Mortgage advice is hard to fit into 140 characters, but these experts, commentators and news outlets are doing their best to keep their followers informed.
Below, we round up five of our favorite mortgage tweeters and explain what they each bring to the table. To follow them, simply click on their handle below.
Sample Tweet
We wanna live on the water, too. But not on a floating piece of wood with a chair. Totally useless. Total
#listingfail aol.it/RFSBDk— AOL Real Estate (@aolrealestate) August 10, 2012
Why They Rock
Besides giving their followers the latest news and information about the housing industry, what sets this Twitter account apart from the rest is the fun hashtags they use. AOL Real Estate has two really fun hashtags they love to tweet about — #listingfail and #housepornthurs. The first they use to show off some of the bad home listings they come across and the second is a fun look at some pretty amazing homes. A good mix of tips, economics and epic homes makes for a fun feed to follow.
Sample Tweet
Our readers weigh in on
#StanChart#LIBOR#GlassSteagall#EminentDomain#CFPB#CustomerService in Comments of the Week bit.ly/MZsORo— American Banker (@AmerBanker) August 10, 2012
Why They Rock
If you are interested in the inner-workings, the behind-the-scenes stuff and the economics behind your mortgage, this is the feed for you. We also love the high-level conversations that the American Banker feed promotes, as seen by the above tweet. The financials behind the housing market are tough to understand, but by giving followers access to their informed staff and other readers, they give tips that can help the Average Joes out there make decisions about their homes.
Sample Tweet
If you were waiting for home values to hit bottom, you’ve waited too long. dld.bz/bHV8t
— Bankrate.com (@Bankrate) August 10, 2012
Why They Rock
Bankrate does a great job of informing consumers about the smallest shifts in the housing market, as can be seen in the above tweet. Trend tracking comes naturally to the tweeters on this account, since data is king. One of the most interesting features of the Bankrate site and its Twitter feed is the dedication to showing consumers all of the costs associated with a mortgage — fees, closing costs and interest rates.
Sample Tweet
Don’t know an ARM from a fixed-rate mortgage? Zillow’s
#Mortgage Help Center can get you up to speed on the basics! bit.ly/M9MyVw— Zillow (@zillow) August 9, 2012
Why They Rock
Almost 65,000 followers can’t be wrong. Zillow has some incredible mapping tools on its main site and its Twitter feed reflects its dedication to making shopping for a home easier. The Zillow feed doesn’t just give great mortgage advice, as you can see in the sample tweet above. The feed also helps you decide where to buy, when to buy, how to renovate and how to cut costs in every part of the process. A full picture not just for mortgage shoppers, but homeowners as well.
Sample Tweet
5 new ways to make your home look bigger: bit.ly/OAmkw8
— John Mulkey (@TheHousingGuru) August 4, 2012
Why They Rock
John Mulkey, the Housing Guru himself, is on top of it so you don’t have to be. What we love about his Twitter feed is that this is a one-man shop and John does a great job of tweeting out the housing news that matters. It’s as simple as that.
Image: eldh, via Flickr
Kali Geldis Kali Geldis is Credit.com's Deputy Managing Editor. She writes about a wide range of personal finance and credit topics. She previously ran MainStreet.com, the personal finance website powered by TheStreet. She has also worked for The Wall Street Journal as a Dow Jones Newspaper Fund intern and at The Huntington Herald-Dispatch as a reporter.
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I’ll suggest one more to follow: Inside Mortgage Finance @IMFpubs Publisher Guy Cecala is a wealth of information and he’s helped with my previous stories on mortgage topics.