The Internet is proving to be a more useful in the hunt for financing than it is for finding a real estate agent or locating houses for sale, according to new research sponsored by the Mortgage Bankers Association. But even in the quest for mortgage money, most folks still turn to humans when they apply for a loan.

The findings seem to contradict what some purveyors of new technology would have us believe, mainly that the Internet will replace the traditional (some say old-fashioned) method of buying and selling houses.

More than four out of five people used the web in one way or another during the lending process, an on-line survey of 1,005 Internet users who purchased a house or obtained a mortgage last year found.

But less than four out of five used the web to search for possible houses and only about half went on-line to obtain information about the home buying process itself. And in perhaps the most surprising finding, only 26 percent used the web to find an agent.

These findings tend to rebut the popular wisdom that the Internet is where most people are turning to find houses and representation. In fact, they indicate that the web is only one means toward those ends, and not necessarily an important one, at least not yet.

The survey, which was taken for the MBA by Greenfield Online, found that for the most part, on-line home buyers turned to the Internet for information about mortgage rates. About half used the web to obtain information about financing in general.

But only one in four web-users found their lender on-line, only 12 percent applied for financing on-line and just 3 percent closed on-line.

Web-usage was about evenly distributed between first-time and repeat buyers. But it was greater for people who were refinancing.

Almost 95 percent of the borrowers who were turning in their old loans for new ones went on-line, the survey found. Also, nearly half found their lender or loan broker on the Internet, three out of ten were pre-approved or pre-qualified on-line, almost that many applied on-line and 7 percent closed on-line.

Slightly more rookie buyers used the web to find houses than move-up buyers, the survey also found. First-timers also used the Internet more often than those taking their second, third or even fourth swipe home buying to obtain information on the process and to find an agent.

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Published: May 21, 2001

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