It's fast. It's easy. It's state of the art. What simpler way could you think of to apply for a home loan than sitting at your home computer, filling in the on-line loan application, and waiting for a response? So why haven't home builders dispensed with their in-house lending staff or preferred lenders when they can institute this cyber-loan convenience for their new home buyers?

Probably for the same reason not everyone can use mail order to shop for clothes. It's the human touch; the buyer who needs reassurance, the couple who is saving money for the down payment, the single mom who is cleaning up her credit after a divorce and needs guidance. It's the buyers who go to the builder's design center and spends more than they thought they would (it was all so gorgeous!), so now they need to qualify for a higher loan amount, and perhaps a different loan program. As great as on-line lending may be, it just doesn't replace the real thing. Real loan officers have names and faces you can somehow relate to, and buyers' lives have pictures and stories attached to them they may be unwilling to share with a computer keyboard and the cyber-cosmos.

New home buyers still seem to prefer the person-to-person sales contact in a model home complex, kicking the tires on a model home, and chatting with someone to "walk the dirt" with them and help them make a decision on whether to buy a new home in a particular community. As I have mentioned in many of my articles, home buying tends to be an emotional process for most buyers. It's not just a house -- it's a home. It's not just a lot -- it's a home site, where their holidays and dreams will unfold. And it's not just a loan, it's their financial history. Many new home buyers just want someone real, knowledgeable and friendly sitting across a desk from them, giving them all their options for financing in order to achieve these dreams.

That's not to say that the on line lending phenomenon is not an incredible innovation within the mortgage industry. If your goal is to refinance your existing loan, pre-qualify on-line to see how much house you can buy before your start looking, or add a second mortgage, the drama and personal touch you may require when purchasing a home may not be so acute. Loan originations and approvals have been known to be incredibly quick on-line. Closings remain a challenge, however, when hard copy documentation is necessary and original signatures are required. And then, there's the privacy factor. A lot of people have a tough enough time buying items over the internet using their credit cards, let alone inputting extremely sensitive personal information for a disembodied mortgage loan officer.

Builders are definitely into accountability. They want real live loan officers to make themselves available to meet buyers and potential buyers at their subdivisions, attend their sales meeting armed with loan statuses on their buyers, and be available for last minute closing frenzies. Builders want some kind of control and assurance from their loan officers that they are indeed building a home for someone who is going to make to all the way to closing, avoiding as many hitches as possible. A loan officer known to the builder as one with a good track record tends to minimize their risk in the long run.

The techno-crystal ball may predict that on-line lending may replace real live loan officers someday, but perhaps, as they say, "people who need people" will not disappear from the home buying process as long as new home builders have anything to say about it.

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Published: May 7, 1999

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Editor's Note: This article reflects the opinions of Dena Kouremetis only and not necessarily the views of this or any other publication, organization or Website owner.

A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.