Adam Shostack finds a company distintermediating the other half of the house buying confusopoly, mortgages:

SmartHippo today launched the public beta version of the first ever web site that allows individuals to use the power of a community to save money and make better decisions when shopping for rates on financial products and services.

“The lending industry is in a state of transformation,” said George Favvas, President of SmartHippo, “and consumers are demanding more control and transparency in their dealings with banks and mortgage companies.”

SmartHippo allows any individual to post information and feedback on the rate they received, and to compare rates with other members of the community with similar profiles. This lessens the chance of consumers with the same lending and risk profile getting different rates on the same loan, which can happen currently.

— SmartHippo.com Launches World’s First Community Comparison Shopping Site for Financial Services at TechCrunch40 Event; Founding Participating Banks Include QuickenLoans and Bank of Internet, PRWeb, 17 Sept 2007

This is different from companies like LendingTree that already facilitate getting multiple bids for mortages in that SmartHippo lets mortgage customers comment on their experiences. Participatory, if you will.

-jsq