As an achiever, I did my homework and decided—in four minutes—that I should refinance. The big downside of this endeavor was the sales person I encountered, although she was experienced at asking questions and listening. Even sure things can be lost if your customer does your homework for you.

I had the pleasure of working with the number one mortgage broker in the state of Georgia for 1997-1998 on the first two houses that I purchased. At the time of the process, I did not know his achievements. He was very unassuming but extremely responsive and organized. So when rates came down, I looked him up. Then it dawned on me that he had left his previous company to start his own business. Of course, I had tossed his mailer thinking rates would never get this low again.

At that point, I called my banker just to shop some rates. My bank is nationally known and I figured it was a fast way to figure out where interest rates were, but probably not the least expensive option. I was put in touch with a young woman who was very helpful and quite nice. She seemed to listen to my stupid jokes and humored me about my upcoming third child. In all respects, she was handling my style very well. When we first spoke, she quoted me a rate of 6.625% with no points or discount. At that point, the real question was if my house would appraise at a high enough amount to keep me from having to pay mortgage insurance. I did not lock in the rate because I was worried about appraising to the right amount. If that did not happen, I was not going to refinance.

Five days later my house appraised at the right amount and I started wondering about locking in on the low interest rate. This is when the trouble started. First, the rates had moved to 7.1%. This was going to increase my house payment by forty dollars a month compared to the 6.625% rate. My only option was to consider buying down the rate through discount points. In order to get back to the old rate, it was going to cost me $2,040. I could roll this into the loan and not really see a big jump in my payments. I decided to lock in at 7% and buy down the rate. When my paperwork came in for review, I decided to play my last ace in the hole. I had a long-lost friend who owned a mortgage company. I decided to ask her for guidance.

After reviewing my situation, she had a current rate of 6.625% with points. Her fees were going to save me $3,350. I felt better. I did ask her some key questions that I had become familiar with while dealing with my nationally-known bank's mortgage lender. The key question for me was, "Have you seen the rates lately?" My friend informed me that she was at her lowest in two years. I posed the same question to my friendly banker and she said the same thing.

Now I know there is no fault on the part of anyone. I should have locked in the first time I called on the national lender, but if she knew the 6.625% was the lowest rate in years, she should have sold me on locking in at that rate. Remember, for me it was not a matter of if. . .but when. This lender should have said something to the effect of, I know we need to appraise your existing house, but let's lock in and get the ball rolling. I have not seen rates this low in two years. I would have been perfectly happy with that closing statement. As an achiever, I rely on the fact that you know what you are doing, you see most achievers feel that since they know what they are doing you should too. When I made my first call to the national-bank lender, I was looking to be sold, not just get a quoted rate.

I eventually went back to the national-bank lender who was so nice and helpful to see if she could get close to the rate my friend was quoting. Since she had done a good job with every other aspect of the process, I would have been willing to pay a little more if she could get close, but she could not.

In the end, I learned a couple of things about buying and selling. First, do not assume the person you are buying from is experienced enough to understand your needs. For those on the other side of the table, use your experience to help close perspective buyers. Close first and get to the details later when dealing with an achiever. Review your People Styles and live it. You may get orders faster than usual. And always have an ace in the hole. I lucked out having a friend in the mortgage business, but that reassured me that I better ask better questions and listen no matter if I am buying or selling.