Zillow Home Loans Mortgage Review 2023

How Bankrate scored Zillow Home Loans

To determine Zillow’s Bankrate Score, Bankrate’s editorial team rated it and other lenders on a scale of one to five stars based on a variety of factors relating to the lender’s products and services. (Bankrate’s partners compensate us, but our opinions are our own, and partner relationships do not influence our reviews.) We derived its overall score by considering three basic factors.

• Affordability: You’ll need to complete an application online in order to find current mortgage rates for Zillow Home Loans.
• Availability: Zillow Home Loans offers conventional, jumbo, and government-insured loans for home purchases and refinances.
• Borrower experience: Zillow Home Loans has a user-friendly website and an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau.

Affordability: 3/5

Loan expensiveness is a deciding factor for many borrowers. The affordability nature of loans differ from lender to lender, so comparing costs is key.

If you’re not ready for a conversation with a loan officer just yet, you might have a hard time comparing offers from Zillow Home Loans with others — the lender doesn’t display current rates on its website.

Availability: 4.8/5

Availability factors can make the overall mortgage-application process smoother or more challenging. As the financing arm of Zillow Group, Zillow Home is available to borrowers in most states (New York and New Jersey being notable exceptions). It offers conventional (including jumbo) loans, FHA loans and VA loans, but not USDA loans.

Borrower experience: 4.7/5

Customer experience factors can help you know what to expect when you work with a specific lender. Zillow Home has an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau. Its website is designed to be easy to navigate, with homebuying educational resources and calculators to learn more about the mortgage process and estimate costs. If you have questions about a loan, you can fill out a form online or call 888-852-2212. Its customer service hours span Monday through Saturday.

How to apply for a mortgage with Zillow Home Loans

As a digital lender, Zillow Home Loans doesn't operate from branch locations. To apply for a loan or refinance, you can call or fill out a form on the lender’s website. Often, you can get approved in two business days and close in just over 40, which is in line with the average application-to-closing timeline.

Here's how the process generally works.

1. Review your finances. Evaluate how much you can afford in a monthly home loan payment, accounting for payments on the principal, interest, taxes and insurance. Make sure that your credit, debt-to-income ratio and savings are in good shape. A strong credit score can help you secure a competitive interest rate and save thousands over the life of the loan.

2. Complete the Zillow Home Loans questionnaire. Indicate whether you’re purchasing or refinancing, answer a few questions about your home purchase plans, and enter your contact information. A loan officer will contact you to continue the process.

3. Get preapproved and start shopping. You’ll need to provide detailed documentation of your financial life in order to get preapproval, a statement from the lender that lets you know how much of a loan you qualify for. Good for 45–90 days, preapproval letters tell sellers you’re serious.

4. Schedule an appraisal and home inspection. After you have an accepted offer on a property, arrange for a home inspection and home appraisal. You need to check for any major issues and the lender will want to assess the home’s value before you close on the loan.

5. Close on the loan. It takes between an hour and an hour and a half to sign the closing documents at the title or escrow office. You should be able to access funds two to three days after your signing.

Refinancing with Zillow Home Loans

Zillow Home Loans offers refinancing options whether you want to take equity out of your home, reduce your interest rate or lower your monthly payment. The lender doesn’t display its refinance rates or fees online, however, so you’ll need to connect with a loan officer to determine whether a refi — whether rate-and-term or cash-out — is worth doing.

Methodology

Bankrate’s expert editorial team collects lender information through a variety of methods. We contact lenders directly, and we also turn to regulatory filings and to assessments by third parties. Our research takes into account three main factors – affordability, availability and borrower experience.

Bankrate’s reporters and editors have decades of experience covering the mortgage industry. They’re skilled at gathering information through interviews and by scouring regulatory filings. Bankrate evaluates more than 85 lenders for factors relating to affordability, availability and customer experience, assigning each a Bankrate Score out of five stars. Here’s how we assess each of the categories:

• Affordability. Loan cost is a deciding factor for many borrowers. We look at two metrics: 1) a lender’s lowest advertised annual percentage rate (APR) based on Bankrate’s sample scenario, which assumes a 740 or higher credit score and a 20 percent down payment, among other factors and 2) established-customer discounts or incentive pricing, when applicable.
• Availability. Another factor is how quickly your loan application will be approved, and how many loan programs the lender offers. So we evaluate approval and closing timelines and diversity of loan products.
• Customer experience. Finally, we delve into what it’s like to deal with the lender as a consumer. We look at the lender’s application process and availability of customer service support. We also consider the results of J.D. Power’s 2022 Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Survey.

Bankrate’s editorial team confirms the accuracy of data at the time of publication. Our team is dedicated to maintaining the timeliness of information – the mortgage industry is changing constantly, so we regularly revisit these reviews to update them.

Bankrate’s methodology page spells out our rating process in greater detail.