Originally Posted by
Danno
Do not worry about that hit to your credit score, if your score is that marginal that it can't take a tiny hit without impacting your credit worthiness, you have bigger problems. Also, I think the hard pull only comes with the actual application, not pre-approval, but I'm just a dentist. The mortgage broker should know this shit cold, and should be able to handle the fact that you are shopping around (or if you don't want to impact the relationship, ask a different broker who is giving you a quote).
Not all brokers/lenders follow the same policies, so it is possible someone else will calculate differently. Still, is the problem that you're not able to borrow as much as you'd like? If not, why does it matter? And if so, maybe you should rethink things...
Where are you located?
FWIW, I got competitive rates from my credit union, but not the best rates. The best rates came from a broker recommended by Cruiser on here. I also once got a smoking deal from a lender I found on zillow (also, looking on zillow was recommended on here, can't recall who). Northpointe Bank. Whole process went fairly smoothly and the rate and fees were insanely low, Cruiser's broker (who had been out of town when I needed the loan) said he probably couldn't have beaten it if he was in town.