FAMILY & FRIENDS - A VALUABLE RESOURCE This is pretty straight forward. Talk to your friends and family and ask them for a referral. You may be surprised to learn that many people have opinions about the lenders in your area. Listen to them, they've experienced it already. Once you have done this, you will have a couple of names of companies to call and perhaps some specific loan officer's names. Start your list here.
LOCAL NEWSPAPER - SKIM PAST THE BAD NEWS Most BUSINESS sections or HOME sections of the newspaper have a mortgage interest rate survey printed at least once a week (usually Saturday or Sunday). Choose a couple lenders from this source to add to your list.
INTERNET - CHAT ALONG THE WAY Log on! Some web sites can be confusing, therefore, I've checked out quite a few of them and included links to some of the best ones that I've found. All of these sites have lenders from across the nation so that you can find your area. Add a few lenders from these sources to your list.
WHAT TO ASK AND OTHER HELPFUL HINTS The key to shopping for mortgage interest rates is to remember that there are many other fees involved in a mortgage. Those fees can be quite expensive and if not considered, the lowest interest rate does not mean the best deal. In order to help consumers with this, the Annual Percentage Rate (APR) was created. The APR reflects not only the interest rate but also all of the fees required for that loan product. Lenders are required to disclose the APR each time they disclose an interest rate.
When you call each lender, ask them what the interest rate is for the product that you are interested in. Once they tell you that, ask them the APR. They are required to tell you this information. If you don't ask, they will rarely offer this information (although they are supposed to).
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