I'm not sure I've seen a summary of how the process goes or the little fees that pop up during the purchase process. I started my purchase with an accepted offer 4/25/11. I had already run the numbers and gotten some preliminary results from a broker recommended from my agent. Once my offer was accepted and started transfering funds into escrow i revisited the internet and making phone calls to lenders comparing apples to apples and stumbled upon my previous CU I had my car financed through a few years ago.
My first "fee" was the option period hold of $50
After I came under contract there was a deposit of sorts for $1700 to the escrow account
Appraisal fee $425
Inspection through some hunting $140
Condo "resale certificate" $75
Condo application fee to the HOA $200
This was all within a matter of 7-10 calander days. At this point you definitely have some skin in the game and not backing out unless there's some bigger issues found through inspection or appraisal.
The CU UW approved everything after submitting all the req'd info e.g. W2's for 2 years, ID, 1040's. 4506-T, 1099's, pay stubs, etc.
They submitted the file over to the "investor" they had for the loan and they came up with some additional "conditions" e.g. letter showing all dates of employment / unemployment, copy of BK disharge, updated pay / bank statements, etc. They also decided since they hadn't had any transactions on my condo development they needed an expanded 5 pp condo questionnaire from the HOA. The original condo quest was 2 pp and not as detailed. We were on track to close by the time the seller had designated up until this additional requirement. The CU paid the $75 for the additional quest and absorbed the cost which was nice.
Setting up utilities was easy enough to do online and insurance for the new place through my current agent. The ins agent coordinated the coverage options w/ the CU directly.
Escrow covered Insurance and any additional req'd fees / costs.
I ended up with a total due @ closing of $6609 on a 169900 purchase / 161405 funded loan. 5% of sales price was $8495 of which I ended up giving the title co. $8400 as the seller paid 3% closing costs since she was a broker and it was her comission for selling her own property.
All in all the process took 4 weeks to complete but, it could've been done in 3 from app to close. I did most of the legwork remotely through e-mail / fax due to work travel and the CU physically located in Austin and living in Dallas.
I got the loan through www.ufcu.org
I have Allstate in Dallas
Used Keller Williams
[Edited to remove personal information]
I hope this gives everyone some insight on the process / costs / etc. and puts you at ease going into the process. There will be a bunch of faxing and questions in the process but it's pretty painless when you think about the investment you're making. It's kind of a toss up between dealing w/ Amex and buying a car. If you want more info or contact info for anyone feel free to PM me on here and I will forward their contact info since the Mods will wipe it out if I post it. Best of luck to everyone working throught he process and yes YOU CAN DO IT!!!
Don't forget to breathe, eat right, and try to get some sleep 
[Posting of personal information is not permitted by the FICO Forums Terms of Service. So yes, when you posted the contact information above, one of us mods did indeed wipe it out. ]