About HSH

Our earliest consumer products offered plain-language interpretations and guidance to homebuyers and homeowners alike. HSH's "Mortgage News Alerts", "Guide to Mortgage Types and Definitions" and "ARM Index Comparison Table" were authoritative works comprised of matter-of-fact details and hard-to-find information. These helped tens of thousands of consumers and professionals gain knowledge about a quickly changing mortgage market. Better still, we offered them for the cost of a postage stamp. Later came booklets and guides covering refinancing, mortgage fees and choices, prepayment, home equity and more.

Originally a series of pamphlets, booklets and a local survey, the HMK evolved from into a 32-page, then 36, 44, 48 and finally 56-page "How to Shop for a Mortgage" booklet crammed full of information and expertise about some very complex topics written in easy-to-understand language. Hundreds of thousands of HMKs were sold in the 25+ years they were available. Coupled with a local survey of mortgage lender rates and terms, consumers reported to us that they easily recovered the $12 to $20 purchase price just by finding a lender with a lower fee due at application, let alone tens of thousands of dollars in interest cost over time. You can now find the HMK disseminated in the articles, tables and tools that are the heart of HSH.com

Before it was commonplace, we operated 24-hour telephone hotlines for the latest information about mortgage rates and ARM indexes using the latest voice technology of the day.

For the benefit of consumers and lenders alike, HSH created PointSaver, a system where lenders listed in our reports offered premiums such as lender fee reductions and more directly to mortgage shoppers who purchased a Homebuyer's Mortgage Kit or survey product. We intermediated between consumers who filled out inquiry coupons for lenders, faxed them to HSH (pre email days), and provided them solely to the consumer's chosen lenders. We also acted to ensure that offers were completed.

As personal computers with modems began to become widely adopted, HSH created and maintained bulletin-board systems (BBS) to allow tech-savvy clients and consumers access to our data at their fingertips, and our information was made available to real estate professionals via closed MLS systems.

HSH also developed and marketed the first stand-alone personal computer based mortgage shopping software package for professionals and consumers. Distributed on diskette, PC Mortgage Update included expert tutorials about mortgages, a mortgage calculator and a local database of lenders with mortgage rates and terms. Consumers could sift through hundreds of quotes and select a loan that fit their needs; professionals could see their competition at a glance. A unique dialup and download component allowed users to get fresh info with a single touch of a button.

When "going online" meant dialing up AOL, HSH was there. Our statistics, rate charts and articles were all portions of AOL's earliest real estate channels. HSH was also an early adopter of the internet, as can be seen in our simple, three-letter domain name, first registered in the early 1990s. We were perhaps the first place to find mortgage information, calculators and more on the internet. If you are interested, some of our earliest websites can be seen in the Internet Archive (we're pretty sure our first website attempts predate the IA, too).

LiveEdit was our unique platform that allowed lenders to update their advertising and interest rate displays without the help of web developers. LiveEdit allowed users to log in, change text, upload rates and more without any technical expertise, and right from their desktop or laptop computer. When introduced, such capability was virtually unheard of, and LiveEdit was a key feature of HSH's Lender Showcases.