so important that once you’ve got your fin ances in order and you’ve hired a professional mortgage broker, you search for homes that are within your budget. Don’t waste your time looking for homes that aren’t a ff ordable for you, and for which you will not get approval for a loan — especially if you just so happen to fin d your “dream home” — a dream that will always be just out of reach. Better to stick to your budget! Researching homes that are for sale on the market is easy today, since you can fin d, and then view, most of them online. Further, many online tools can help you with calculations. Th ese tools will give you a general idea of what you’d be getting yourself into by factoring in your income, expenses, and overall mortgage a ff ordability. However, don’t forget to include your mortgage broker in this process, as he or she is the one who will be able to give you the best advice and options, as well as help determine the best loan for your needs a ft er the calculations are complete. Now that you’ve ident ifi ed the house that you want to buy, and you have a professional mortgage advisor, how do you get the best mortgage deal? COMPARE INTEREST RATES When shopping for home loans and looking for the best deal, the fir st step involves a comparison of the diff erent interest rates. As mentioned, rates can (and do) change regularly, and sometimes quite quickly, so it’s important to stay on top of this. If you’ve hired a mortgage broker, you’ll already be at an advantage for fin ding a good deal based on their current, up-to-date knowledge of the housing market and changing interest rates. It’s fairly straightforward to get mortgage interest rate quotes from banks and mortgage lenders, since most of these companies o ff er their services, including updated interest rates, online. Generally, you want to be looking for low interest rates, but your broker can 97
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