Mortgage broker or the bank (PMI, loan, interest rate, property tax)

[campion]

So, I'm obviously a potential first-time house buyer. I suck at finances, I admit it. I spent all of my 20s in grad school rather than earning money, . Anyway, finally in a position to consider buying a home.

I want to buy now because a) I'm in the long-term job I've been waiting for, b) I have stable, good income, and c) I'm just sick of living by other people's rules. It's time, I'm approaching 40, and I want to buy.

So I spoke with a mortgage officer about a year ago when I got my current job. Didn't go through an official pre-approval because I knew I wasn't in a position to buy yet.

Now I've looked at a couple houses and would even consider putting in an offer on one, but I'm not sure how to go about the pre-approval process. My realtor suggested a couple mortgage brokers she knows, but I'm not sure they're necessary in my case.

I live in PA, and am pretty sure I'll want to go with a PFHA loan option with 3% down and either the PMI mortgage option or the one with a slightly higher rate and no PMI. Closing costs are apparently crazy here because you have to pay a year's property taxes up front, and that'll run me a good $6k in my area. Because of that, I seriously doubt I'm going to want one of those 80/15% loan deals that I've read about (all the money I've saved will have to cover that in addition to the downpayment, so the 2% makes a difference).

Knowing that, is it worth it going through a broker, or will the interest rates and/or deals be the same no matter what considering it's a state-backed loan?

Thanks for the advice.

[Pfhtex]

PA is indeed an expensive state.

Talk to a couple lenders. Preferably in person. Ask each of them to call you at a specific time, or email info to you. Whoever If you are extremely lucky, one of them will do it, with no spelling errors.

Go with that person regardless of terms.