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Internet Life personal real estate

Securing a Mortgage

  BY LAMONT WOOD   

It's a dirty job, but if you want to buy a home, you're probably going to have to do it. We found several mortgage companies that offer general information, advice, and aids for the first-timer, and many more that take loan applications on-line. A few even offer software to help you analyze the financial particulars of your existing mortgage.



Borrowers who apply on-line at Norwest Mortgage are offered a coupon for a free appraisal, worth about $300 in most regions. We also saw a fine collection of FAQs and a list of ftp sites from which you can download home-loan mortgage analysis software. 4.0




The AAA National Mortgage Directory offers information on repairing bad credit, an expert who will answer your mortgage questions, and Web sites for lenders in all 50 states. We also saw current interest rates as well as general information on mortgages. The lenders listed here are generally national or multi-state firms.


Find out how large a loan you qualify for, based on your income. Waterfield Mortgage Inc. gets the palm for best graphics, simulating file folders with labels done by a plastic tape label-writer. The firm boasts 40 offices in 11 states. The FAQ here offers a good overview of mortgage buying.

There is, alas, much more to buying and owning a house then applying for a mortgage, so you might want to check out the home-owner information pamphlets available at the U.S. Government's Consumer Information Catalog. Topics covered include mortgage terminology; lawn care; pest eradication; energy efficient windows; and the health threats of pesticides, lead paint, and radon. The Consumer Information Center's TV commercials are also available free for downloading in AVI or QuickTime formats.

American Finance and Investment Inc. offers on-line rate quotes and non-binding closing-cost estimates. You can complete the extensive loan application on-line or download it.

Ryland Mortgage boasts that qualified applicants can get pre-approval in five minutes. (This, of course, is not the same as getting an underwritten, funded mortgage.) The on-line forms look much the same as those used by American Finance and Investment, so it's hard to see what's different about Ryland that lets it move so fast. The firm operates in 19 states and has a construction division.

Mortgage Tech boasts that it's the only place you can find every mortgage broker and lender on the Internet. First you click on your region on a national map, then on your state. Alas, while we saw plenty of lenders listed, some links were out-of-date and others led to "national" firms that actually do business only in their own states. The Texas list includes a link to the Bank of America, whose site did not mention mortgages, but did mention home equity loans, which are illegal in Texas. Undoubtedly, though, Mortgage Tech has the right approach.


Mortgage Market Information Services Inc. offers daily mortgage rate information as offered by selected lenders in major cities, by type (i.e., 30-year fixed, 15-year fixed) as well as a financial newsletter. You can find mortgage lenders by state, too, but the list is tiny compared with Mortgage Tech's and appears to list mostly the site's advertisers. Complete with well-done graphics, this would be an excellent site if it were more comprehensive.

Private Mortgage Insurance Cancellation is a subject all property owners should understand. This company has designed software that tells you when and how you can drop your private mortgage insurance, which you may have been required to carry if you paid less than 20 percent down. Read all about PMI_out! for Windows and read samples of cancellation request letters and applicable regulations.

National Mortgage Investments Co. Inc. invites you to be your own loan officer and thus avoid paying a hefty loan origination fee. Unfortunately, just how you do this is not made clear.

A broad (but not terribly deep) collection of information on mortgages, real estate, apartments, and related topics is available at Homebuyer's Fair.

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Norwest Mortgage

The AAA National Mortgage Directory

Waterfield Mortgage Inc.

Consumer Information Catalog

American Finance and Investment Inc.

Ryland Mortgage

Mortgage Tech

Mortgage Market Information Services Inc.

Private Mortgage Insurance Cancellation

National Mortgage Investments Co. Inc.

Homebuyer's Fair