After you find the house, you have to find a way to pay for the house. Sure, there are a few people that just write a check, but most of us find ourselves calling a mortgage broker or banker.

When people ask me who they think I should call, I have a short list. I have several folks that I have interacted with that are still in business… but near the top of the list is Ken Cook, President of Novation Mortgage. There are a few reasons that I give out Ken’s number so liberally. The first reason is that he is an actual expert. He teaches classes for investors on financing. He is also a walking encyclopedia of ways to spot mortgage fraud… as well as loan programs.

But the main reason that I have Ken on the short list is that I trust his answers. If he says someone can’t get financed, I am pretty sure they can’t get financed. I he says that someone is golden, they are golden. Too often, as real estate agents, we get letters and assurances that a buyer will be able to get funded… only to have a failure… And trust me, having a funding failure at the colsing table is NOT fun. And it does happen (ok, it hasn’t happened to me, but it has happened…).

There is something else… I count Ken as a friend. We have worked together to organize the Social Media Breakfast Atlanta series. We have worked together with clients. We have referred each other business… each trusting the other get his part done.

He is also a geek… and I mean that in a good way. He came into the business with a tech background. So, he is a great resource for cool geeky stuff to do in the real estate tech sphere. That might be part of the reason he is the co-host of Social Media Edge on Blog Talk Radio.

So, if you are a buyer, and you are getting a mortgage to buy your house… calling Ken is a good idea. When he tells you a rate, he means it. When he tells you the costs, he means it. When he tells you that he can help you make it happen, he means it.

But there is one thing that Ken can’t do really well… He can’t really deliver the weather on the news. That would be a different Ken Cook.