Dial Up A Mortgage

Before you jump online with your home deed in hand, there are several caveats to keep in mind. The sites don't yet offer many complex mortgages, like construction or loans with multiple buyers. Also, all four services began on the West Coast and sometimes don't offer the same breadth of lenders in Eastern states--particularly those with arcane mortgage laws like New York and Florida. IPI Financial Services president Doug Naidus says you can make sure you're getting a good deal by comparing the rates of the national online services with traditional lenders, or local online lenders like IPI's own site for Manhattan, www.nyfinance.com.

And while the loan sites insist that online borrowing is for first-timers, too, many real-world brokers say otherwise. Though the services generally do a good job of defining those mouth-drying concepts like ""negative amortization,'' brokers say that the Net can't replace a professional who helps clients slice through the voluminous paperwork and answers questions they don't even know to ask. ""You just don't get that kind of counseling online,'' says Charles Moore, a Bay Area real-estate agent since 1972. Moore also points out that if interest rates fall after you lock in your loan, a friendly broker might let you switch to the better rate, whereas the online lender (depending on the type of loan) will not.

Most industry watchers, on the other hand, think the real risk for today's home buyers is not looking online. ""If you don't, you'll have the very biased loan samples of mortgage brokers who may not find the best deal for you,'' says BankBoston Robertson Stephens analyst Gary Craft. The home mortgage is the most important financial transaction a family will ever make. Loan seekers should empower themselves with the best tools available.

GET YOUR LOAN HERE.COM

The various home-mortgage sites on the Web offer different kinds and levels of services. Here's some of what's available:

E-Loan www.eloan.com