The Internet should not be overlooked as an excellent mortgage research tool. Aside from the crop of find-a-home websites, there is an extensive range of mortgage services and information sites available.

Most of these are operated by financial institutions and intermediaries who are trying to sell mortgages, but are open for use without commitment.

A good place to start is finfacts.ie, which provides up-to-date, comprehensive listings of all of mortgage interest rates on the market. The data is broken down into all the permutations of variable and fixed rates and includes cost per thousand - a more useful measure of value than nominal interest rates.

Irishmortgage.ie, the online Irish Mortgage Corporation arm, is full of useful calculators and house-buying information.

The site offers mortgage interest relief, stamp duty and mortgage repayment calculators. It also gives clear explanations of the different types of mortgages and associated costs such as indemnity bonds.

The rates comparison tables are easy to follow and include all lenders, ranked from the cheapest. In the first-time buyers' section, the "jargon master", "unmarried partners" and "parental guarantee" pages give concise, helpful information.

The most interesting tool on the REA Mortgage Choice website, www.rea.ie, is the "How much can I afford?" worksheet in the Buying a Home section.

The affordability calculator takes into account equity in an existing property, other savings or capital and the budget for expenditure on the new house.

The mortgage repayment calculator at ezhome.ie includes a full repayment schedule. This shows how much interest and capital will be paid off in each year of the loan for the full term. Having 20 years of repayments laid out in this way is the best mortgage lesson any first-time buyer could ask for.

Ezhome.ie also carries a downloadable information request form for the Irish Credit Bureau. Mortgage hunters can then send in the form with £5.00 (6.35) to find out what information a potential lender would be able to access about them.

The personal finance discussion website, askaboutmoney.com, is a well-organised forum with lots of industry contributors. But the site does carries a disclaimer to the effect that it does not provide advice.

However, it can be used for unofficial independent information, and questions posted by visitors are usually answered within days by several well-informed members. A browse through the mortgage sections will give you an idea of the level of expertise of the participants.

Of course, the big financial institutions are also aware of the Web's pulling power: most have stocked mortgage links with calculators and extra information.

Most sites allow potential customers to download forms or even take an application as far as approval in principle online.

Firstactive.ie has a handy personal budget guide and the standard home loan calculator. Most sites allow potential customers to download forms or even take an application as far as approval in principle online.

Aibmortgages.ie has taken the convenience factor to another plane, with its WAP mortgage service for Esat Digifone customers. The website boasts that customers can get a mortgage quotation or obtain a mortgage, again in principle, within 10 minutes on their mobile phone.

A lot of the most relevant mortgage information is there for the taking online, for those who want to make the effort.