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Online mortgage quote

By: Paul Lerner, Sat Jan 7th, 2006

While shopping online for online mortgage quote can be great in terms of saving time and convenience, it won't necessarily get you the best deals available. What you save depends to a great extent on the way you negotiate with lenders for the online mortgage quote. Like with any negotiation, you get the upper hand when you are knowledgeable about how the industry works.

One of the main precautions to take on when looking for online mortgage quotes is to ensure that the brokers you deal with represent several different lending institutes and therefore can offer you a good variety of options. Beware of brokers who are merely lender agents in disguise. If a broker represents only one bank or lender, there is a great likelihood that you will not be offered the online mortgage quote that is most suitable for your needs.

In devising consumer protection laws for online mortgage quotes and increasing convenience, states have ultimately ended up having an adverse impact on competition, apart from making online mortgage costs higher than necessary.

Explaining The Costs Most states do not require online mortgage businesses to have a brick and mortar presence. However about one third of all states make this a mandatory requirement. Due to this, the expenses increase. Laws of this nature have prevented mortgage brokers from being exclusively online and offering much lower rates.

It is mostly the existing brick and mortar mortgage brokers who are the blame for the laws in a bid to minimize competition. The laws have also led to a multi-state licensing system due to which national mortgage firms with a presence in all states get an unfair online advantage over the competition. These companies don't have to put in money into costly infrastructure apart from enjoying lower transaction costs and can therefore offer lower rates to consumers.

The Bottom Line The reality is that the online companies who face compulsion to bear the costs of renting offices, employing a workforce and infrastructure and equipment which they would otherwise not require, choose to avoid doing business in that particular state altogether.

The end result is that it is the consumer who is eventually at a disadvantage. Their options are limited further for sources of capital and the competition among lenders is also less intense.

About the author: Paul Lerner enjoys writing about a variety of mortgage topics, including advice on getting an online mortgage quote.