Compare the APRs on each offering, then ask for concessions. Yes, you've worn them down and made them compete against other lenders, but you still need to negotiate one more time.

There are four things you must absolutely do in order to compare apples to apples, or mortgage quote to mortgage quote:

1. Get your rate quotes on the same day, at the same time of day.
2. Get a rate quote on one loan program only.
3. Get a rate quote for a time frame long enough to cover your transaction.
4. Get a quote for all the lender fees associated with that rate.

They can't be. Okay, someone might be a little lower, but lenders and brokers all get their mortgage money from the same place, so any differences will be marginal. When I was a mortgage broker I would get interest rate sheets faxed to us each and every day from our wholesale lenders. Probably forty to fifty different lenders would solicit our business that way.

Interest rates in newspapers are days old. Many newspapers around the country publish their ''interest rate surveys'' in the Sunday paper, usually in the real estate or business section. Many papers cut off their advertisements for businesses on Thursday mornings, so the interest rates you see aren't from that Sunday; they're from the previous Thursday morning.

The best time to get rate quotes is in the morning after any governmental reports on the economy are released. Most reports are released by 9:00 a.m. (EST), though some come before and some come a little after. If you check interest rates late in the day the markets may be closed, and if you check too early in the morning lenders may not have had time to price their rates for that day.

Of course not, but you need to understand how economic reports can affect mortgage rates. And you must understand how mortgage rates are priced before you can begin to negotiate. Otherwise, you won't know why interest rates went up, down, or sideways for no apparent reason.

Some reports may impact interest rates more than others. Some reports might cause a reaction in the markets one day and then be completely meaningless the following day. It's only important that you understand how daily economic data can make an interest rate move in the course of a few minutes after a report's release. Any report that suggests good economic news will be portrayed as bad for the bond market, causing interest rates to rise. Reports that foretell a future recession may cause rates to fall.