Negotiation Tactics To Use For Your Mortgage

Build a strong application

First things first, we want to clarify that you have more power than you might think when it comes to negotiating your mortgage. This is because banks and lenders are constantly looking for reliable people to lend money to who will repay them on time (banks make their money by loaning money to people and charging interest on the loan). By proving to the bank that you're a responsible person who will repay them, you make yourself look more appealing.

Here are a few ways that you can do that:

• Really make an effort to build up a strong credit score over the months/years before the negotiation
• Save more so that you can put down a larger down payment.
• Pay off some of your other debts before approaching the negotiation table. This will give you a stronger debt-to-income ratio.

Speak with a few different lenders

It's always a good practice to speak with multiple vendors before buying and the same goes for getting your mortgage. If you decide to go with the first mortgage rate that you're offered, then you will never know if you could have gotten a better time.

Spend a few weeks talking with different lenders to get an idea of what a common offer is before making any decisions.

Closed mouths don't get fed

There is an old saying that closed mouths don't get fed. Said another way, "Ask and you shall receive." This means that if you don't ask for something, you have no chance of receiving that thing. In this case, simply try asking for a better rate. Remember, negotiation is a two-way street and you don't need to always say yes to their first offer. You'd be surprised what people will say yes to sometimes.

If their answer is no, this brings ups to our next tip.

Be prepared to walk away

This is a huge part of negotiating. Be prepared to walk away from an offer that you feel isn't in your best interests. This is also why it's important to speak with a few different vendors. If you have a few different offers, you can leverage them against each other to try and squeeze a better rate. Let them know that if they can't help you out then you're happy to work with one of their competitors!

We hope that you've found this valuable and will put some of these tactics to use when it's time to sign for a mortgage! If you're interested in reading more, please subscribe below. This way you'll get alerted of new articles as we post them.