Along with everything else, the internet has radically changed the housing market, and the way we buy homes and obtain mortgages. You can find out enormous amounts of information about mortgages, lenders, and anything else about the home-buying process, all online, without ever having to leave your home. Naturally, there are some huge advantages to applying for a mortgage online, as illustrated by the widely different stories of John and Jane detailed below.

One Saturday morning, John woke up and finally decided on something he had been thinking about for a long time. He decided he wanted to buy his first home. The year was 1969 and the internet as we know it had not even been invented yet, so John had to wait until Monday before he could do anything about his decision.

Forty years later, in 2009, Jane wakes up on Saturday morning and decides she is finally going to take the plunge and become a homeowner. She logs onto the internet at home and starts surfing for information about lenders all while she is eating breakfast.

The convenience of shopping for anything at all over the internet just can not be underestimated. When it comes to mortgages, the advantages and benefits are amplified because of the complexity of getting a mortgage, and the huge amount of information you need to amass to get the process underway.

When you shop online for your mortgage, virtually everything you need is right there at your fingertips. All of the essential information is there when you need it, and that is the number one reason why applying for a mortgage online is experiencing such a massive upsurge in popularity.

Back in 1969, John spent some time at work phoning lenders, and then had to take several hours off work for appointments. His boss was not happy, and John did not get a Christmas bonus that year. Meanwhile in 2009, Jane had a short-list of half a dozen lenders by the end of Saturday. She did not have to take any time off work to meet with lenders, spend money on gas to get to appointments, or sit on hold on the phone before even getting to speak with someone who could help her.

If you shop for your mortgage online, you can do it any time of the day, any day of the week. You are not limited to business hours, or even to daylight hours. You can apply for your mortgage electronically and then go about your daily routine without having to worry that you will miss important phone calls from lenders if you have to leave your home. With gas prices the way they are these days, not having to drive around to appointments is just another great bonus.

John lived in a fairly small town, and had access to just three different lenders. After meeting with all three he ended up getting a mortgage with his current bank, because it was easier to keep all his business in the same place. He would have preferred an adjustable rate mortgage, but his bank did not offer them.

In 2009, Jane finds she is a bit overwhelmed by the mortgage choices she has, and she is not quite sure what kind of mortgage will be most suitable for her financial situation. By reading up on expert advice at some of the internet's top finance web sites, she is able to make an informed decision on the type of mortgage she wants. She is a bit stuck again when she sees how many lenders she can choose from, but again she turns to the financial sites to find out which are the most reliable and the safest.

John ended up getting a bit confused when he went to his lender appointments. None of them were able to explain points, interest rates, fees, and other important things in a way that was easy to understand. In fact, one of the reasons he chose the lender he did was simply because he trusted that they were the best choice, not because he had compared the mortgages and knew it for a fact. John did not realize it, but one of the lenders he did not choose was offering a points deal that could have saved him around five thousand dollars.

Jane, on the other hand, found several web sites with some easy-to-use mortgage comparison tools that made choosing the best mortgage options a breeze. She read up on interest and points, and decided it would be a good strategy to buy points to reduce her interest rate. A move like that will save her more than ten thousand dollars over the life of the mortgage.