For those of you out there that work with FlagSter how would you rate them as far as U/W, Rates & Closing?

Flagstar is one of our top lenders.....typically underwriting is great and pricing is as well......lately they have been a little out of the market on some days but not to bad.....just need to find the good day......a breeze to work with and to close but then we have been working with them for over 10 yrs now

They are awesome.  Closing can be a little tricky without a real closing department.  I don’t think they add as many of their own risk layers like many other lenders.

Flagstar is great...I agree that they some days are priced a little out but just watch and lock on good days.  They have been on of the top lenders that I have been using since February after TBW started to get really bad with everything.  Underwriting is a breeze and being able to pull your own closing docs is great.  Making sure you fee's are in correctly is the only thing because it is not reviewed by the closing dept. 

Flagstar is great. They do loans that others would turn downor not take their time to manually underwrite!!!!!!! Turn around time is great too.

Flagstar is a class act, their underwriters are knowledgable and their automation is great, making delivery a breeze. Pricing is middle of the road, but transactions close when scheduled.

I was a Correspondent and Wholesale. They usually have the newest program that comes out. Their pricing is competitive but not the best and especially over the last 4 months. Their underwriting is top notch. You can call, email (firstname.lastname@flagstar.com), and you can do live chat on the computer which I find to be the fastest when trying to get a quick answer.

The technology is another top notch. Paperless uploading of loan files. Paperless closings through Doc Velocity.

Another thing many people do not know about them is they let you use their license to close out of state loans. You have a little more flexibility as a Correspondent but you can still do it under wholesale. They may restrict you to a certain # of loans in one state or not allow you to charge any up front fees. I do not know of anyone else who let's you do this.

They were running 30 days on <80% LTV Refinances in the 1st quarter of 2009. Large rate decreases cause them to have horrible underwritting delays and they were not giving free extensions on files like other lenders were. (Case by Case)

One thing you may not like is their recent credit overlays though. They are more narrow than they have been in the past. I fear Flagstar may be the next TBW! They did many of the same programs.

Greg, let's hope they are not the next TBW.  I would hate to have to jump to the dark side.

Melvin List:

Greg, let's hope they are not the next TBW.  I would hate to have to jump to the dark side.

Melvin, looks like your foreshadowing has some weight to it.  I just read this article on Bloomberg that has me gun shy on Flagstar...if you do loans with Flagstar or are looking at signing up with Flagstar, I would read this first: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aTTT9jivRIWE 

I, like many of you have been burned by TBW.  I am seriously looking at adding Flagstar to my roster.  But after reading this article I'm scared to "get in bed" with Flagstar only to find out they are gone in the morning (like my old girlfriend Taylor Bean did!)  Food for thought.

That was me saying Flagstar looks like the next TBW. The comparison is merely a large lender going under. TBW did a lot of weird loans. So did Flagstar.

Most of the lenders on the ailing list on mortgage implode are there with good reason. I do not beleive that Flagstar Wholesale will implode. Go ahead and marry them. You face the same risk in marrying any other lender. No one is safe.

Rates are aggressive, underwriting can be like pulling teeth at times, they have some overlays on FHA and RDA which are not very realisitic, if the file is squeeky clean you should have no problems, if there is anything at all that is outside of the box good luck.

Again I have worked with Flagstar for over 10 yrs and there are some underwriters that are hard at times but for the most part if there is a condition that is an issue you have the ability to call the CSR or the underwriter and Ihave had them money time either waive a condition or request something else. They are very workable and a slam dunk to close. Good Luck hoipe they are around for a long time.

Are they doing Manuf Homes?