Usually when people are buying a house they put a lot of thought and effort into making sure that they get the best home they can. Oddly most of these same people will put virtually no effort into making sure that they find the right mortgage lender. This is a mistake since choosing the right lender is at least as important as choosing the right house.
The reason that it is so vital that you compare mortgage lenders is that it is the only way to make sure that you are getting a good deal on your mortgage. The big thing that you really need to look at is the interest rate that is being offered. While it may seem like the rates don't differ all that much from one lender to another they in fact do. Because a mortgage lasts for such a long time even a small difference in the mortgage rate can really add up. Therefore you have to make sure that you find the lowest rate that you are able to get.
One thing that you have to be careful of when you are comparing mortgage lenders is to make sure that you are comparing the same thing. There are a lot of variations on mortgages when it comes to terms so you need to make sure that these are all the same otherwise your comparison will be meaningless. You also have to make sure that you are comparing fixed rate mortgages to fixed rate mortgages and variable rate mortgage to variable rate mortgages. There is little value to comparing the value of a thirty year fixed rate mortgage at My Aurora Loan to a fifteen year variable rate mortgage at your bank, the comparison will be meaningless.
Clearly getting the best possible interest rate is important but you can't let it cause you to ignore the other terms of the mortgage. For example if the closing costs of the mortgage that you take are a lot higher than you could have gotten elsewhere the lower interest rate may not be all that good of a deal. You also have to be aware of conditions like high prepayment penalties which will make it impossible for you to refinance down the road.
There are also certain intangibles that you need to look for when you are comparing mortgage lenders. These are not harder to identify but they are important. You want to find a lender who is willing to work with you and who honestly takes your needs into consideration. Really you are looking for somebody that you are comfortable working with. This is really just a gut feeling in a lot of cases but if you don't feel comfortable with a lender it is usually best to just move on and find someone else to deal with.