Buying real estate usually means that you will be spending a lot of cash. That cash is, usually, money borrowed as a home or housing loan, from lending agencies or banks. You can also hire a 'mortgage broker' (also known as 'Courtier hypothecaire' in the French language) for buying a home.

If you are not familiar with the details of obtaining loans, housing loans can be especially complicated and you may need to obtain the services of anyone of many mortgage brokers waiting to help you out. Mortgage brokers are professionals, trained and licensed to promote loan facilities provided by lending agencies or banks.

Mortgage brokers may be private individuals or even a company, but do not actually do any lending to anyone. They act as brokers or middlemen between you and a lending agency.

A major plus point of using the services of a mortgage broker is that they have many contacts giving you the flexibility of choice. While obtaining a loan, it would be usually you, who would go searching for the best terms, but in this case, the mortgage brokers do all the leg work for you.

They will help you to analyze your financial status and creditworthiness and set up connections with the lending institution making the best match with those criteria, from their list of contacts. You should lay out the terms and rates that you can accept, and your broker can then make a good and acceptable selection of lender for you.

Speak with several such mortgage brokers. Call your friends, colleagues and family members, and ask for referrals. Search online too and look up broker sites that are being used heavily. However, please verify your compatibility, before making your choice of the broker!