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The Online Mortgage is Coming of Age

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Increasing numbers of home buyers are turning to the internet to apply for mortgages as they do on the website Guaranteed Rate.

The site's Chief Operating Officer Nikolaos Athanasiou says they give you what they have to offer, enable you to comparison shop, and then it's up to you:

"When all things check out, when you look at two competitors and they're both top ten lenders and you look and they have digital mortgages, you look at everything and at the end of the day it's all about price."

Athanasiou points out that the online mortgage application has at least one obvious advantage:

"If they want to sit in their pajamas in the middle of the night and do an application they can do that as well."

But just in case you're slightly more old fashioned and need some reassurance, Athanasiou says Guaranteed Rate has offices in the Philadelphia area:

"So if a consumer wants to walk into a branch they can, if they want to pick up a phone and call they can."

The online mortgage application is also quick and transparent, something that appeals to the first time homebuyer who is usually younger and tech savvy.

"You know most Millennial buyers walk into a home and know more about the home than the real estate agent today, and I think we're seeing the same thing happen in mortgages," says Athanasiou.

Mortgage shoppers in the Philadelphia area were busy applying at Guaranteed Rate last month, says Athanasiou, as the market here has begun to heat up.

Be advised, he says, that your numbers such as credit score and income still figure into your mortgage approval, but he says he's confident that if you're approved by Guaranteed Rate you'll like their number, the mortgage rate that puts homeowner next to your name.

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