REDMOND, Wash., May 30, 2000 — HomeAdvisor.com™
online real estate service, the Internet’s most complete guide to everything about the home, today announced that customers can find the lowest-priced loan guaranteed* at http://www.homeadvisor.com/ , thanks to HomeAdvisor Technologies Inc.’s revolutionary new loan transaction platform. Dubbed MortgageDirect on HomeAdvisor.com, this technology saves consumers an average of $2,000 over the life of the loan while reducing time to close from more than a month to just 10 days. HomeAdvisor.com now includes information to help consumers with every home-related decision, including all aspects of renting, buying, financing, moving, maintaining, improving, selling and shopping for a home.
MortgageDirect is the first true implementation of real-time, risk-based pricing, automating many of the steps required to approve and finance a mortgage, including credit checks, appraisals, underwriting decisions, pricing and rate locking. As a result, according to a recent independent study by Maritz Marketing Research Inc., this new process can save home buyers more than $2,000 on average over the life of a loan. MortgageDirect also enables consumers to lock in a rate online instantly and eliminates many of the closing costs associated with mortgages, potentially saving them even more money. In addition, consumers applying for a home loan are guaranteed to find the best-priced loan on HomeAdvisor.com. If they find a lower rate elsewhere, HomeAdvisor.com will match that rate or pay the consumer $250.*
“This new technology enables our lending partners to offer the best-priced loans available anywhere. We’re so confident of this that we guarantee it for every home buyer who visits HomeAdvisor.com,”
said Ian Morris, product unit manager for the HomeAdvisor.com division of HomeAdvisor Technologies.
“By automating the loan process, MortgageDirect eliminates much of the paperwork, hassle and stress inherent in the traditional mortgage application process, while saving home buyers thousands of dollars on every new loan.”
HomeAdvisor Technologies is also making this revolutionary new loan transaction platform available to banks, lenders and real estate professionals nationwide in the coming months, allowing real estate and mortgage professionals to pass along significant time and cost savings to their customers.
MortgageDirect is the latest step in the expansion of HomeAdvisor.com to provide consumers with the most effective and comprehensive array of online resources for everything about the home. Recently added tools and resources are helping consumers with everything from finding the value of their home and preparing a home for sale to diagnosing household repairs and shopping for new home furnishings. Consumers can access MortgageDirect and HomeAdvisor.com’s vastly expanded resources at http://www.homeadvisor.com/ .
About HomeAdvisor.com
HomeAdvisor.com is the Internet’s most complete guide for finding everything about the home, combining Microsoft® technology with services and expertise from the most trusted names in the real estate and mortgage industries. HomeAdvisor.com helps consumers address every home-related decision and will provide the guaranteed* lowest rates for mortgage loans. Winner of the Inman Innovator Award as the best residential real estate site, HomeAdvisor.com is a PC Magazine Top 100 Web site, a Yahoo! Internet Life Best of the Best winner and one of its 100 Best Sites for 2000, and a Family PC Web Site of the Month. Launched in July 1998, HomeAdvisor.com can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.homeadvisor.com/ .
About HomeAdvisor Technologies
HomeAdvisor Technologies is dedicated to dramatically improving the way homes are financed, bought, sold and maintained. Formed in March 2000 and backed by Microsoft Corp., HomeAdvisor Technologies consists of three divisions focused on delivering the tools and services necessary to revolutionize the real estate and mortgage transaction while delivering significant time and cost savings to consumers as well as real estate and mortgage professionals.
*Certain offer restrictions apply.
Microsoft and HomeAdvisor.com are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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