Everyone shopping for a mortgage loan wants to obtain the lowest rate possible, that's obvious. However, I do not believe everyone knows where to shop for the lowest rate. The actual rate a home owner ends up with will ultimately depend on the financial markets and the ability of the loan officer to properly read market conditions for the optimum timing to lock their clients rate. However, if all elements were equal then how do you know who can offer the best deal? There are three primary places to obtain a mortgage loan and those are from a banker, broker and lender. Below is a brief description of each, and my opinion of their services.
The Banker: Loan officers working at a brick and morter bank where consumers also have checking or savings accounts. These institutes might also provide additional services for consumer loans, investment choices, insurance and more. This type of mortgage operation is typically more of a corporate structure, has mutliple locations and the loan officers usually have to conform to the same rate and fee structure to keep a consistent offering between all branches. The loans offered are sold directly to the investor and not much brokering outside of the banks own product line is offered. A positive note, bankers typically service the loan after closing so consumers can visit the branch to make payments and ask questions about their loan. A negative, bankers typically have higher rates because they have to pay for several layers of management, a large support staff, and have more buildings to maintain.
The Broker: Loan officers working as a mortgage broker make up 50% of the loans delivered to consumers. Typically a broker will have more of a personal approach to their business since they may not have the name 
recoginiton of a large bank associated to their business. None of the loans offered will be serviced by the broker, meaning after close the consumer will need to contact the lender for questions concerning their loan. However, the loan options offered are endless since a broker will have several lender relationships established to cover nearly any lending requirement a borrower may present. It isn't acurate to say that broker fees are higher than a banker because they are the middle man. The fact is, a broker is a independent agent working for himself and has the ability to set his or her own fees according to their own business structure. However, a broker will almost always offer a lower rate than the banker because of the lower overhead a broker has. Little known fact; consumers receiving a rate qoute from their banker will be surprised to learn the same loan from their bank can actually carry a even lower rate by going through a broker.
The Lender: Loan officer working as a lender has all the advantages as a broker, but also works for a company which has the ability to sell and service their own loans. Typically, these types of loans are a niche product which is a loan not being offered by the larger institutions.
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