If you are a loan officer or mortgage broker and you are on the market for refinance leads, you definitely want to buy them fresh or in 'real time.'

Here are a few suggestions for deciding which mortgage lead company you would like to go with.

Like I mentioned in the above paragraph, you want your refinance leads to be fresh. It is pointless to buy a refinance lead that is weeks or months old. The person has more than likely refinanced already.

Don't you just love it when you call someone about a mortgage and they tell you they closed on it last week or last month.

Check out mortgage lead company's web sites and read them thoroughly and call and speak with someone in their customer service department.

Find out how the lead company obtains their leads. You want to make sure the mortgage lead company is obtaining their leads through sites they own and operate.

If the mortgage lead company is not generating leads on their own, than they are purchasing them from a third party and recycling them. These leads are basically junk.

The problem here is that you don't know how many times that third party sold the leads to other mortgage lead companies.

When researching mortgage lead companies, customer service says a lot. If you are not happy with customer service or not satisfied with the answers to your questions, than it is more than likely you will not be happy with the leads.

Also, look for companies that have low minimum deposits and ones without any commitments. Such as having to buy a certain amount of leads and extra fees for filters.

And of course, it never hurts to ask for a free lead.