The second lender came in 0.375 lower. Here's what changed.

I've been planning this purchase for over a year and financing was the part I was most afraid of, so I want to write down what actually happened.

Small three bedroom, $268,000 purchase, 20 percent down. My credit union quoted me first and I nearly took it because they were friendly and I already banked there. Instead I gave the same file to a broker someone here suggested I try.

He came back with three options. The credit union number, one lender 0.125 higher with lower fees, and one lender 0.375 lower with a $1,900 origination fee. I did not know how to compare those, so I asked him to put all three on paper next to each other with the total I would pay at closing and the monthly payment. That single request is the thing I would keep. Once it was on one page the middle option was obviously worse than the other two and the cheapest one depended on how long I hold the house. At my numbers the 0.375 lower rate paid back the $1,900 in about fourteen months, and I'm not planning to sell or refinance inside of two years, so I took it.

The part that nearly broke it. My down payment had a $6,000 transfer from a family member sitting in it from four months earlier and underwriting wanted the paper trail. I did not have the original statement showing where it came from. It took nine days to get it and my lock had eighteen days left. If that had happened in the last week of the lock I think I would have paid an extension fee.

Broker was paid by the lender, not by me, which he disclosed up front and I asked him to explain twice. I still don't fully understand how that changes what he shows me, and that's the thing I'd want to learn before I do this again.