By now you know that if you are in the market to get a home mortgage, you should get at least three offers. Only by getting several offers from different companies can you see the differences in competing loan packages. But here's another tip help make that comparison easier.

When you get your quotes you'll notice that the lender will be trying to steer you into a favored loan package. The problem with that is that you're likely to get three different proposals that you can't compare apples to apples. So here's what you do.

Decide on your terms. Let's say 30 year mortgage, fixed interest rate, no points and a 20% downpayment. Now go to your different lenders and tell them you want a quote on exactly that kind of loan. If they try to shuffle you off to some other loan terms tell them upfront that you are trying to compare different quotes and so you must have all lenders quoting on the exact same terms.