I shudder to think about the first time I purchased a house. I was no more than twenty-one years old, in my first marriage, and remarkably uneducated about the world of finance. My now-ex-husband and I drove by a development one day, decided to stop, and ended up signing a contract for a house. (I do not recommend making such a large, life-changing purchase on a whim. This was pretty much our MO-- it’s not surprising that this marriage self-destructed.) The house was nice enough, but neither of us knew the first thing about home purchasing or ownership.

After the nice saleslady talked us into signing a contract on the yet-to-be-built home of our dreams, she told us that we would get a discount if we used one of their in-house lenders. A discount? On a house? Sign us up! We knew nothing of the terms of the loan. Words like “points” didn’t mean a thing to us. We were buying our first home and this lender was making it happen. As I mentioned earlier, we didn’t do a very good job of thinking long-term. What a mistake!

Fast-forward seventeen years to today. If I see a pair of shoes that I want, I put in the research looking for coupons, watching the sales, cross referencing the price with other stores (the internet makes it so easy!). Buying a home is quite possibly the biggest purchase that you and your family will ever make. It’s definitely worth the time and consideration to shop around and understand your mortgage. I know, I know-- it can be confusing. Shoes, sales tax, percentages off of retail isn’t that complex. A mortgage is incredibly complex. That’s why you need a good mortgage agent who will take the time to answer your questions and custom-tailor your mortgage to fit your needs. It doesn’t cost any more to go this route; in fact, it will more than likely save you money in the long term.

One day not too long ago, I was having lunch with one of my very good friends. We’ve known each other since Kindergarten and have gone through all the major phases of our lives together. She and her husband were in the process of buying a new home for their family and she was telling her frustrations. It was stressful enough finding the perfect house and getting a reasonable offer accepted, she was telling me. Now they were having issues with their lender-- he wouldn’t return their calls, their closing date kept getting pushed back, and they had lots of unanswered questions. I told her that she should give Team Neal a try. “Can I even change lenders this far in the process?” she asked. I told her to give them a call and find out.

After taking to Team Neal, my friend called me and told me how happy she was with their services. Their closing date was moved up and their monthly mortgage payment was going to be over $200 less than her original lender had told her. Team Neal used their “boutique” mortgage services to customize a mortgage for my friend’s family’s needs. Rather than just plug numbers into a formula (something a lot of lenders do), Team Neal takes the time to figure out what works best for each of their individual clients’ needs. And that makes all the difference.