Good broker will warn against bad refi

(This is Part 1 of a two-part series.) In the last 10 years, I have written almost 50 articles on different mortgage broker topics, but none of them addressed the most basic topic of all: "What makes a good broker?" Perhaps it took 10 years before I was ready to confront this question, along with its obvious corollary: "How do you know a good broker when you see one?" Loan officers who are employed by a single lender operate very much like brokers except they provide the programs of only one lender. Most of what I say below applies as much to them as to brokers. To help me on this, I enlisted support from five brokers who I know are good: Catherine Coy (California); Christopher Cruise (Maryland); Jeff Jaye (California); Kevin Iverson (Colorado); and Don Romano (New York). They agreed on most, but not all, issues, and they may not agree with all the views expressed below. Good brokers are selected by borrowers, rather than the reverse: Poor brokers ...