When shopping for a mortgage, the general consumer can become confused when viewing the fees lenders charge.  Even if you've bought or refinanced several times in the past, it can still be confusing. 

It doesn't matter if you are applying for a Conventional, FHA, or VA loan.  The Good Faith ESTIMATE (GFE) is very critical when shopping for a mortgage. But you have to be careful because more than 75% of this piece of paper is an ESTIMATE.  Some loan officers will cut corners just to make their total estimate look good.

Three things that you want to look for when you first look at your GOOD FAITH ESTIMATE (GFE):

• Look at the Loan Program and make sure this is the program that you want or discussed with your Loan officer.  If it was an ARM (adjustable rate mortgage) or whatever, it should say so, etc. (found top right of page)
  
• Look at the Rate. Make sure this is what you discussed when speaking to your loan officer. (Found towards top, middle of page)
  
• Then the lender fees.  Everything in section 801 to 820 would be the lenders fees , the fees the lender has to pay to obtain your loan (such as discount points, flood cert., tax service, wire, underwriting, etc.) which lenders want to recoupe for doing your lolan.  Don't ever be fooled if one lenders fee is higher than the other. The bottom line should be your main concern, how much does it totally cost you to do the loan or how much cash is required (downpayment) for the particular loan.  If you are unsure which fees can be tax deductible, you may want to speak to your accountant to find out what can be written off.  Usually just the points can be written off (so be happy to pay more points).  And some lenders make their GFEs seem like there are no fees, but that is impossible -- they're not going to work for nothing or have it cost them.  What you may see is a charge on line 808, the mortgage broker fee (if the loan is being brokered to a lender) or it may be a fee to pay down your rate some (which can also be used in the discount points charged.  Again check with your accountant if these fees can be written off.  Overall, you need to compare apples to apples not oranges!

Conclusion :  You can't always shop for total fees., however.  Compare the lenders fees the most. In the state of New Jersey, the clients taxes are escrowed every quarter. That means that your taxes are paid every 3 months. But generally you will be reimbursing the seller in regards to the taxes that were already paid for in advance and what the lender will need to escrow. This usually comes out to 4 months that would need to be collected. Know your states requirements. I was being compared to another lender who only used 3 months. He also lowered the title insurance by $300. It's very easy for a loan officer to say at closing, "these aren't my fees, so all I can do is give an estimate."  Word of advice, yes, it's an estimate.  But if they have been doing this for sometime, they should have a good idea of these other fees. Also, if they don't know, they should be asking the title company or someone else. Lastly, just be careful, because some of these figures are not worth the paper that they are written on. It's just that, an estimate based on good faith. Make sure that you always speak with a Mortgage Professional.  Just be careful not to shop yourself right out of the market. 

Lastly, if you have 3 good faith estimates in front of you, always go back to the person that you had the best feeling with, that you are comfortable the most with, and share the other 2 with them. Just don't run to the person with the best rate and or fees. I always like my clients to come back to me no matter what. I might be able to point something out to them. And this topic must be discussed when receiving a GFE, otherwise this GFE doesn't mean squat.

Reminder : Don't always compare the APR also. Keep in mind, rates change daily. Don't take a week to shop. And if someone takes more than a half a day to get you a good faith estimate, this might be a red flag or just busy, but if I am not really busy, it would take me a few hours. If I am really busy, less than 24 hours. If it takes a few days, run, don't walk from this individual.