Mortgage Brokers

[cec2417]

I know this is not really a FICO related question but I know there are some morgage brokers on this forum that seem very knowledgable.  I wanted to know if anyone knows what the average fee for mortgage brokers is in the Northern VA area.  The broker that we have been working with was recommended by a friend and he seems to be pretty knowledgable but another friend mentioned that he actually had to switch to someone else because this guy's rates were too high.  He is only charging us a 1% origination fee which I didn't think was all that bad.  Anyone have any insight?  TIA

[ShanetheMortgageMan]

The fee shouldn't be as important as the terms being offered to you... if the terms are better than any other offer the fee shouldn't matter, as you wouldn't go somewhere that is offering worse terms just to know your mortgage broker isn't getting paid a fee.  If it is a bad offer, or you feel it is, you are free to shop around... you have the power.  Brokers can get paid in 2 different ways, on the "front", meaning processing fees, mortgage broker fees, and origination fees... or on the "back", giving you a rate that is higher than the "par" rate, which would pay the broker a commission from the lender (called yield spread premium).  They are required to full disclose their compensation on the final settlement statement (called a Final HUD-1).  Banks also get compensated in a similar way, except for they are not required to disclose their compensation that is being made "on the back".