question about mortgages-new home

We are in the process of looking at houses and got pre approved for a mortgage about a month ago.
If we find a house we like, what is the next step? I know you need to make an offer, but how do you find the lowest interest rate,and how do you know which bank to choose?

I am clueless

Re: question about mortgages-new home

You should talk to a mortgage broker. They get wholesale rates form major banks and even though you pay them a fee, you may end up with a better deal than you walking into a retail bank. Check out bankrate.com so you kniw the prime rate every day and then you can figure out if you are being overcharged.

Re: question about mortgages-new home

I don't know if I would go the broker route. We did just fine calling banks on our own.

If you or your DH belongs to a union or professional organization, you might want to see if they work with any banks. In our case, we went through my teacher's union. We got a good rate and lots of the fees were waived. Credit unions are also supposed to be good- we were going to use the one I belong to (MCU for NYC employees) because the rate was excellent but I found the person I was dealing with to be very disorganized.