Understand your mortgage offer
Guides to Loan Estimates, fees, points, and offer comparison. Every claim is backed by federal loan-level data from 2,706,510 real 2025 mortgages, or clearly labeled when it can't be. No lender partnerships, no affiliate links.
Guides
Closing costs
Am I Paying Too Much in Closing Costs? A 5-Minute Check
The number on your Loan Estimate that answers it, your state’s real medians, and the two situations where high costs are fine.
Comparing offers
Is My Mortgage Offer Competitive? How to Actually Check
The three numbers lenders compete on, what borrowers paid in 2025 by state, and a worked example of a lower rate that costs more.
Loan Estimates
How to Read a Loan Estimate: A Line-by-Line Guide
What every section of the three-page federal form means, which numbers the lender controls, and where the negotiable money hides.
Loan Estimates
Loan Estimate vs. Closing Disclosure: What Can Legally Change
The federal tolerance rules: which fee increases are allowed, which entitle you to a refund, and the ten-minute comparison to run before closing.
Mortgage fees
Which Mortgage Fees Are Negotiable? (And the Script for Asking)
Lender-set vs. shoppable vs. fixed fees, the Section A stacking pattern to watch for, and the exact words that move the number.
Discount points
Are Mortgage Points Worth It? The Break-Even Math
Points are a bet on how long you keep the loan. The break-even formula, a worked example, and the cases where points quietly lose.
Comparing offers
Can I Switch Lenders Before Closing? Yes: Here’s What It Costs
Legal any time before you sign. The real costs (appraisal, timeline, rate lock) and the order of operations that uses a competing offer as leverage first.
Lender credits
Lender Credit vs. Lower Rate: The Break-Even Math
A credit is points in reverse: cash now, a higher payment forever. The break-even month on the median 2025 loan, and why "no-closing-cost" is neither.
Data & methodology
How Much House Can I Afford? (calculator)
Start from your income (yearly or hourly) or from a max payment like $3,000/month. Uses today’s average of actual locked rates.
TermVerify Closing Cost Index, 2025 Edition
Our annual index covers 3.78 million federally reported loans, with every state ranked and purchase separated from refinance. Free to cite.
Benchmark methodology
Exactly how our market comparisons are computed from public CFPB HMDA data: filters, definitions, and limitations.
Have a Loan Estimate in hand?
Skip the reading. Upload it and get a grade, market comparison, and negotiation scripts in about a minute.
Analyze my Loan Estimate