When searching for the lowest mortgage rates, don't forget to compare loans by APR. But be careful:

Different lenders have different ways of calculating the costs included in the APR. This means that a loan for the same dollar amount and number of points may have a different APR with a different lender.

Overall, the APR can be misleading. The method of calculating the cost of a loan as a yearly rate assumes that the loan will not be paid off until ;the end of the loan term. Most loans are for 30 years, but many people pay off their loans within the first five to eight years because they move or refinance. One way to compare the real cost of different loans is to use the online mortgage and financial calculators at Fannie Mae's HomePath (www.homepath.com).

Another way to shop for the lowest mortgage interest rates is to check out the following companies. Each firm offers up-to-the-minute regional ornational interest rate quotes. However, none ofthese firms are mortgage lenders:

HSH Associates (www.hsh.com/mtgrates.html)lists the current mortgage rates offered by hundreds of mortgage lenders around the country. The firm is an independent source of mortgage information and does not originate loans.

MortgageQuotes (www.mortgagequotes.com) includes more than 64 loan programs for every state, hundreds of lenders, and has thousands of mortgage rates that are constantly updated.

Mortgage Link (www.sjmercury.com/svlife/ realestate/mortgage/), sponsored by the SanJose Mercury News, allows you to search for the rates by loan type, lender name, and amount.

Additional information includes the lates trate averages and current adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) index readings.

Mortgage-net (www.mortgage-net.com/trends) has links to articles, data on current and historical interest rates, bond rates, the Shirmery Report on interest rate movements,and the U.S. Department of Commerce,Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. Findout if you should buy now or wait for a lower interest rate.