Texas State Mortgage Consulting’s is an online mortgage broker in Austin, Texas with a website located at http://www.texasstatemortgage.com/. It is initially appealing to look at but that is where it stops. On the first load of the website I found the little dragonflies buzzing around the main banner cute but after awhile they just became a distraction and started to give me a headache! The website makes good use of its white space keeping the main content well placed. I did not particularly like the changing size and font style through out the front page. The menu system is nice although I had a hard time finding my way back to the home page when clicking into a new area. All external links opened into a new browser tab as well making it convenient not having to press the back button.

The internal links through the website are nice and clear. They are descriptive when you reach the destination. The only problem I found with the links was that when I would hover my mouse over one I would not get any preview of the link in the bottom left hand corner of my browser. Most people are conscious of where they go on the internet now and without having that little preview feature it may make people a little tentative about clicking around. With the lack of links pointing to their website from the outside internet, its popularity in searches is pretty low unless you are hitting a keyword nail on the head.

One of the serious problems with this website is the amount of errors I found when referencing it against web standards. With the amount of errors throughout the site it is bound to be buggy and possibly incompatible with some of the lesser known browsers out there. I think that one of the first issues I noticed was the long load times from page to page and weather this is a by-product of some of the errors I found I am not sure. Even with the amount of errors, the content on the website is very clear and easy to read. I found that the information offered on their website is consistent and up do date.

Looking over the contact information listed I was almost shocked to see that there was no contact form at all, until after a little bit of digging I did come up with an email support address. On a positive note they have a few phone numbers that you can call for support including a toll free number. There is no live chat support and I did not see any place offering multi-lingual support. There was also no FAQ sheet listed to help you solve your problems on your own and avoid cluttering up the support lines of communication.

Unable to find any information on this company other then their website I would not be able to know if there have been problems or praise in the past. Even a quick look in the Better business Bureau of Texas netted me no success as I could not find any information.

Out of all the online mortgage brokers I found in Austin, Texas State Mortgage Consulting had the lowest interest rates and offered a large variety of services. Although I did not find the website very appealing, I found the service and the rates very enticing. Overall I would have to say that Texas State Mortgage Consulting is worthy of 3 gavels.

Rating: 3 gavels

In a competitive market like online mortgage brokers, trying to find a ray of light in the darkness is tough. Through-out my Internet journeys I have seen many sites. It takes a lot to peak my interest.

And then comes along Jane Spiller’s Southwest Funding, an online mortgage broker in Dallas, Texas. The website is located at http://www.janespiller.com/. With attractive photos placed on the front page and the lack of white space this page pulls you in as soon as you have a look at it.

It would be very hard to get lost on this webpage. Every link that does not have to do with a Javascript function (calling up secure forms and such) is very clearly named. One of the problems I see for Jane Spillers’ Southwest Funding website is that she has next to no internet reputation. When searching Google I had to do a direct search on Jane Spiller Southwest Funding to find her.

The contact form leaves a lot to be desired. When contacting Jane Spiller there is no actual form. A separate email browser opens with Jane’s email address auto filled. In a way this is a good thing as you can add any information that you want, but in my view I like a standard form instead, just in case the customer forgets some vital information in the email. There is also a Quick response form that seems to be an interesting feature. When you fill it out with your name, Email and phone number you will receive a call back as soon as they can.

Searching around the website I could not find a FAQ but I did find an interesting FYI section listing some pretty handy information. But without a FAQ it is most likely that any question that that you need answered will end up being shipped off through the email contact system.

Jane Spiller’s contact information is listed in the footer of every page making it very easy to get in touch with a live person if that is what you are looking for. Unfortunately I could not find any information to support if Jane Spiller’s Southwest Funding is multi-linguale or not.

I found a very small amount of information from third party sources on the Internet about Jane Spiller and a quick look into the better business bureau of Texas listed one complaint in the past 36 month with the complainant recognizing that the issue has been resolved. Seeing this information leads me to believe that Jane Spiller values her business and will make sure that any complaints are quickly resolved to her clients approval.

Southwest Funding is an equal housing lender and recommended by mortgageloan.com. Their rates and wide variety of services are very comparable with other local Dallas mortgage brokers.

Rating : 4/5 Gavels

Payless4Finance is an online mortgage broker in Tampa Bay, Florida. They can be viewed online at http://www.payless4finance.com/. I usually do not have problems expressing myself, but after looking at this website I am speechless. Where do I start? First of all the blinking words on the screen are fine for about 2 seconds, but after that I was looking for my bottle of Advil. I do not know if I looked at the color scheme and was still so turned off by the blinking blips that i could not be fair with my opinion, but I found the blue was just too blue.

The lack of consistent names with the URL’s made me always wonder where I was clicking. With a descriptive URL I am looking in my URL preview and knowing where I am going with a click. This was just not the case with payless4Finace. I was very pleased to find no broken links and very few errors when I looked at the site and compared it with web standards.

With the small font and blinking blips on the screens I found the clarity of the content made for a difficult read, although once found the information was clear and concise with more fact then opinion.

Payless4finance does not have a contact form, it is just a generic email that you will send out, so be careful when you look for help. Make sure that you explain your situation and give them enough information so that you can have your question answered on the first try. Instead of email tag you could always just call the toll free telephone number listed on the front page and talk to a live person.

I could not find any information on the internet about this company. With a look into the Florida better business bureau I could not even find this company there. With that being said I would not know what any previous history would be. No search results turned up anything either. This is both good and bad. Its always good to find a company with no complaints registered against them but its also strange to find that no one talks about the service they received.

With the rates that are offered I think that a little bit of web site style issue does not hurt them too much. A lot of people will overlook these things if they know they will be saving money in the long run.

I think that in the long run this site is nothing spectacular to look at but with the savings offered its definitely worth a closer look into. For this reason I give Payless4finance a rating of 3 Gavels.

When I first clicked over to the Lincoln Funding Group Inc.’s website at http://www.lincolnfundinggroup.net/ I can’t say that I was quite please with what I saw. The color scheme seemed to clash and I thought that the site just did not flow properly for me. I don’t think it looks all that professionally put together. One of the few enjoyable pieces of this site is that there is almost no white space at all, and just enough to make it not look cluttered. There were a few things though that did catch my attention on the first pass though. In the second paragraph of the home page there is a spelling mistake. Its not that it is an actual spelling mistake, but just a miss-key from typing to fast. Unfortunately this may leave any view with the thought of, if they do not double check something as important as their website (front door to the world), then how can I trust their attention to detail on my business. The lack of consistency with the two boxed areas on the home page made me stop and ponder, but after a while of jumping around the website I forgot about this.

As I click throughout the website I notice that almost all the links have good direction and give proper description to the destination areas. While surfing around from page to page I did not find any broken links. One of the major problems I see with the popularity of the page is that there are very few links coming into the site from anywhere on the Internet. When looking for a online mortgage broker to review in the Austin area I did not find the Lincoln Funding Group in a search, but in a listing I found of Austin brokers.

Using web standards to check for the amount of errors on the website turned up a very minor amount. This only leads to an assumption that the site would be very cross-browser compatible and easy for just about anyone to visit.

One of the things that I noticed when I first landed on the home page of Lincoln Funding Group Inc. was the title of the page. I found it quite strange for it just to be titled Home, Although throughout the rest of the website the title does accurately describe the current page you are viewing. Almost all of the sites content is based on fact and very little opinion which is very nice considering the service being represented.

Finding Support did not take long at all. It is well labeled and stands out as to not hide from the viewer. There is plenty of room for information that is needed to be sent when trying to contact Lincoln Funding. I also must note (seeing as I have some color viewing issues and hate trying to guess letters in anti-spam verification codes) that although the contact form has a verification code system to reduce the levels of spam, there is no color involved, making it easier on viewers with deficiencies. Although there is no chat support a phone number and address are listed, along with an employees section. Lincoln Funding Group Inc. is bilingual and offers service in Spanish, with important sections of the website being translated as well. There is also a helpful FAQ listed if you are interested in trying to resolve your own issues and do not want to contact anyone for technical support.

I could not find any form of online reputation for the Lincoln Funding Group. I looked many places, including the Better Business Bureau of Texas, where they are not listed. The problem I see with this is that even though I can not dig up any dirt on them, I can not find anything positive about them either, except for the customer testimonial on their home page.

The Interest rate offered is about the average that I have found for the area. With not being able to find any complaints or compliments on this company and having to base my opinion on the website and services alone, I give a ranking of 3 gavels.

Gilbert Estrada is the president of Lincoln Funding Group Inc.

Searching around Google looking for Mortgage brokers in Houston, Texas I came across Classic Mortgage Co. You can find their website at http://www.classicmortgageco.com/. When looking at their website my first impression was that it looked quite dull and unappealing. For myself, the light green and white scheme just does not jump out and say I have something exciting to share with you. Although I am being hard on the colors, the rest of Classic Mortgage Co.’s website was very appealing to my eyes with only a small amount of white space on the main section of the page. Finding information on this website is not too tough as the links within are very clear and easy to follow.

While navigating through the website I was impressed to find no broken links and all the links were intuitively named. Unfortunately there were not many links coming into the website from any outside sources, which effected the overall popularity with my search results. Comparing the website with W3C web standards only turned up a handful of minor errors, putting forth an assumption that this website is quite cross-browser compatible.

The clarity of the content on the website was very impressive. If you wanted to find a place on the site, you would not be able to take a wrong turn when following the internal links. The headers were all very accurate and all of the URL’s were well defined.

This website is very factual, with no smoke trying to be blown up your backside. The services that are offered are very straight forward and well explained.

One of the major downsides that I found about Classic Mortgage Co.’s website was the lack of contact information. Although there is a contact form and a listed address with phone number, I found no FAQ’s list for trying to solve my own problems. As the Internet progresses we see many sites integrating a live chat support system and unfortunately Richard has not switched on this technology yet. One thing that would be nice to see in the future would be multi-lingual support added.

Although I searched for quite some time I could not find anyone saying anything good or anything bad about Classic Mortgage Co on the Internet. A quick look at the better business bureau of Texas shows Classic Mortgage Co listed in there database and no complaints against them. I guess that not being able to find any negative information from a third party source is not a bad thing but not being able to find any information at all could be just about as detrimental.

Looking at the competition in the surrounding areas Classic Mortgage Co.’s interest rates and services provided are very competitive. Overall I have be impressed with Classic Mortgage Co. and I judge them worthy of three Gavels.

Rating : 3 Gavels