A Mortgage Banker lends their own money to you to purchase a home. A Mortgage Broker works with many different lenders to find the money for you to purchase a home.

The short answer is "as many as it takes to find a home for you".

The long answer is complicated and will likely change depending on your circumstances.

Purchasing a home will most likely be the single largest investment someone ever makes. As such, it is important to make sure you find a home that meets your current, and future, needs.

We tell our buyers to list home qualities and features into three categories:
1) Must Haves -- things you simply can not live without
2) Nice to Haves -- things that would be nice, but you could do without
3) Can't Haves -- things you simply can not live with.

Armed with a detailed list of these three items, a good agent can include and exclude many homes from your potential search. As more homes are visited, it becomes easier (most of the time) to refine the potential homes that may work for you. Be prepared, sometimes you may find things actually move around in your three categories!

Before you begin viewing homes it is important to discuss in detail with your agent the strategy and approach you will take to find, and view homes. Everyone is different.

Generally speaking, only "livable space" is included in determining the square footage of a home. Garages, unfinished attics and basements for example are not included when calculating square footage.

"Livable space" is a bit tricky though. Hallways and closets are included when determining a homes square footage, and no one really lives in a hall or closet. However it'd be difficult to live in a home that didn't have closets and halls...

Additions to a home often cause a lot of difficulty in calculating square footage. The laws in your area may effect how additions are counted. Square footage numbers are usually taken from previous sales data, tax records (which are often incorrect) or builders plans. An appraiser may be your best bet for determining the true square footage of a home as they are typically skilled in measuring square footage.