Wes was the most helpful and reliable lender we have ever had the pleasure to work with. He provided us with much personal attention, closed as promised in well under 30 days, and was able to get us an extremely low 3.625% mortgage rate after we provided him a quote from lowest rate could find of 3.5% from Zillow/Trulia Mortgage rate/lender search, in addition to providing us a closing cost credit to offset the 1/8th higher mortgage rate. A closing cost credit (or forgoing a discount point) saves money long-term, if only plan to stay in the house 8 years. Additionally, unlike lowest advertised internet lenders, Caliber (formerly Cobalt) is a local and leading lender, one who services their own loans, instead of just selling them off to an unknown 3rd party.
However, we did have some concerns about the monthly required payments for the lender's optional escrow (impound) account for property taxes and homeowner's insurance, in relation action to our recently constructed home, though we are told this is somewhat typical for new construction homes and required to get the full closing cost credit.
Specifically our concern was that the lender requires us to pay an estimated property tax which is about 2x higher than current actual taxes, for as long as 6mo until property taxable value is reassessed for our recently constructed new home. We weren't told this until they day before we were to close, however we had required an accelerated closing time frame. Also, required monthly property tax escrow account payments may even be higher than should be indefinitely if the assessment is lower than lender's estimated property taxes. This is on top of the typically required 2 months cushion required to be prepaid and always left in the account. However, we should be able to ask for a refund for any amount that we would expected to be over the RESPA defined max cushion of 2 months of actual property taxes (and homeowner's insurance if not already paid up for at least 2 more months). If that doesn't provide sufficient, the lender may allow us (probably after 1 year waiting period) to cancel the property taxes escrow account.