My wife and I have been looking for our dream house off and on for a while. Ideally it would be a place with just a few more things than we have now, including a main level office, a 3 car garage and a big backyard. If we could find all those things we’d be pretty happy.
It’s amazing the prices you can find nowadays on some pretty amazing homes, some even on local golf courses in our area. We found one home that was almost $700,000 a few years ago, now selling for only $375,000. It’s tempting to jump in and buy one of those homes, but for now we’re biding our time, as we’re not completely sure the market has hit it’s bottom yet.
Predicting a market bottom can be a tough business though, which is why we’re already on the lookout for homes that we like – and would want to make our “forever home”. If we find something we really do like, we want to be ready to jump in with both feet. Of course we’d have to buy on the contingency of selling our current home, which is a whole other matter.
So for now we’re looking at homes, and also doing our research on a variety of home mortgage lenders. We’re trying to find somewhere where we can find not only a good rate, but a company that is known for excellent customer service. Today I want to look at one company that has been known for just that, Quicken Loans. This is my review of Quicken Loans.
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Quicken Loans Background
Quicken Loans has been around for quite some time, since back in the mid-eighties, although they haven’t always been under that name. From Wikipedia:
Quicken Loans, originally Rock Financial Corporation, was founded in 1985 by Dan Gilbert along with his younger brother, film producer Gary Gilbert, their childhood friend Lindsay Gross, and Ron Berman. Rock Financial soon became one of the largest independent mortgage companies in the country. In May 1998, Gilbert took Rock Financial public, launching a successful IPO underwritten by Bear Stearns and Prudential Securities.In December 1999, Intuit Inc. (makers of QuickBooks, TurboTax, and Quicken) purchased Rock Financial for a sum of $532M. The company was renamed Quicken Loans. In June 2002, Gilbert led a small group of private investors in purchasing the Quicken Loans subsidiary back from Intuit for just $64M.
So Quicken has been around for 25+ years, and have a solid record as a good company to work with for their customers, which we’ll get to next.
Good Customer Service
While it’s good to see a bank that has a solid financial history, and is a good place to work, it’s also important to find one that is known for good customer service.
J.D. Power and Associates ranks Quicken Loans “Highest in Customer Satisfaction for Primary Mortgage Origination”. That speaks volumes about their customer focused ethic.
They received the highest score in three key factors, the mortgage application and approval process, the closing experience and keeping in contact and communication – all very important for a mortgage customer.
Quicken Loans Rates
I wanted to try and figure out what kind of a rate I could expect to see if I were to use Quicken Loans, so I ran my general situation through their rate calculator.
I ran it through as a $200,000 mortgage on a home purchase price of $250,000 for MN. Their rates came back right in line with other quotes that I ran today through my mortgage rates page, coming in at just over 5%.
The hypothetical rate I ran is up to date as of June 2011, but to get your own updated rate quote, please head on over to their site to get your own easy quote!
Click Here For Up To Date Quicken Loans Rates
More Than Just Mortgage Rates: Helpful Calculators And Tools
One great thing about Quicken Loans site is that it has more than just mortgage rates. They also have quite a breadth of mortgage related information for first time homebuyers and veteran buyers alike. Forbes listed Quicken Loans as a favorite of theirs, and talked about some of the extra information you’ll find on their site:
This uncluttered site is deceptively deep with information useful for first-time homebuyers and those refinancing. Explanations are clear and calculators plentiful, including a tax-saving calculator and one that compares a 15-year with a 30-year loan.
The calculators and other tools are helpful, and it’s nice to see a mortgage site that actually has some useful information – not just a rate quote form designed to get you into the process.
For even more helpful information the folks at Quicken Loans also bring us the awesome site called Quizzle.com. Basically the site allows you to get your free Experian credit score and report twice a year, as well as looking at ways to save and improve your financial situation. Stay tuned for a full review of Quizzle soon as well.
Conclusion
If you have good credit (find out if you do) and are planning on buying a home or refinancing, Quicken Loans is definitely worth a look-see. They have competitive rates, can originate loans in all 50 states,and have been recognized by JD Power for their great customer service, and by Forbes for their great website, calculators and tools. They’re definitely a top tier mortgage originator, and should be in the running for your next home loan.
To find out more about Quicken Loans, you can go to their site through the link below.
Quicken Loans: Great Rates + Superior Customer Service
Bible Money Matters is a paid advertiser by Quicken Loans
I’m going through a re-fi with them right now. They certainly make the process easy because they do everything in-house. Most paperwork can be signed online and/or scanned and sent over. They were also able to work with me and my evolving self-employment situation. If the final numbers end up looking right, I should be closing with them in a week or so. Then, like you, I’ll be on the lookout for our next home, our forever home. This re-fi will just make our current place that much more rent-able.
Good too hear your experience. I’d be interested in reading posts about your situation as far as trying to rent out your current home once you find something else. We’ve got some other friends going through that right now – having to run background checks on renters, signing leases/etc. Sounds like a lot of pain, but I’m sure in the end it’s probably worth it..
This recession definitely helps home buyers out when trying to find a house. It definitely swings in their favor. Great post–thanks for the informative advice!
Peter,
Before I get to my comment I want to say that I currently have a house that we use to live in that we have outgrown and since have turned it into a rental due to not being able to sell it. So we currently rent.
That being said, I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about our next step, would we try to buy again, and if so, would we finance. This isn’t always an easy thing to think about, many of us, if we had to do 100% down (as Dave Ramsey recommends), wouldn’t be able to buy for a long time – at least not what we want to buy. That being said, since this site is Bible Money Matters, is there anyway that we as Christians, can justify getting a mortgage? I know that culturally that we do it, but we aren’t to be a part of the world. Is there any Biblical position that allows for getting a mortgage or loan of any kind?
I am not trying to attack you or anything, I like you and your sites. But, sometimes I think about all of the Christian financial blogs out there, giving advice on living frugally, Biblically, and being good stewards, and I wonder if sometimes we miss the mark and just give good advice rather than Biblical advice. Basically my question for us to think about is this: is it Biblical to get a mortgage or to even recommend a mortgage (or loan of any kind)?
I don’t think there is anything un-biblical about getting a mortgage or other loan, and I’m not sure what there is to justify about taking on a mortgage? Yes, debt is discouraged in the bible, and we should all do our best to avoid it when we can, but I don’t think that it rises to the level of sin or of being un-biblical. Are you aware of verses that dis-allow mortgages or loans of any kind?
I think we need to encourage folks to make wise decisions with the resources that they’ve been given by God, and they truly need to search out God’s will for their lives and for their living situation. But at the same time I don’t think getting a mortgage is always a bad or irresponsible thing as long as people go in with eyes wide open, and only get into one they can truly afford, and are also in tune with what God wants for their lives via daily prayer, bible study and seeking out of His will. Does that mean that maybe God will lead them to buy a home that is a little smaller than someone else’s so that they can give more to their church or to the poor? It may? It may also mean they are lead to not buy a home, and instead live a life of poverty.
In any event, i do agree that debt of any kind needs to be carefully considered and only taken on after careful prayer and consideration.
It’s vary hard to give a single verse as proof, since someone else may argue that verse doesn’t mean such and such. However, there are several verses that lend to the idea of not borrowing. I definitely never see borrowing encouraged in the Bible. My overall point is this: As Christians, we see mortgage as an acceptable way of life, but is it a Biblical way of life. I am not saying for sure where I fall on this issue, but it is something I am debating right now. After all, if we are a slave to the lender, then we cannot serve God as he requires.
Here are some verses:
Romans 13:8 – Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. (Seems like this includes money as something not to owe someone)
Psalm 37:21 – The wicked borrows and does not pay back, but the righteous is gracious and gives. (This gives us a contrast that the righteous should give – not lend or borrow)
Deuteronomy 15:6 – For the Lord your God will bless you as He has promised you, and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. (This verse tells Israel that they will not borrow due to God’s provision. As Christians can we accept the same from God?)
Proverbs 22:7 – The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender’s slave. (While owing money we are slaves to the lender, essentially to the money that we borrowed)
Matthew 6:24 – “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (If we borrow money, we are slaves to that money until we can pay it back.)
Some may not agree with me, but at the very least, I think those verses and many more show us that borrowing money is not using wisdom. I think they also show that the there is not a Biblical point of view that shows borrowing is acceptable. Whether or not it’s a sin, I don’t think we can be 100% on that point, but at the very least I think we can agree that it prevents us from serving God with all our heart, since we now also have to serve both the money and the lender…
Do we think borrowing is ok, because as a culture we see no other way. When in fact, as recently as 2 generations ago many people did not have mortgages. While I am not to the point of saying right now I will never borrow again, I would say I am much closer now to that point than ever. While like many issues, the Bible doesn’t have a verse as direct as we may want, what is the spirit of the verses saying, that we do have.
I think some of the verses you quoted speak to the fact that debt isn’t a sin or wrong. Discouraged as a bad idea? Yes. Wrong, I’m not so sure. For example, the first verse you mention actually speaks to how we’re to pay off our debts as quickly as possible. Here’s another translation:
The verse doesn’t say “never take on debt”, it says to “let no debt remain outstanding”. To me that says that while debt is discouraged, it can be used as long as you do your best to pay it off as soon as possible..
The previous verse speaks to paying people what you owe them..
Again, speaking to the fact that we are to pay our debts if we have them. Psalm 37:21 again speaks to the fact that we are to pay our debts, if we don’t we’re wicked. Not that we’re wicked if we take on debt of any kind.
The other verses do in fact greatly discourage debt as a bad idea, and I do also believe that debt is never encouraged or shown in a verse to be a good idea.. So where i come down on this is this: Debt isn’t a sin, but it isn’t encouraged as a good idea. It should be avoided as much as possible as it can in fact hamper us in some ways from doing God’s work through giving and other things. There are definitely a lot of situations where we should avoid it altogether (most situations), but in some cases I think it’s ok to take on as long as it’s easily affordable and not keeping us from giving to others and keeping us from doing God’s will. Again, a point for careful prayer and study.
Thanks for the discussion, Matt! I’d love to hear other people’s ideas on the topic as well!