Fliperati

As a first-time homebuyer/investor, I’m surprised to feel like I’m in a position to be giving tips already, but I haven’t seen this recommendation anywhere else.  The tip is simple: make getting multiple bids from different banks and mortgage brokers easy by preparing all the necessary documentation electronically.  This largely involves getting PDFs of items such as bank statements, pay stubs, tax returns, etc, but I found the brokers accepted image files and Microsoft Word documents as well.  My employer provides our pay stubs electronically (same for my bank and investment account documents) and I do my taxes electronically as well, so it was just a matter of gathering all these files into a single place and e-mailing them off to the brokers.  This saved significant time and hassle with photocopiers and mailing or delivering hard copies of all these materials, making it easy for me to get several mortgage brokers on-board with little effort beyond sending an e-mail.  The broker may not enjoy this method because they will probably have to spend some time printing out all the documents, but they shouldn’t mind too much if they really want your business.

Side note: The cartoon above is from the comic genius behind toothpaste for dinner.  Pay the site a visit to peruse the many hilarious offerings, including cartoons, desktops, t-shirts, bags and a blog.  I am in no way affiliated with this site, but I figure a free shout-out is the least I can do after the years of entertainment and t-shirts toothpaste for dinner has provided me.  Two favorites here and here.