Mortgage guides
Plain-English answers about Loan Estimates, lender fees, and rates, written from the same public data the inspection uses.
You cannot tell from the rate alone. A mortgage offer is good when its rate and fees match what the market charged borrowers like you on the day your loan was priced. Here is how to check.
The Loan Estimate is the three page pricing document your lender must send within three business days of your application. Here is what each page tells you and where the money hides.
A rate sheet, a fee worksheet, and a Loan Estimate are three different documents. How to tell which one your lender sent you and how to read each one.
The lender's own fees in Section A and the rate itself are the most negotiable numbers on your Loan Estimate. Some fees look fixed and are. Others look fixed and are not. Here is the map.
An LLPA is a pricing adjustment Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac apply based on your loan's risk features. You usually pay it inside your rate. Here is what moves yours and who gets a waiver.
Five ways to get a second opinion on a Loan Estimate, what each one can and cannot tell you, and where an independent read fits.
Yes, tools that read a Loan Estimate now exist, ours included. The three questions that judge any of them, what a real check measures, and what no tool can do.
Why a $13,000 closing costs number is usually three different things, and which lines on the Loan Estimate are the lender's own price.
2024 HMDA benchmarks for Section A lender fees by loan program and purpose. See where typical loans landed before you decide anything.
The 10 business day rule, the 3 day delivery rule, and how much shopping time you really have between offer and closing.
Yes. The Loan Estimate was standardized so you could compare offers. What sharing does, what it does not touch, and what to check before uploading it to review software.
Why credit score rate averages mislead, what the published agency pricing really says about your score band, and how to grade the rate you were actually quoted.
A locked rate has to be judged against the market on the day it was locked, not against today's headlines. The method, step by step.
Nobody honest can print one number, but the published agency pricing for this exact profile is public. What 780 and 20 percent down really buys.
Which fees the lender actually sets, what the public record shows for loans like yours, the rules that protect your estimate, and the three decisions available to you.
What lenders actually charged on loans this size in 2024 federal data, in dollars, not percent arithmetic. Purchase and refinance figures.
What lenders actually charged on $200,000 loans in 2024 federal data. Dollar figures by percentile, purchase and refinance, points included.
Percent rules mislead most at this size. What lenders actually charged on $400,000 loans in the 2024 federal record, in dollars.
A $500,000 loan sits at the seam of two measurement bands. What lenders actually charged, in dollars, from 2024 federal data.