There was some very good info.You should have mentioned junk fees they try to add in alot of times to the closing costs & how to get them taken off. Beware of mortgage brokers, they say then can get lower interest rates & the loan looks really good until u get to the closing table and there are added costs tacked into the loan that you wont see unless you read it very carefully & compare it to the good faith estimate. It then becomes a take it or leave it situation.(which i haved walked away from in the past) You are always better off working with a bank or a financial instution.There are ways around not paying the PMI if you don't have 20% down.Some banks will give you a home equity loan for the difference between your down payment & the amount of the 20%.The equity loan will probably be a % point higher, but will save you thousands & you won't have to fight to get the PMI cancelled when you reach your 20% equity. The best advice is take your time, do research & get several estimates

No comment.

great articles, I like this article. qoute to my blog .. ;)

I'm in banking compliance, and this is all good advice. There a so many issues to think about when buying and selling and this article is a good starting point.

Thank you, this article is very helpful!! I'm in the process of purchasing my first home. Most of the questions were answered upfront my mortgage lender. I'll be asking the others.

Good article. More people should ask these questions. Perhaps the industry should be required to to answer these questions without being asked.

was a lot of help and as i was currently in the process of buying a house the lender was sure to answer all of these up front.

I would also reccomend, with the market being the way it is, to expect atleast a 5% downpayment if not more. 100% financing is gone the way of the dinosaur....

To: Star P I know that you are only trying to help, but if you read the article correctly, you will see that the statement about points is correct: (two points on a $150,000 mortgage, for example, will cost $3,000, and might lower your rate by 0.5 percent.) this was cut directly from the article. I just couldn't help myself from taking a stab at someone who was so proud to be in the mortgage business for 15 years. Perhaps your next 15 years would be better spent as a reading teacher.

If these questions were asked by a number of mortgage holders currently in foreclosure 3 or 3 years ago, the current debacle would not exist. That in the headlines would simply be the health care crisis. Excellent article.