Choosing a Mortgage Lender

Determine what matters most to you when selecting a mortgage lender

On Zillow Mortgage Marketplace you can sort quotes you receive by whatever matters most to you: APR, interest rate, monthly payment, lender fees, loan program, lender rating or cheapest cost over a certain amount of time.

Observe the way the lender responds to you when you first contact him or her

Are they prompt to respond to your initial contact? Are they friendly and courteous? Do they honor their quote that you saw online or in an offline ad? Are they willing to explain things to you or educate you about different choices? Do they proactively discuss the timeline of the loan (estimated closing date, when to lock the rate)? Do they discuss when/how rates will change?

Check out the lender's reviews

As of March, 2013, we have more than 27,000 lender reviews on Zillow. One of Zillow's main goals is to empower consumers with information to help them make mortgage-related decisions. We think lender reviews are an incredibly useful tool to help consumers choose a lender to work with because the experiences others have had with a particular lender are good indicators of subsequent experiences with the same lender.

Our lender reviews are based on four categories - responsiveness, knowledge, helpfulness and follow-through - and all include detailed descriptions of their experience. The reviews are left by past and current clients of the lender. All reviews are moderated by a specially trained team of moderators who evaluate all reviews before they are published.

When choosing a mortgage lender we always encourage you to look for a lender who quotes live custom mortgage quotes on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace.