability.  They want to quote you the best rate and closing costs possible so they pretty much assume you’re a model citizen.
7. Lenders don’t like it too much if you’re quitting your job and you don’t have a job secured yet.  Hopefully you have a wife or wife-to-be who looks more stable to lenders.
8. They ask you if the down payment is gift money or if you saved it on your own.  No one gave me a clear answer on why they ask that question.
9. Do your research even if your wife-to-be’s sister’s soon-to-be husband is a mortgage specialist.  You never know…
10. Every mortgage person you talk to will give you a piece of advice.  The advice that resurfaces the most is probably important.

Did I apply for a mortgage yet?  Nope.  This whole day just narrowed down my choice to 2 or 3 mortgage lenders.  Time to talk to Miss Soon-To-Be-Wife…

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Finance Findings is Binary Dollar’s periodic link dump.

• Does Achieving Wealth Make You “Upper Class”? Facts About Class [Digerati Life]
• All the Free Shavers [Sun's Financial Diary]
• Car Hunt And Enterprise Rent-A-Headache [Tao]
• The 100,000 Wedding Gift… [Lazy Man and Money]
• Mutual Fund Distributions Explained [Generation X Finance]
• Money Mistakes To Avoid – Misunderstanding Risk [Money Smart Life]
• Identity Theft Tips from Frank Abagnale [Blueprint]
• Amazon Deal on the New Harry Potter Book [Five Cent Nickel]
• Mind Over Money — My House is Worth More if I Think It’s Worth More [Free Money Finance]
• IQ and richness [Mighty Bargain Hunter]
• 2007 State Sales Tax Holidays for Back-to-School Shopping [Raising 4 Boys]

Send your submissions for Finance Findings to henry@binarydollar.com.

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Geezeo joins the ranks of Mint.com, NetworthIQ.com, and Wesabe.com as a social personal finance site. The USP (unique selling point) of the site is their mobile accessibility.

It works like this:

Henry’s walking down the street. He stops and wonders if he’s got enough for a Big Mac. He sends a text message to the ether and waits. Moments later a text message comes back with all of my account balances that he setup at the website. Welp. Looks like Henry will have to go another day without food.

It’s targeting students or recent graduates for their service but anyone can use it. They target them because they’re more “connected”. It’s also US-only. Sorry Canada. They have compatibility with 6000+ institutions.

Here are a couple of improvements I would make:

1. Instead of texting the word “geezeo” to get current account balances, make it a common word that I can enter without switching to “abc” mode.
2. Instead of texting the word “geezeo update” to update my balances, it should already be updated when you retrieve your current account balances (see item 1).  Why would anyone want non-updated information?  Deprecate this.
3. Send a pie chart or graph or something via MMS if possible.

There are more things but here’s the one sentence summary: “Geezeo tracks your money automatically and there’s also discussion boards as well.”

Is it useful?  Sure.  Consistent awareness of your financial situation is very important for building wealth or getting out of debt.

Will I use it?  Probably not.  Calculating my net worth at the end of the month is good enough for me.

-h

PS – Sorry about the absence.  I was doing pull-ups this entire time.

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