Mortgage Quotes

Comparison shopping is the key to getting the best price at just about anything you can name. Why is it, then, that people who will hit five different stores to get the best deal on a $500 computer are afraid to comparison shop when they're making the most important purchase of their lives? If you're in the market for a home, comparison shopping for your mortgage is the single most important thing you can do to cut your costs. When you're dealing with hundreds of thousands of dollars and up to forty years, a fraction of a percentage point in interest payments can save you thousands of dollars over the life of the loan.

How much you can save by shopping around for mortgage quotes

Because the 'prime lending rate' is easily available in the newspaper, online and at banks, people make the assumption that there is a standard lending rate. The fact of the matter is that every lender has its own standards for evaluating borrowers. While larger lenders and 'safe' lenders like banks may offer most of their loans at the same rate to people with specific credit scores, many non-traditional lenders are far more flexible with their lending rates. In addition, since every lender has their own 'preferred' lender profile, the same borrower may see variances as high as .5% between lenders. One half of one percent may not seem like much, but those tenths of a point add up over the life of a forty year mortgage. How much? Take a look:

EXAMPLE:

$250,000 mortgage over 40 years

Interest Rate Monthly Payment Total Repayment

5.75% $1,332.22 $639,465.60
5.25% $1,247.18 $598,646.40
0.50% $85.04 $ 40,819.20

In other words, one half of one percent can save you $85 a month, or a total of nearly $41,000 over the life of the loan. Imagine what you could do with $1,000 a year? The monthly savings is only a start, though. If you take that $85 and put it into savings or investments at a mere 6.5% per month, at the end of forty years, you'll own your house outright, and you'll have $ 196,260.25 in savings.
Convinced of the value of shopping around for the best interest rate? Then let's talk about how to effectively shop for the best mortgage interest rate.