Any "gotchas" with home loan referral services? Closing cost scams / things to look out for\

 I'm buying a new home. Perhaps not the most frugal choice, but then
I'm the type of person that will buy a new car and drive it "till the
wheels fall off" -- that can be a cost-effective way to own a car, and
I have the satisfaction of knowing I maintained the vehicle well
throughout its life.

Anyway... regardless of whether you prefer new or used with a home,
what should I look out for with home loans? Home loans seems to be one
of those areas where people can be bamboozled, esp. first time buyers,
because of all the jargon and options--making it, for a newbie,
difficult to compare apples to apples.

The builder doesn't have a preferred lender offering closing cost
concessions--supply and demand there; only a few lots left in the
subdivision and it's a tremendous location.

Basically, I'd prefer using a local mortgage person--being new to home
buying--but the frugal side of me is telling me to do my homework /
"due dilligence" and look on-line / use one of those referral services
like E-Loan / Lending Tree / etc.

Are there are "gotchas" to watch out for there? e.g. if you request
quotes, and "banks compete" as the ad says, are you legally locked
into picking one of the respondents?

What closing costs will a lender who wants my business "eat" / strike
out?

I'm a member of a great municipal credit union, but a friend of mine,
also a member, said he found a better deal through E*Trade loans--one
of the online places. So I guess the common wisdom that using a credit
union for most of one's banking isn't, after all, rock solid advice.

Thanks!

  On 5 Mar 2007 05:16:53 -0800, mikeerdas@yahoo.com wrote:


You are overlooking one key issue.    A new home today is not better
than an older home.     Quality of materials will be far superior in
an older home....they might have REAL wood in the home rather than
plastic componets.  

 
Sure, I can see that.

Then again, presumably a new home is built to more energy efficient
standards / better codes.

Some will say a home in a good area will appreciate at about the same
rate as others, so why not buy new? And I live in an area now reckoned
to be one of the Best Places to live in the country (great quality of
life, high job growth rate, great schools, universities, etc). I think
a new home here is a good investment. Tons of people are migrating
here and driving up the home prices. Same new house here would cost
roughly double in Northern VA, urban New England, a lot of California,
etc. I'm glad to get in before I am priced-out completely of the area
I already live in. So I'm not too concerned about getting a fixer
upper older home.

 
Unfortunately, there are scam artists all over -- on the web and sitting in
the coffee shops...

I agree that a one-on-one sit-down is much desired.  OTOH, these days a
shopper should not discount the web out of hand, especially if the vendor
just happens to be a web-based service/branch/sub of a known and trusted
company like your credit union.  I've done both, and both worked.  I've also
had a good one-on-one that turned sour (actually 2 of them) later because of
the companies that bought the loan servicing.