Mortgage brokers can’t be replaced by computers

Re “Buyers Gladly Skip a Step” by Allison B. Cohen (May 11): American shoppers love the concepts “buy factory direct” and “cut out the middleman.” Smart shoppers know that this is usually just a marketing gimmick.

Suggesting that a real estate agent can get a mortgage by a few clicks of the mouse greatly understates the complexity of the process and the importance of the competence of the loan officer.

The overwhelming majority of home buyers do nothing to educate themselves about mortgages and they walk around with the baggage of incorrect assumptions. This leads them to make poor choices.

The most valuable contributions of a good mortgage professional are helping explain how the mortgage market really works, showing clients the options available and helping them make intelligent choices. Real estate agents are simply not equipped by training or experience to do this.

Any competent mortgage broker works with many other lenders, and they provide better net cost financing to the consumer even with a larger commission. More important, the career mortgage professional will give the full service that home buyers deserve, giving them good advice that will save them thousands of dollars.

Randy Johnson

Newport Beach

Johnson is the author of “How to Save Thousands of Dollars on Your Home Mortgage.”

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