One of the first steps to purchasing a new home is to get pre-approved for a loan for a purchase price with which you are comfortable. This is the simple part of the equation, virtually a no-brainer in this Seller’s market. How do you shop for the best deal most efficiently? Find someone whom you trust and with whom you feel comfortable. Anybody can offer a great “deal,” but if he is unable to back this up with a Good Faith Estimate, run, do not walk, to another lender.

The Realestatejournal has a good article this morning on how to shop around. One aspect of the article with which disagree is this – Start by going online and checking rates advertised by big lenders on their Web sites — Countrywide.com, LendingTree.com, E-loan.com and WashingtonMutual.com, to name a few. These sites all post rates for a 30-year-fixed loan and a 15-year-fixed loan, as well as for some adjustable loan rates. If you have your credit pulled my multiple lenders outside of a certain period of time (I believe it is one month) your credit score will most likely go down. Be very careful with your credit score.