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Responding to demand from customers, Intuit, the leader in personal finance and tax-preparation software, created the QuickenMortgage website in November of last year.

"Our Quicken customers kept on asking us when we would offer mortgage services," said Alison Berkley, group product manager at QuickenMortgage. "And it makes sense. Buying a home is one of the most important decisions for a consumer."

The site is similar to Turbo Tax: It includes a step-by-step interview process to gather the necessary information to help mortgage hunters make an informed decision. When answering these questions, users have access to plain-English instructions and a glossary of terms. In all, the process takes about 15 minutes. Once the interview is completed, QuickenMortgage generates a list of loan options based on the customer's financial situation and preferences, like the amount of down payment and preferred interest rate.

A great way to compare loan options is by analyzing the effective interest rate. This shows the cost of a loan adjusted for points, closing costs, interest rates, and how long the mortgage seeker plans to live in the house. The information in the database is frequently updated.

QuickenMortgage is not a lender itself, nor does it accept incentives to promote particular loans. Compensation to QuickenMortgage is the same for all lenders, which is 40 basis points, or 0.40 of 1 percent. Traditional offline mortgage brokers typically charge between 1 percent and 1.5 percent. If the customer likes one of the loans, he can then contact the lender directly, generate an online pre-qualification letter, or fill out an online loanapplication. If he decides to apply for a loan online, the information is submitted directly to the computer origination system of the lender, saving much time. QuickenMortgage also has an easy-to-understand list explaining the closing costs of the loans, called a good faith estimate.

"We give a $225 rebate to online applications," said Berkley. "It's cheaper for us and for the lenders to process loans that start online, so we decided to pass on the savings to the consumer." QuickenMortgage has 17 participating lenders, which have all been in existence for at least 20 years, and have competitive pricing and excellent customer service. The list includes Chase, Countrywide, and PNC Mortgage. QuickenMortgage also has a wealth of information resources, like stories from Inman News and Mortgage Market Information Services, and feature articles by industry expert Ilyce Glink, including a "Step-by-Step Guide to Home Ownership."

The site contains eight calculators that help the customer answer questions like, "Should you refinance today?", "How much house can you afford?", and "What are today's rates?" "Our interactive calculators have been very popular," said Berkley.

QuickenMortgage has partnered with Moore Corporation and Realtor.com to provide home listings. There are sophisticated searches -- by location, price, amenities, and so on -- of 1.3 million home listings. In addition, the listings contain color photos, interactive maps and contact information, and a database of more than 250,000 real estate agents and brokers.

QuickenMortgage is a guerrilla marketer. The site has exclusive placement as a multilender mortgage site on the personal finance channel on AOL.com. It also has an exclusive five-year arrangement with CNNfn and a deal with Excite, in which Intuit has a minority ownership position. QuickenMortgage is also available through the recently launched Quicken99, providing another huge base of potential customers, as well as Quicken.com.

The current economic environment has been very favorable for QuickenMortgage. Interest rates are low and home sales have been growing steadily. Last year was the best year since 1968 for home sales. This year is also expected to top records.

Since its launch in November 1997, QuickenMortgage has had more than 7 million visitors. The site closed more than $350 million in loans in the first nine months of 1998; in August alone, it processed $75 million. The run rate is expected to be $500 million for the year. That beats Forrester Research's estimate of $250 million for the entire industry in 1997.

"It's been a wild ride so far," said Berkley. "The business has grown much faster than we had anticipated."

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