How Robert Saved Over $25K With Own Up
20 Apr 2021
Robert and his fiancé, two tech-savvy young professionals, were renting their apartment when they decided they were ready to buy their first home. They were on the hunt for the best mortgage rate, and through working with Own Up they got much more than that – not only did they find the lowest rate, but they got amazing customer service that helped guide them through the entire home buying process.
Here’s their story.
Last spring, Robert started the home buying process by going through the mortgage pre-approval process to evaluate what they could afford to buy. He reached out to a broad range of brokers and companies including Own Up, looking to find the best deal.
“I had a loose expectation of what we could afford and where we could afford to do it and thought it was worth chatting with a range of folks. I went about it in a way that might be backwards than what most people do – I went through the mortgage pre-approval process before we started looking at realtors.
I’m pretty sure that it was my mom that originally sent me an email about Own Up. It was before I was really ready to buy something but they had been on my radar for a while in a tangential way. I reached out to them and definitely approached it with a healthy degree of skepticism. Own Up sounded too good to be true on paper. I chatted with two other brokers – one recommended by my financial advisor and one recommended by my dad, both of who said, you know we don’t have a dog in this fight we just know folks who have been happy using these brokers before. I also called 4-5 national and global banks.”
Robert began a number of conversations with brokers and also started the process at Own Up. Patrick, his Home Advisor, helped him understand the range of mortgage products available, and introduced him to Own Up’s automated pre-approval letter tool that allows customers to generate on-demand pre-approval letters that can be used to secure financing through Own Up’s lender network.
“Own Up did a really good job of finding a sweet spot between using technology to create efficiency and still having that personal touch. Patrick was really helpful in getting us to understand what products we could go after and what our realistic price range was. He introduced me to their Home Affordability Calculator and the automated Pre-Approval Letter tool that was really interesting. It was great to be able to just spin the letter off on my computer versus waiting for someone to get back to me. It was that combination of having the self-service tools to do your own things with the confidence that there’s a human on the other end. Own Up really nailed that.”
After shopping around extensively, Robert ended up securing a highly-competitive loan through working with Own Up that saved him more than $25,000 over the life of his loan. The deal was so great that even one of the other brokers he had been talking to told him he couldn’t pass it up.
“The loan we ended up taking courtesy of Own Up was the 2 nd best of everything we saw. The only one they weren’t able to beat was a large bank that I had heard so many people say they had horrible experiences working with. So when it turned out that the best experience I had came with a great rate it was a no brainer to work with Own Up.
What was nice about the broker my dad found me was that he kind of served as a sounding board for us. And when he was like ‘if you can get that rate locked in that Own Up found you should do it. Because I don’t have a way to beat it.’ It was nice to have an additional third party telling me it was a good deal. You look at the difference a fraction of a percentage point makes over a 30-year loan and the impact is huge.”
Robert says that shopping around for rates and finding a team he could trust to help him throughout the process made a huge difference.
“Going into the process I knew it was a competitive market, but I had a really loose interpretation of what everything meant. I didn’t know what the different ARMs were or that there was so much flexibility in the rates. Patrick was really helpful in helping me understand everything without trying to steer me in either direction. He just laid out the options and educated me throughout the process so I could understand the nuances that were well beyond my grasp when we first launched into all of it.
The moment you get the offer accepted is both the best and worst moment. The high point was that I felt pretty well organized about the process, and with the assistance of Own Up both before and after there wasn’t really any one point where we got overwhelmed. But that being said it’s kind of like navigating the health insurance system - I don’t know now how people without that sort of help or resources pull it off. The whole thing is terrifying unless you have a little army of folks in your back pocket to help make it work.”
Robert and his fiancé are moved into their new home and getting married in March. They’ve already recommended Own Up to others.
“We’re in our new condo – a unit in a 3-family in Forest Hills, and have already recommended Own Up to people. I sent a buddy of mine to Own Up recently and was joking with Patrick that my friend who sits next to me at work watched me sweat for 4 weeks during the closing process and was like ‘I want some of that!’. He’s 4-5 months behind us but Own Up is 2 for 2 in happy customers.
Ready to see how much you can save on your homebuying journey?