Two of my lenders sent their "closing cost" estimates for a loan amount of about $50k.

One guy seems to have included everything and the kitchen sink (termite inspection, entire year of home insurance, courier fee, etc). 

One guy seems to have left some things out.

In order to compare apples to apples, which portion of their estimates should I look at?

Just the "lending fees /origination fee / loan charge"? Or the APR?

In other words, if the prepaids and escrows and title searches are going to cost approximately the same regardless of lender, which portions can tell me which lender is a better deal?

Many thanks! Brian

When were these LE (Loan Estimates) given to you? Is this for a conventional mortgage? The old days of lowballing fees to make your deal look better are pretty much gone. Effective 10/3/2015, Lenders are required to close as it was disclosed (unless there is a legitimate change of circumstance) and eat fees not properly disclosed for the most part. Any fee you can shop for, has a fee increase tolerance test it has to pass. Any fees you cannot shop for, have zero tolerance for fee increase. APR is not necessarily the best indicator of a good loan, as it only represents the amount of money you are borrowing as an annualized interest rate. So if a lender has low-balled their fees, you won't get an accurate APR anyway.

Any costs and fees that will be required for you to close this loan, by law have to be included in the LE.  At the same time, any fees that will not be charged, should not be included in the LE.  Hope this helps.