Transparency

It is a team of employees at CIMG Residential Mortgage. We are not a separate company, but we do have our own processes, technology, branding and staff. Our production team includes Robby Oakes, Nate Haines, Will Scroggs, and Michelle Cooper. Our operations team includes Emily Eason, Karen Lorbacher, Michelle Coppola, Sarah Garner, and Kathy McGrath. Robby started our team, and we brand under his name. Each of our team members is a partner, and we all pitch in to serve our customers.

CIMG is the company that employs the Robby Oakes Team members, and they are the lender that underwrites our files. We are a correspondent lender. We are not a broker. We underwrite, fund and process our loans in Chapel Hill and Raleigh. We are not connecting borrowers with a massive, national corporation to handle their files. It’s all us (CIMG). We frequently are confused with brokers because we’re too small and local to service loans (i.e., accept monthly payments), but we are a mortgage bank.
CIMG’s leadership is our President Jeremy Salemson, COO Tracey Anthony. Jennifer, Jeremy and Clint own our company.

First, we will not collect any of our fees until closing. We do not believe in collecting fees up-front to make you feel beholden to work with us.

We charge a flat, $674 fee on each loan. Our appraisals cost $610. We charge $70 for credit reports and $16 for flood certification.

We will give you various options regarding points to pay. The most advantageous rates come with 1 point.

For third-party fees: Attorneys in the area charge between $750 and $1,050 for closing. Recording with the county is usually about $110 and title insurance is approximately $2 per thousand.

Yes. Our rates are competitive for a local lender, and even compete with many online lenders. However, we do position our pricing to get the job done. There are many lenders -- online, national banks, even some regional banks -- who simply don't invest in their process enough to close in a timely manner.

Like almost all mortgage banks, we will sell your loan, generally, to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or Ginnie Mae. Some mortgage banks contract back servicing -- i.e., accepting monthly payments. We are too small to do that on a large scale, so we will contract your servicing out most likely with a national bank. Large national intuitions are very efficient at accepting monthly payments on auto-draft, but the Robby Oakes Mortgage Team and CIMG have the local knowledge and operational efficiency to close loans on time in a cost-effective manner.

The servicer we contract will accept your monthly payment. However, we're still your lender of record. We will reach out to you when rates drop to help you refinance, and we are here if you have issues. Yes, we will technically transfer the rights to service your loan, but we understand that relationships are built with the local loan officer, not the national bank, and we hold those relationships in high regard.

No. Any referral to us is based on merit and reputation. Paying for referrals increases borrowing costs, and we do not feel that is ethical.

We do have marketing, but we aren't going to be on your gas pump, and we won't have a stadium named after us. Any sponsorships we do sponsor our communities through the nonprofits or community teams we support.

Yes. You can find them here: https://robbyoakes.com/rates. We post rates every morning for a 30-day rate lock with 25% down on primary purchase mortgage on a single-family residence with a 780 credit score and a 1% fee. This may not be your particular scenario, so there is an inquiry tool below the published rates that will show you specific rates options tailored to your scenario.

We post these for transparency, but we still want you to get a customized quote from us so we can spell out all the related costs.

No. We are perfectly happy to do everything electronically. However, we do find that it is extremely helpful to set up a call or video chat to review numbers with borrowers on a purchase.

No. We transfer your information for servicing, but we don't sell your information for marketing purposes. The credit bureaus, however, do. They make a huge amount of money selling borrower information to other lenders. CIMG and the Robby Oakes Mortgage Team don't participate in this, but the credit bureaus sell the fact that you've had a credit pull. You will get calls, e-mails, texts and mailers.

No. We will collect everything from you at closing. Our lender fee is called a commitment fee, but it is not collected in advance. We do ask borrowers to see using our pre-approval letter as a handshake to do business with us. But if you decide to do your loan elsewhere, we will be gracious and hope to work with you in the future.

As quickly as legally permissible, which is 7 days. Practically, it's usually about 2 weeks to get everything lined up on conventional and FHA loans. VA loans take longer because we can't dictate the appraisal timeframe. Jumbo loans need 3 weeks because there are additional underwriting requirements.

No; CIMG is a mortgage bank. We underwrite and fund loans ourselves. A broker connects you to a national bank for processing, underwriting and closing. This means that while you're working with a local person, you aren't working with a local bank. We are often confused with a broker because we're too small to service loans, but our closings are smoother and the money you're spending goes to a local mortgage bank, rather than a national company.

No. We can't give you anything for a referral except our gratitude and promise we'll make your friend appreciative for connecting us.

Real estate and mortgage banking more than any other industries have caused a lot of pain for minority communities in the 20th Century and this century in the 2008 crash and the pandemic.

We don't discriminate, and we want to help customers of all backgrounds to help them achieve their dreams of homeownership. Homeownership stabilizes communities and builds wealth. We are going to work hard for you no matter who you are, who you were or who you're becoming.

Lenders are specifically prohibited from discriminating based on certain, protected classes. But we believe it is incumbent upon lenders to actively work to improve our community. Lenders can't just not discriminate. We have to actively work for our customers and our communities to improve homeownership access. We also must work to improve banking. The Robby Oakes Mortgage Team and CIMG firmly believe it is incumbent upon us as North Carolina's top lender to leave our industry and communities better than we found them.

This depends on your loan amount and whether you're buying down your rate. When we reach out to current customers, we generally try to prepare our quotes with us as the lender covering the cost of the refinance. Some customers choose to pay additional costs to achieve a lower rate.

This depends on your loan amount and whether you're buying down your rate. When we reach out to current customers, we generally try to prepare our quotes with us as the lender covering the cost of the refinance. Some customers choose to pay additional costs to achieve a lower rate.

Yes. But we are not fans of this lending fad. Temporary buy downs have always been around, and there's a reason you didn't hear of them until this year. They are right for an extremely small subset of customers. That subset hasn't changed just because rates have gone up. If a builder is paying for it on new construction, it can be a nice perk. But most borrowers are best served by payment stability and not a marketing gimmick that doesn't actually save money.

Yes. You won't find those options on our live rate tool or published rates, but we do have them. ARMs introduce an element of instability for the vast majority of borrowers. However, borrowers who are planning on aggressively paying down their loans can benefit from the lower initial rates. The difference between the initial ARM rate and fixed rates isn't always advantageous. Mortgage rates are set off bond markets, and sometimes short-term rates are higher than long term rates.

For a resale purchase, as soon as you go under contract. For new construction, usually 90 days out from the house being completed. We don't do lock and shops. We see these as a way for lenders to make borrowers beholden to them early on in the process. Many lock and shops require up-front fees and fees to extend the lock if you don't find a house in a particular timeframe. It does not seem ethical to us to charge you for something we know there is a high likelihood you won't be able to use.

For refinances, locks happen at application and are valid through closing.