Borrowers spend 10 hours shopping for cars, 5 for home loans

If Ford came out with another junker like the Pinto, car buyers probably would think twice about buying one, right? So why is it that home buyers, despite the widely publicized mortgage meltdown, report that they are spending no more time researching home loans today than they did two years ago? Furthermore, those who got loans within the past five years are getting fewer quotes now than they did in 2008.

How much time are they spending on loan research? Five hours, compared with 10 hours spent shopping for a car, according to a survey of 2,729 adults conducted by Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. That five hours is equal to the amount of time they spent researching a vacation and about the same time spent on a computer purchase (four hours).