A buyer should seriously consider using a lender recommended by their Realtor to avoid unethical lenders like the one in Bob Bruss’ column mentioned below.
A lender referred to you by your Realtor will want to do a good job for you not just because your a great person but also because your Realtor won’t send them any more business if they do a bad job for you.
It is illegal for a lender to pay a referral fee of any kind to a Realtor. So Realtors tend to recommend lenders who do good work for their clients.