June Tanner

You can go directly to the bank like Joe mentioned, the price you pay is higher interest rate and fees. The mortgage broker is like going to Sam's Club, you pay the person a fee but they get access to wholesale rates. The downside to the broker is they are unregulated and blamed for a lot of the problems people are having on their mortgages today. Either way will work out for you but you need to understand everything about your many many options. You may think you are choosing the mortgage loan but it is really the loan officer helping you that is setting all the parameters such as discount points, fees, rate, margin (if there is one), pre-payment etc etc. Eduardo made a good point about going to your Accountant to help make sure you can afford it but do not mistake an accountant as an expert on mortgages because they are not. One place that you may want to look into is a site called OfferAngel.com they just released a service that might help you figure out what you are doing. At least it's free and it may be a good place to gain some control with the loan officers you will be up against, best of luck. - Wed Jul 25 2007, 16:50