How to choose a Lender for a coop mortgage?

I am also looking and was told to use bankrate.com to search for lenders. Also, I was advised to get in touch with small local banks as they might offer better rates than established instistution, and less likely to sell your mortgage to another bank.

Smaller banks do not hold mortgages themselves. 99% of mortgages are resold to Fannie, that's why rate is low because gov't is buying mortgages.

I have had good experiences with Wells Fargo. HSBC was good too.

Contact Manhattan Mortgage. They can get you the best quotes from small and mid-size banks. Most big banks no longer use mortgage brokers, so you'll have to call Citi, Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America separately. If a bank has already financed a unit in your co-op, it typically speeds up the process.

Been a crazy week for BaC but seems like we should be paging Sunny for the post.

Second Manhattan Mortgage. They deal with coop loans all the time and are very efficient, in my experience (have used them for both a primary loan and a refi). The lenders Bankrate pulls up are often national discount lenders that don't do coop loans.

Manhattan Mortgage. Just used them - Harold Sokol, 212-318-9472, for a jumbo conforming on a co-op. Process could not have been smoother and we could not beat the rate anywhere. Loan was actually placed at Citi so they most certainly do place loans at the large banks.

For us, trying to work through the banks directly is a disaster (we briefly attempted this). You have to deal with incompetent call center people who really couldn't care less whether your purchase closes or not. With a broker you actually have someone you are working with who consistently answers the phone and manages the process for you. And the rate is better through a broker too, so we really couldn't figure out why you wouldn't use one.

Never understood the thing about being upset if the loan is sold. Your objective on a loan is to (a) get them to write the big check at closing; (b) make 360 monthly payments. What the name is of the entity that collects 360 auto debits from your checking account seems totally unimportant to me. That said, it's nice if it's an institution with a branch presence in NYC so you can get the high-tier free checking or whatever.