January 8, 2013  

This series of articles is about opportunities available to consumers to save money on a mortgage in 2013. Unexploited Refinance Opportunities was directed to those with an existing mortgage carrying an interest rate above the current market rate who could refinance profitably but haven’t -- for reasons that don’t make sense. Potential Interest Savings on Your Current Mortgage is about the advantages of investing in the pay-down of existing mortgages. This article is directed at those who intend to refinance or finance the purchase of a home, and are looking to find the best possible deal. 

Importance of Posted Prices  

Mortgage lenders every morning reset their “posted prices”, which are the prices they will commit to at that time to a borrower who meets their qualification requirements. On a given transaction, posted prices will vary from lender to lender, and in a well-functioning market the shopping borrower would find the lender posting the best price on her deal, and grab it. But that turns out to be quite difficult to do.

Agents Don’t Necessarily Quote Posted Prices

The problem is that posted prices are not public information. Lenders deliver them to their loan officers, brokers and others authorized to offer their loans to the public. But these agents are not obliged to quote posted prices to mortgage shoppers, and in many cases they do not.

Agents looking to snare the shopper as a customer may price below the posted price (called “low-balling”). It is a common practice because it is often the only method available to the agent to separate herself from the others. After the customer is committed, the agent may price above the posted price (“high-balling”) to increase the profit margin. 

If the market price subsequently declines, the shopper will receive the early price quote instead of the new and lower posted price. If the market price increases, the shopper will pay the new posted price or higher – probably with an explanation and perhaps even an apology. 

Why Low-Balling Works

Agents can’t be held to the prices they quote to shoppers because market prices will change before the price is locked. The information provided by a borrower upon which a price quote depends must be confirmed by the lender before the price is locked. Validation of some features, such as credit score, is quick but others including property value usually take days to complete, and sometimes weeks. While the applicant is waiting for the lender to validate her information, the posted price is likely to change with changes in the market, making the early price quote obsolete.