Getting Pre-Approved for your loan

~Shop rates, closing costs and reputation of mortgage brokers. Get references of past and current clients and call them.

~If you can not buy today with a good interest rate, wait to buy. Maybe you can lease purchase until you can get a good rate. The closing costs to refinance the loan to get a better rate, make it almost silly to buy when you can't get a good rate. And, since most all of the payment that you make monthly for a house payment is interest, it can add up quickly as wasted money.

~Don't look at houses until you have spoken to a lender. There is no since in starting to look at a 300K house if you can only buy 200K. There is a big difference!

~If you are not able to pay for two houses, don't go look at specific houses on the market until your house is sold. You lose all negotiating power when you make an offer contingent upon the sale of your home. Just be patient...when your house sells, there will be a whole new inventory on the market to choose from!