Mortgage Shopping

I have not applied for a lot of mortgage loans in my life and maybe that is the core of my problem.  I thought that all loan rates were about the same and that it did not make much difference where I got my mortgage quote.   Recently I decided to shop around and in the process received several quotes from different companies.  The quotes varied as much as a point in interest and also widely in closing costs.  I can see now why it is important to shop for a mortgage just as if I was shopping for a new automobile or any thing else.