How to Choose the Best Lender for Your Home Loan

You have decided to buy a house. You have made one of the most important, and one of the most expensive, decisions of your life. Naturally you want to get the best lender possible. How do you choose the best lender for your home loan, however?

According to real estate experts, one of the most important things to consider when choosing a lender for a home loan is to find one that will give you advice for free. You should never have to pay for advice when you are in the information gathering stage. If you do apply for a loan, it is customary to have to pay for an appraisal and credit report. You should never have to pay, however, for advice before that, the pre-qualification process for a home loan, or running scenarios. If someone wants to charge you for advice before you are actually ready to apply for a loan, steer clear of that lender.

A good lender will provide easy access. Does the prospective lender have a website for you to learn about the company? Does the lender have a call center that you can contact for information for advice, possibly even on the weekend, before a face to face meeting during the week?

Although that is an important consideration, you should not choose a lender for a home loan based only upon interest rates. That is because some lenders will quote a low rate to obtain your business. That lender will then supplement that rate with additional fees and charges. There is often little difference in interest rates when dealing with reputable mortgage professionals.

You should know all the fees you will be charged when you apply for a home loan with any lender. You should receive a printout of all fees. You should ask for a "Good Faith Estimate" of all the fees you will owe. If you have that information, you will be able to better evaluate the costs of the loan and compare lenders.

One consideration when choosing the best lender for a home loan is whether your interest rate can be locked in. Some lenders will allow you to lock in an interest rate at the time of the application and for a specific time thereafter. Some lenders will not allow you to do that.