Zillow Advice: Mortgage - Changes to ZMM

The question remains - if ...

Sun, 02 Nov 2008 09:53:00 GMT

The question remains - if the purpose of this site is to compare lenders pricing, why should it include that which the lender has no control over, and varies by transaction, custom, or location.

Certainly those other items are significant for a buyers awareness of total costs to close, - but are of no consequence in a buyers initial pricing comparison. Once a buyer has selected one or several lenders to compare, that would be a better time to request, view, and compare more closely a complete detailed Good Faith Estimate. Keeping it simple yields more clarity to our pricing differences and is also easier to monitor for those who may try to mislead or be dishonest.

Backing up AA here re MASS. ...

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:27:00 GMT

Backing up AA here re MASS. Our fees are fairly standard here especially title insurance. As for the closing fee, the closing is done by an attorney and that is fairly standard. All the attorneys I work with will honor the fee we disclose.

G and Kat, I think it ...

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 16:22:00 GMT

G and Kat,

I think it may be a bigger issue in Cali. I can be within $100-$200 of closing costs including pre-paids up front in MA. It gives me an opportunity to educate the buyer to get the low baller backpedling earlier in the process, trying to explain why they left things off as well as quantifying what they will pay at closing. If I couldn't nail down the actual costs upfront...This would be a nightmare.

I think a good way to compare ...

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:30:00 GMT

I think a good way to compare it is this:

You go to best buy to check out a new computer... you also go to 4 other major electronics stores and get a price quoted (all for the same model).... now you can compare apples to apples which has the best price.

What we have done is equivalent to then asking them to also each quote our monthly electricity costs to run the computers. No matter who we buy the computer from it is going to use the same amount of power, and they can kinda guess how much electricity is going to be used, but no one is going to have an exact number, and some are going to be way off from eachother making the total cost look more expensive on one vs another, even though in reality the other may be less.

AA I HIGHLY disagree that ...

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:24:00 GMT

AA I HIGHLY disagree that it makes it a more thorough process and "easier" to spot the junk. It is much easier when you are comparing lender rates/fees to lender rates/fees. These fees are the same regardless of lender, but are pretty much impossible to accurately quote in California, far too many variables. Now you have a perfect opportunity for people to be able to get away with quoting inaccurately since it would be very difficult to prove otherwise, let alone the new opportunity for abuse!

I can only speak for Michigan, ...

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 15:18:00 GMT

I can only speak for Michigan, but the title insurance cost is pretty standard so it is no great effort to be quoting it for a purchase or a refi. The issue that does concern me is the closing fee. I am more concerned about the fact that since the changes I see half the quotes without these costs being listed. I am more concerned that origination isn't adding to the costs, and that I can't put in discount charges by an .125.

All you need to do is open up a title chart and put in your notes a disclaimer that it is a estimate. This isn't too much to ask, but what is too much to ask is that the fee don't add or can't be inputted correctly and that every lender doesn't have to put these fees in.

Completely misses the point. ...

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:44:00 GMT

Completely misses the point. They are asking us to give figures that we cannot give. There are far too many variations of what can end up as escrow fees in California to even try to be accurate. It's ridiculous to even try.

If your car is in need of an oil change and a new set of tires, and you take it to the tire shop, you cannot expect them to know how much the oil change will cost you at Jiffy Lube. Sure they can guess, but are you not going to get your tires from them if the guy down the street is selling tires for the same price but says your oil change at Jiffy lube is $5 less? It is what it is and what they say makes no difference at all. It's pointless to speculate and compare when the matter at hand is how much the tires cost!

Zillow refuses to accept that we cannot accurately give a meaningful figure for escrow fees unless we see the purchase contract or contact the ecsrow/title company. It just cannot be done!

It's a pointless figure anyway because it's a constant in the process that need not be compared. There is nothing that will change this simple fact and no way to make it seem other than it is. If you add another variable, it will get manipulated ... especially a variable that cannot be defined.

I like the changes. I ...

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 03:27:00 GMT

I like the changes.

I know it's not popular but the more detail a lender is required to enter the easier it is to spot the junk.

No excuses for fees not being listed. If a loan has no fees..point blank it's a bogus quote. What will make this work is consumers getting that message.

It would be nice if Zillow would inform consumers when they make a quote that when reviewing quotes to make sure they pay attention to the fees. No loan is closed without them and if there is a discrepancy between quotes you need to understand why...No magic loans, No magic Lenders.....If there is a big difference between 2 one is being hones and upfront the other is Full of crap....Lot of the Crap out there right now!

Do the right thing, have a little faith in Zillow....not good for the site if consumers get screwed by lenders they met through this site. Perception is reality.

In my opinion, Zillow, in ...

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:52:00 GMT

In my opinion, Zillow, in their admirable attempts at improvement, has strayed off track in regards to their Zillow Mortgage execution.

On a competitive mortgage quote site like Zillow, if you want to compare different lenders offerings, the ONLY thing specific to that purpose is the:

1) loan program

2) lock period

3) Rate

4) 800 fees

5) Any lender/broker fees toward those costs

Yes, amounts for total payment including property taxes and insurance, and total cost to close, are important consumer information, but can and should be disclosed upon further inquiry, or by generic and universal Zillow disclosure.

The purpose of a mortgage quote, whether on Zillow or anywhere else, is to compare a lenders program, rate, and pricing, which are all and the only items which any lender has control over.

The new system changes do nothing, except for the provision of showing or clarifying applied lender credits, to advance that primary goal or purpose, and only serve to confuse that basic buyer decision as to whom to consider doing business with. Further, the additional time required on a lenders part, and considering the low conversion of this site, make participation in mortgage quote activity of more questionable value.

Keep it simple, honor the purpose, actively remove those who deceive or try to take unfair advantage. Better for the consumer, better for the lender participants, more efficient, and a better understanding by Zillow on how to serve all parties goals and purpose.

WHAT! Please ZMM, if ...

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 02:22:00 GMT

WHAT! Please ZMM, if you want this to work well, post the question to those that are submitting quotes regularly. Not just from behind the scenes, with a chosen few!

IMHO this is a joke. First of all how many of us are lenders? Brokers? Loan Originators?

ZMM doesn't even know the terminology to call us, so we are all lenders, right? Then under underwriting, what do you put, the lenders fee, right? How many of your lenders break down their fees, instead of charging one administrative fee? And, if your's do, are the other fees missing? .... The last time I looked a GFE must be sent within 72 hours of receipt of a completed loan application. We don't even have their name! Are they completeing a 1003? We also know none of the requests are coming from someone that needs the loan yesterday. We don't even know what rate and fees or which lender it will be when/if they contact us sometime in the future. Escrow and TiTle for us in CA depends on the firms. Purchases are usually 50/50. Refies I'm quoting now, I quote First Title American One-Rate (not broken down.

Anyone whose moral character is to low-ball, will continue to cheat, regardless of how many fields ZMM requires to be filled out! If you are not a robo-quoter, and you actually read the entire request, and sometimes personalize your comments, that takes up to about 5 minuets. If this takes much more time, I'll be involved with the boards and the heck with any more quotes!

My $00.02