"Convenience is nice, but it never hurts to double-check what's out there before signing on the dotted line."
Couldn't agree more. Builder's lenders often bank on convenience, but I've found they rarely offer the absolute best deal. When we built our place, I shopped around just to ease my skepticism—ended up saving a decent chunk by going with a smaller local bank. It's not always a huge difference, but even small savings add up over the life of a mortgage...worth the extra legwork, imo.
Same experience here.
Exactly this. When we refinanced, the builder's lender acted like they had us locked in—until I casually mentioned another offer. Suddenly, they found wiggle room...funny how that works, right?"even small savings add up over the life of a mortgage"
Had a similar situation when we first got our place built. Initially, we went with the builder's lender since it seemed easier, and honestly, we were just overwhelmed with everything else going on. But after moving in, I started crunching numbers just out of curiosity (I'm that person who makes spreadsheets for everything, lol). It didn't take long to realize we might've left some money on the table.
Anyway, I started talking to a couple of local credit unions and even an online lender just to see what kind of rates they'd offer. The difference wasn't huge at first glance—just fractions of a percent—but when I ran the numbers over the full term of the loan, it added up to thousands. Felt like a gut punch honestly.
I know some folks say builders' lenders are more convenient or quicker, and there's some truth to that. But convenience doesn't always equal savings. Also, in my experience, the builder's lender reps weren't exactly eager to point out ways we could save—like buying points or adjusting terms. It was more like "sign here and move along."
I get your point about mentioning another offer to push them into giving better terms, but that kinda rubbed me the wrong way. If they can suddenly "find wiggle room" when you bring competition into the picture, doesn't it mean they were kinda holding back from the start? Personally, I'd rather go with a lender that's upfront with their best offer from day one instead of playing games.
In the end, we refinanced elsewhere, saved a decent chunk of money, and felt more confident in the transparency of the process. Everyone's situation is different, but just wanted to throw out there that sometimes it's worth the hassle of looking beyond the builder's lender—even if it's just for peace of mind.
Yeah, totally get where you're coming from. We almost went with the builder's lender too, just because it felt like one less headache during a stressful build. But something about their "special offers" always felt a bit off to me...like they were banking on us being too tired or busy to shop around. Good on you for crunching the numbers and refinancing—peace of mind is worth a lot, honestly.
- Had a similar feeling when we built ours—those "special deals" always seemed too convenient.
- Decided to shop around last minute, and turns out we saved quite a bit.
- Makes me wonder how many folks just stick with the builder's lender without checking...
