Mortgage Advice? (credit, broker, house)

[mikieguns]

Hello. Is there a neutral place or source to go to to seek mortgage advice? I am currently at the very beginning of a house purchase and have begun to seek out some estimates from a few different insitutions: my bank (BOA), First Hope bank (was a reccomendation), My company's credit union, and American Fed. Mortgage (broker that I found in this forum). So now I basically have 4 estimates to compare. But I am far from being an expert here. I am having a hard time comparing them accurately (adding up all the fees, the interest rate differences, the buying down of points, closing costs, etc). The fact that each estimate looks completety different from the next (as far as format) doesn't help. I don't know which to choose and could use some assistance! Obviously I am trying to find the lowest cost / best rate possible. Any ideas? advice? Any mortgage "experts" out there who might be willing to lend a fellow city data "friend" a helping hand? : )

[elflord1973]

Originally Posted by mikieguns

Hello. Is there a neutral place or source to go to to seek mortgage advice? I am currently at the very beginning of a house purchase and have begun to seek out some estimates from a few different insitutions: my bank (BOA), First Hope bank (was a reccomendation), My company's credit union, and American Fed. Mortgage (broker that I found in this forum). So now I basically have 4 estimates to compare. But I am far from being an expert here. I am having a hard time comparing them accurately (adding up all the fees, the interest rate differences, the buying down of points, closing costs, etc). The fact that each estimate looks completety different from the next (as far as format) doesn't help. I don't know which to choose and could use some assistance! Obviously I am trying to find the lowest cost / best rate possible. Any ideas? advice? Any mortgage "experts" out there who might be willing to lend a fellow city data "friend" a helping hand? : )

It can be hard to compare, because points work out differently under different scenarios (e.g. how long you stay put).

I'd push them for estimates that were as comparable as possible (e.g. ask them all for a no-points and an X-points estimate).