Buying your first home should be an exciting part of your life. Yet 7 out of 10 buyers describe buying a home as the most stressful event in their life.
The amount of misinformation available online doesn’t make the process any less stressful. You would think that the internet would give you better access to all the information you might need.
To some extent, that’s true. Many mortgage advisors provide free content and how-to guides about the entire process.
Yet online research can end up providing as much misinformation as actual facts. Read on for our guide to mortgage misinformation—and what to do about it.
What Misinformation Might You Find With Online Research?
There are lots of common myths about mortgages. These include the idea that pre-qualification and pre-approval are the same things. Or that you can’t shop around for a good deal from different lenders.
A common type of misinformation is simply information that is now out of date. It’s not wrong so much as it’s expired.
Other misinformation appears when you mistake what lenders can and can’t offer. So a borrower in Minnesota might get a deal that isn’t available in California. It’s simply thanks to state guidelines.
Or you might see deals with specific borrowing criteria and assume that’s a standard deal. The information becomes misinformation when you apply it in the wrong way.
Some misinformation isn’t intentional, but it’s still problematic. This includes the kind of ‘advice’ home buyers might see in Facebook groups.
You post a question, and other people reply based on their experience. Trouble is, that could be years ago, or from a specific situation. Yet you take the information at face value and become misinformed.
How Do You Spot Online Misinformation?
It can be harder for first-time homebuyers to spot such misinformation. That’s simply because the entire process is unfamiliar to them.
Instead, find out from mortgage professionals exactly how the process works. Create a checklist of expected costs, state guidelines, and other variables. When you spot a deal, you can check whether it seems plausible based on your checklist.
This is a good approach to take towards things like online payment calculators. They’re supposed to help you figure out the kind of payments you might expect to make. Yet they don’t factor state taxes or insurance costs into their estimates.
If you know about these costs upfront, you’ll see the calculator hasn’t considered them. Then you can check the information based on what you know to be true. Apply this same approach to everything you find in your online research.
Can You Avoid the Problem of Online Misinformation?
Yes, you can. This is where we compare the difference between the ‘digital’ and the ‘human’ approach.
The digital approach asks you to sift through the online information you’ve found. Then you need to verify everything. This takes time, effort, and even a little expertise.
Yet the human approach is different. At Solidify, you’ll work with real people who have the experience and authority you can trust.
Get the Help You Need
It’s great that you want to do your online research so you can prepare to get a mortgage. Yet it’s going to take up so much time and energy to find the right information.
Working with experts will make the process less stressful. Rely on their experience and knowledge to guide you through making tough decisions.
Keen to avoid the stress of getting a mortgage? Contact us today to find out how we can help.
