I would suggest avoiding the pure-play online lender. Especially if you’re not familiar with the online lending process or haven’t financed very many (if any)…

That depends upon how ‘‘wrong’’ the papers are. If it’s something minor that your settlement agent can change, it might be fixed right there at…

What a change from just a few years ago. Today you can fill out a single application online and have several lenders or mortgage brokers…

Carefully. But there are some good places to start. One of the bestknown websites for interest rates in general and for mortgages specifically is BankRate…

That’s entirely up to you. There is no right or wrong way, just personal preference. Some people feel more comfortable when they sit across the…

As with other industries, it’s changed the landscape. It’s fast, efficient, and highly productive. Just a few short years ago, even though people had the…

Certainly, and there are lenders who advertise that they will pay all fees for you. And not by increasing your interest rate in order to…

A few lenders have experimented with something called a one-fee quote. The industry is slow to adopt this product, and it may not catch on…

First and foremost, you have to ask. That’s part of your or your agent’s job. The seller isn’t going to give something up that he…

If used properly, it works great. The problem is that some loan officers don’t know how to calculate the annual percentage rate ( APR ).…

First, you need to identify which fees count and which fees don’t. Items in the 900 and 1000 sections—the items the lender wants you to…

It’s a long form, divided into six sections that are numbered— strangely I might add. The section numbers are 800, 900, 1000 , 1100, 1200,…

If you’re refinancing, there may be discounts if you use the same title agency. Some call this a reissue of an original title report, which…

Your credit report, offered by an AUS, can be the source of another cost savings. In the past, the Residential Mortgage Credit Report (RMCR) would…

A typical fee for a conventional appraisal is $300. But with the advent of AUS applications, sometimes those approvals also come back with reduced appraisal…

They can be, but some of them will be different. When refinancing, you can get discounts for reissued title policies, and if your lender requires…

You can only save on closing fees that can be negotiated. Some fees are set in stone by the individual company, while still other charges…

Because they can. If your local market has established that most lenders charge a $200 application fee, then you can expect that fee. Lenders charge…

Because there are a lot of different businesses that are active in your account. Nonlenders charge to cover their services. So do lenders. But lenders…

You can expect a lot of them, most of which you will never pay again until you get another mortgage. Closing costs can vary based…

You may be the victim of someone trying to squeeze a little bit more out of you by using market gains. If you’ve been cruising…

There are a few options available to you when you lock in your interest rate and rates move down immediately afterward. If you have a…

Be prepared to get the higher rate, either whatever rate you locked in or the prevailing rate. Most lock agreements will explain this requirement, but…

No. A common misconception is that a lock agreement is also a loan approval. It’s not; it’s an interest rate guarantee. If you lock in…

You have to specifically request an interest rate lock, because it’s not automatic. Just because your good faith estimate has a rate on it doesn’t…

Compare the APRs on each offering, then ask for concessions. Yes, you’ve worn them down and made them compete against other lenders, but you still…

There are four things you must absolutely do in order to compare apples to apples, or mortgage quote to mortgage quote: Get your rate quotes…

They can’t be. Okay, someone might be a little lower, but lenders and brokers all get their mortgage money from the same place, so any…

Interest rates in newspapers are days old. Many newspapers around the country publish their ‘‘interest rate surveys’’ in the Sunday paper, usually in the real…

The best time to get rate quotes is in the morning after any governmental reports on the economy are released. Most reports are released by…

Of course not, but you need to understand how economic reports can affect mortgage rates. And you must understand how mortgage rates are priced before…

Some reports may impact interest rates more than others. Some reports might cause a reaction in the markets one day and then be completely meaningless…

I have probably been asked that question more than a thousand times. Literally. It’s the question everyone wants answered. The fact is that no one…

Most every institutional investor does. It’s a guaranteed rate of return for them. But there’s a bugaboo when investing in bonds: inflation. Inflation will eat…

Sorry, they’re not. You can’t track mortgage rates against the 10year or 30-year treasury. While they’re both fixed investments, they’re not tied to mortgage rates.…

Sure, the Federal Reserve chair and his buddies set interest rates, but they don’t set mortgage rates. What the Fed sets is either the Federal…

Your loan officer will have more direct influence on your mortgage rate than the lender will. At major retail banks and national mortgage bankers, loan…

Lenders set interest rates every business morning as markets open. There are various indexes, but for fixed rate mortgages they’re set to a mortgage bond…

Each state regulates and licenses its own loan officers, so there is no national database of complaints. Instead, you need to find out who regulates…

Sure you can. Just because you made a decision to work with one loan officer doesn’t mean you’re required to stay with him. Especially if…

No, your loan officer can negotiate your rate as well as whether or not your loan will include an origination fee or a discount point.…

Sure they are. You got what you wanted—the interest rate—and the loan officer got a little more money. But this isn’t regular practice. In fact,…

A market gain is the difference between what the mortgage price was when you locked it with the lender and what the mortgage price is…

Some very handsomely, some not. It depends on whom they work for. If they work for a national bank or mortgage banker, they more than…

Most states have minimum education guidelines and individuals must take courses to get their license to operate as a loan officer. No state is exactly…

Most loan officers will tell you that they never intended to get into the business, that they just ended up there somehow. There are a…

You want to ask questions that accomplish two things: determine their experience and let them know that you’re a savvy borrower who knows all the…

Some of the best loan officers don’t work for the megabanks, but instead opt to work for a smaller mortgage banking firm or a mortgage…

There’s no reason to discount referral sources at first glance. Some new agents (even experienced ones) don’t provide any whatsoever for mortgage loans. Some do,…

For starters, you need to know how long the agent has been in business. Agents who have only been in business for a year or…

By interviewing them and asking the right questions. If you thought finding the best lender was a chore, you might think that finding the best…

You need to be careful how and when you do this. If you’re buying a home, closing within thirty days, and it’s day twenty-eight, you…

Perhaps neither one at first. The mortgage process can be confusing, especially if it’s your first home. For starters, I would begin with the people…

A broker might be your best choice, but then again, a mortgage banker may be able to help you more. There are advantages that mortgage…

Simply ask your broker which lender you ended up with and they’ll tell you. In fact, many wholesale lenders will send information directly to the…

You’ll hear advertisements from brokers bragging about how many lenders they do business with, some claiming to work with a hundred or more. That may…

You can pay them, or their wholesale lender will pay them, or some combination of the two. There is no rule requiring that mortgage brokers…

Most mortgage brokers are smaller operations than mortgage bankers. Mortgage bankers use brokers to be able to make more loans with less overhead. Instead of…

No, not at all. Brokers get interest rates at discounts not available to the general public. As with most businesses in the United States that…

Mortgage brokers find mortgage money for the borrower from other mortgage bankers. Brokers don’t make the loans themselves, but arrange mortgage financing at the request…