Strategy to get the best mortgage rate possible in Houston

[Tristan S.]

Hello everybody,

I am about to get my very first mortgage here in Houston, TX. What is the best strategy to get the lowest interest rate possible? I should be getting a classic 20% down for 30 years.

I feel like going from banks to banks is counter productive as they are all going to run my credit which is going to damage it each time. And who knows if they will actually offer the lowest interest they can provide.

Is there a way to get a broker? If yes, how is he getting paid? I would like to know if it's possible to find someone that is unbiased.

Please feel free to recommend me any good broker you had a good experience with here in Houston.

Thanks for your help.

[Michael Le]

There are a bunch of Internet brokers. They shouldn't be pulling your credit until you choose them and explicitly tell them you're okay and ready for them to do so. They'll all give you the lowest rate with the assumption of Excellent credit and then you just choose from there. That said, I refinanced recently and found some credit pulls that I did not authorize. Even so, as long as the pulls are done within a short period of time, it should only hit your credit once.

In case you're wondering, I got the best rate from First Internet Bank of Indiana. Not an endorsement - just who gave me the best rate and lender credit combo.