Zillow Branches Out

Many people have heard of Zillow, an Internet site that helps people determine property values. Now Zillow has branched out to matching up borrowers and lenders. Many Internet sites already do this. But what makes Zillow unique is that the borrower is not required to provide sensitive personal information, such as name, social security number, address, etc., in order to get a free rate quote.

The borrower creates an anonymous mortgage request. The money can be used for a purchase, refinance, or a home equity loan. The borrower will be asked to provide information on the property, type of loan, income, debt, and an estimate of his credit rating. Of course, the more accurate the information you provide, the more accurate the loan quotes you will receive.

Lenders (an unlimited number of them according to Zillow) review the mortgage requests and submit mortgage quotes for those requests. These will not be "insta-quotes" done by a computer but rather personalized, hand-written quotes. The quote consists of an interest rate with specific lender fees, easily broken down into average monthly payments that meets the requirements of a particular loan product (e.g., 30-year fixed rate).

The borrower can then review the quotes and contact any lender whose offer is appealing. Of course, once the borrower makes contact, they are no longer anonymous. And the borrower can not consider these quotes as actual loan offers. The lender will need to verify the borrower's information before a firm offer will be made.

A very nice feature of the site is that borrowers can rate lenders with whom they have been in contact. This rating system will be available to other borrowers, so they can consider an lender's "score" when deciding which lender to use.

I did a test of the site, requesting a 30 year fixed rate loan for a refinance. I received responses from three lenders. One offered me a 5 year fixed rate instead of the the 30 year rate I requested. I gave him a poor rating. But the other two offered reasonable rates and fees.

This is a great tool for anyone who is loan-shopping. Even if you don't use one of Zillow's lenders, it's a good way for you to compare rates and terms offered by other lenders.