Whether you are buying a new home, moving up or refinancing your current mortgage, it's a book destined to find a permanent space on your bookshelf. Many mortgage sites resemble Yellow Pages. If you use the Net to mortgage shop, check out the way the site compiles its list of lenders. If the site won't tell you, think twice about using it. In most cases, you can click on a link that will tell you how much the site charges lenders to join the site or how it attracts lenders.
Quality control is rare.
On-line affordability calculators can be simplistic. Many on-line calculators let you know the maximum amount the lender will let you sign for, not what you can really afford. Don't let software make your personal financial decisions. Mortgage sites let you shop around. One of the best reasons for shopping on-line is that there's no direct sales pressure and you can shop on your own time for rates and programs.