From Beanie Babies to Quicken Loans…

You can shop for just about anything online these days.  You can add that rare beanie baby to your collection via eBay.  You can get that DVD that never shows up at Best Buy through Amazon.  You can send your mama flowers, order new fuzzy dice for your low-rider or complete your 1980 Topps baseball card set by securing that missing Johnny Grubb card from some dude in Wisconsin.

Oh, you can also buy a house.

Well, more accurately, you can shop for your mortgage online.  As Informa Research Services reminds us:

Like shopping for gifts, the Internet allows consumers to quickly compare a number of products at the click of a mouse. Many times, the deals found online can save consumers a lot of money. Mortgages are no exception.

Oh, the wonders of technology!  You can get the mortgage, the insurance and reservations for the moving van all from the comfort of your sofa thanks to your handy laptop!

And when it comes to getting a mortgage online, you don’t need to do business with the mysterious MrBazeballCardz in Waumandee, WI.  You can work with a reputable company.

One of the best known is Quicken Loans.

A Quick Look at Quicken Loans…

Quicken Loans is one of the leaders in online lending.  It’s a well-known, well-financed and has a history.

They’ve been around in one form or another for 25 years (Quicken started as Rock Financial).  With headquarters in Michigan, Quicken employees nearly 3,000 people.  Unlike some other companies, they’ve managed to weather recent economic storms and are still writing loans and aggressively marketing their services.

In other words, they aren’t what you’d call a fly-by-night operation.

Longevity and recognition are not proof of quality, though.  If you’re looking for a mortgage, you’re undoubtedly more concerned about whether Quicken Loans can really help you than you are in how long their offices have been open, right?

As you’d expect from a big operation, Quicken gets mixed reviews.  You don’t need to look hard to find upset, annoyed or furious Quicken customers who have axes to grind with the online lender.

At the same time, it’s just as easy to find people who are perfectly satisfied with the loans and the service they received.  Over 1,000 people have rated Quicken Loans on Epinions.com.  Overall, it receives 4 out of 5 possible stars.  That’s not perfect, but it’s certainly not indicative of complete incompetence, either.

I’m sure that there are many former customers who had bad experiences with Quicken.  That’s bound to happen when you’re writing millions of dollars in loans every month.  However, it appears as though Quicken Loans does a better job than many other lenders.  You can look at any major supplier of mortgages and you’ll find similar rates of complaints.  Actually, you’ll usually find lower ratings, for what it’s worth.

What is Quicken Offering?

One of the reasons you’ve heard of Quicken is the fact that they offer a wide range of products.  If you visit the Quicken Loan website as of the time of this post’s writing, they are advertising the following:

• 30-year fixed mortgages at rates near or below 5.125%.
• Assistance in qualifying for lower payments via the new Loan Modification or Refinance Plus programs.
• Reverse mortgages for seniors.
• Home equity loans at low interest rates.
• 5-year ARMs, for those either planning to be in and out of a property quickly or who have nerves of steel!

As you’d expect, they offer phone contact information for those who’d like to talk with customer service representatives, descriptions of their various products, and an assortment of mortgage calculators.

Is this the Right Time to Work with Quicken?

If your research leads to you to believe that Quicken is a good place to get a loan, it’s time to reflect on whether this is really the right time for you to pull the trigger on closing a deal.

I’m not going to try to tell you whether you should be getting a mortgage, refinancing or taking out a home equity loan right now.  There are so many individual variables involved in those questions that it would be foolhardy to try to make blanket statements.

However, there are good reasons for many people to consider taking action right now.  The Wall Street Journal notes that this might be a good time to secure a loan while they’re still bargain priced:

Shoppers are gearing up for the rush to secure holiday bargains. Should homeowners be doing the same?

The opportunity to refinance mortgages at close to 5% for 30-year loans may not be around much longer. In a month, the interest rate on 10-year Treasury debt, a key benchmark for mortgages, has shot up 0.63 percentage point to 3.84%. But mortgage rates have followed more slowly.

Red, White & Blue Press echoes the sentiment, noting:

Despite interest rates going above and hovering around 5% there is still reason to consider the 30-year fixed rate mortgage by refinancing your home. If you qualify and have been thinking about refinancing then this may be the best time since interest rates are predicted to rise in 2010.

The Salt Lake Tribune recently discussed to potential advantage of refinancing even low-rate ARMs right now:

As the economy recovers, interest rates have nowhere to go but up. With that in mind, homeowners with adjustable-rate mortgages may want to refinance into fixed loans sooner rather than later, said Richard Salmen, president of the Financial Planning Association. Over the short term, you may miss a year at a low interest rate, because some ARMs are resetting at less than 5 percent. But by refinancing, you could save thousands throughout the life of your loan as rates climb — and lock in affordable monthly mortgage payments.

Subprime Blogger agrees.  If you’re going to refi in 2010, quick action makes sense:

If you plan on refinancing in 2010 it is a good idea to do it sooner rather than later. The Federal Reserve Bank plans to stop buying mortgage-backed securities after March of 2010. If they follow through with this promise then there is a good chance that mortgage rates could increase at least one full percentage point after March.

Does all of that mean YOU should be checking out the Quicken Loans site right now in a mad rush to get a loan?  Not necessarily.  What it does mean is that there are a lot of people out there who probably should be, at the very least, shopping for a loan right now.

The Bottom Line on Quicken Loans…

Here’s how I see it…  There are good mortgage deals to be had online.  Quicken Loans is a well-known provider with a good overall track records.  They’re experienced and it appears as if the bulk of people with whom they do business walk away happy.  Their product selection seems competitive and this may be a good time for many people to investigate their mortgage and refinancing options.

The bottom line:  If you’re looking for a loan, you should at least look at what Quicken Loans is offering and talk to them about their ability to help you get what you need.  The lending process is far to individualized to say that Quicken is the definitive answer for everyone, but it would be foolish not to evaluate their potential to provide you with a great mortgage, refi or home equity loan if that’s what you’re after.

It’s always smart to shop around and, in the mortgage world, that would obviously justify checking out Quicken Loans as an option.