In-person meetings still key for mortgages

While potential homeowners and recent homebuyers love turning to the internet to search for the perfect property, more would prefer to ditch the technology and talk mortgages face-to-face.

According to Fannie Mae’s National Housing Survey, recent homebuyers turned to more than three sources to look for mortgage advice. Seventy-seven percent of recent homebuyers sought out real estate agents to shop for mortgages, while 75 percent sought out a mortgage lender, and 69 percent turned to online sources. Still, 63 percent relied on friends and family. In-person meetings with mortgage lenders and real estate agents remain the most influential source to homebuyers, at 32 and 30 percent, respectively, compared to only 13 percent who said online sources were their go-to.

Online sources are the most convenient, but most consumers found real estate agents and family and friends as the most trustworthy, and mortgage lenders the most accurate.

Compared to 2015, the amount of people using their phone for mortgage activity increased from 29 to 65 percent, and the amount of people who plan to do so in the future increased from 39 to 73 percent in the first quarter of 2017. Comparatively, the number of people who researched homes for sales in the same quarter of 2017 hit 86 percent, and 46 percent sought out home purchasing advice during that same time on their mobile device. Around half submitted documents to their mortgage lender and looked for advice on mortgages on their device.

Baby boomers were most likely to rely on a mortgage lender, while Generation X was more likely to turn to a real estate agent for advice. Millennials were about nearly equal in choosing mortgage lenders and agents.