A few months back a client came to me with one non-negotiable. She did not want to spend more than $1,600 a month on her mortgage payment. She could have qualified for more, but because she knew what financial breathing room felt like, she was not willing to give it up for a house. In the Phoenix metro and honestly most cities across Arizona right now, that is a tall order without a significant down payment behind it. She was putting in a little more than the minimum required, which meant every other piece of the file had to work hard to get her there. That kind of clarity about what she could live with long term is rarer than you might think and it shaped every decision we made from the first conversation to the closing table.

The file had layers from the start. The home had been flipped which meant we could not move forward until it had seasoned past the 90 day rule, and even then two appraisals would be required. Once that window passed we were working against a tight timeline to meet the close of escrow date. We got there, but when documents went to title and she was ready to sign, the seller side came to a complete stop. Their lender, one that most of us in the industry know to steer clear of when we can, could not produce a payoff. What followed was more than a month of delays, attorney involvement, and an amazing agent who refused to let her client become a casualty of someone else's incompetence.

This is where having a team that is actively working your file rather than simply waiting for the next step makes all the difference. Being a mortgage broker means with enough time available, I can flip a file to a new lender offering better terms. While the delays played out and extensions were negotiated, I was watching the market. One of my lenders came out with an incentive that would buy down the rate an entire percent for the first year. With the extra time the delay had unintentionally created, I had the window to move the loan. Opportunities opened up in the middle of a difficult transaction and because of it, our buyer closed with a forever rate of 5.253%, a payment of $1,575.80, and a first year buy down with a savings of $143 a month.

She held her line on the payment. The plan changed more than once, but the goal never did.