Millennials, the population cohort whose members were practically born with electronic devices in their hands, are generally considered the most likely to finance a house through a totally automated process. But even they want some hand-holding, according to a recent survey.

Millennials -- generally, folks born in 1982 or later -- are the most likely to start the mortgage process online. But many of them still want to talk to a real, live person to seal the deal, according to a study by Ellie Mae, a loan origination system used by numerous lenders.

Three out of 10 millennials used a high-tech/personal combination to obtain their mortgages. That surpassed Gen Xers, at 28 percent, and baby boomers, at 20 percent.

Ellie Mae polled more than 3,000 borrowers between the ages of 18 and 70 last December, hoping to pass along some useful information to the lenders that use its mortgage software and solutions.

Some of the findings caught CEO Jonathan Corr off-guard.

Corr said he was surprised by the high percentage of electronic-savvy millennials who are obtaining their first mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), the stodgy old government agency still using outdated software. (Does the computer language FORTRAN ring a bell?)

FHA-insured mortgages have been a traditional first conduit into homeownership for generations of Americans. And according to the Ellie Mae study, 35 percent of millennials surveyed took their initial step onto the housing ladder with a government-backed loan.

The study suggested that the FHA holds the same appeal to this latest generation of first-time buyers as it has for those who went before them. That is, it is attractive to buyers carrying high amounts of student debt -- which millennials have more of than any previous generation -- and those who haven’t been able to accumulate enough cash for a sizeable down payment.

Others in the mortgage lending business are seeing similar patterns. For example, in credit unions, which have increased their mortgage originations steadily over recent years, FHA lending now accounts for a full 50 percent of their lending portfolios.

Credit unions, like other banking institutions, have to be up to snuff technologically when a millennial wants to open an account. But more and more of their new members, after starting accounts online, want to come into the branch and talk to someone face-to-face about getting more connected to the world of finance.

“Younger members may come in for financial advice,” says Jason Schwabline, senior vice president of product development and strategy for Alogent, a Georgia-based financial software firm with 1,400 credit union clients. “They want a real person to tell them how to plan a savings strategy, how to finance a car, how to pay down their student debt. And the branch officer who counsels them may become not only a trusted adviser, but an influencer of that millennial’s financial decisions for a long time to come.”

Overall, the Ellie Mae survey found that 57 percent of all borrowers filled out their mortgage applications the old-fashioned way, completely in person, while 28 percent used the hybrid online/in person method. Just 11 percent applied for mortgages totally online. So much for paperless mortgages!

Thirty-five percent of millennials said security was the most important factor in their application process, significantly higher than the 23 percent who sited speed as their primary reason. Twenty percent wanted simplicity, while 12 percent rated transparency the biggest factor.

“I was surprised to see that security, rather than speed, was the most important factor for millennials in applying for a loan,” says Ellie Mae’s Corr.

Meanwhile, speed was ranked most important to both Gen Xers (34 percent) and baby boomers (36 percent). And in the battle of the sexes, security topped the women’s list (32 percent), while speed was most important for men (30 percent).

Speaking of the sexes, Ellie Mae, which also keeps an eye on millennial trends on a monthly basis, says male millennials are twice as likely to take out mortgages as females (65 percent vs. 32 percent). Just over half of millennial borrowers are married, and their average age is 29.6 years.

Their average credit score? A good, but not excellent, 722. Average mortgage amount? A relatively modest $183,907.

-- Freelance writer Mark Fogarty contributed to this report.

Write a love letter about the house. Add favorable clauses to the contract. Forego any contingencies. These are often cited as tactics that can help you triumph in a bidding war. But there are other ways to seal the deal.

Admittedly, some of these maneuvers are long shots. But nothing ventured, nothing gained. So consider these steps:

-- Have your agent contact the seller’s agent to determine what points might help your offer rise to the top of the pile. The seller might want a quick close, for example, or maybe he’ll want to delay closing until his new place is ready. The idea is to find out what’s most important to the seller and give it to him.

-- In places where houses are selling fast, appraisals often lag behind the market, meaning there’s a good chance the valuation won’t be as high as your offer. So consider adding a stipulation that you’ll make up the difference if the appraisal falls short. That way, the seller knows that you won’t expect him to lower his selling price.

-- A good agent will insist on presenting her client’s offer to the seller in person. That way, she can plead your case and ask questions. She should then call you on the spot, work out any details, and not leave the property without a deal.

-- To impress upon the sellers that this is an urgent matter to you, require them to respond to your offer within a set time period: maybe 12 hours, but no longer than 24. If you get no answer, this clause says your offer becomes null and void. Calling for urgency shows your ability to move forward with the sale as quickly as the sellers want.

-- Cash is always king. A deal where there is no financing involved is far less likely to fall through than one in which the buyer needs a loan. So consider paying for the house out of your own pocket at settlement and then arranging for financing afterwards. Fannie Mae has a program for cash buyers who want to finance their purchases within six months after closing.

-- If you insist on a home inspection -- as you should -- offer a “due diligence” fee. This is essentially a fee paid to the seller to reserve the right to have the house examined for major defects. If you decide not to proceed after the inspection, you forfeit the fee; if you close, it’s credited to your side of the ledger.

-- An independent home inspection keeps you from essentially buying a pig in a poke. But if you are desperate, you can make the inspection for informational purposes only. That way, you’ll know what you are getting into -- the house needs a new roof, for example, or the air conditioning is on its last legs -- and the seller knows you won’t demand fixes for those problems.

-- Offer to pay some, or even all, of the seller’s closing costs. Pay for the appraisal, for example, or the homeowners’ association’s transfer charges. If you offer to take some or all of the settlement fees off their shoulders, it might seal the deal.

-- Attach an estimated HUD-1 closing cost statement so the sellers can see what their net will be if they accept your offer. Most sellers tend to expect to see a higher figure on the bottom line; if you show them what’s being paid and how the money is being allocated, there shouldn’t be any surprises.

-- Have your agent research the seller’s agent to ascertain if they have a friend or colleague in common. If so, perhaps that friend can reach out to the seller’s agent and vouch that your agent is a professional who’s easy to work with.

-- Submit a clean, understandable offer with all the blanks filled in. All of them. If something is missing, or if the seller doesn’t know what you mean by “leave some of the furniture,” your offer will go right to the bottom of the pile. This is your agent’s job, but you should double-check.

-- Your agent should cover your offer with a one-page letter spelling out, one by one, the salient points of your bid. That way, the seller won’t have to scroll through all 18 pages of your contract looking for all the key points.

-- If you really, really like the place, don’t give up, even if your offer is not the winning bid. Ask that your offer be accepted as a backup. That way, if the winning offer should fall through -- it happens more than you’d think -- instead of going back on the market, the property falls to you. No guarantee, but it sometimes works.

-- Another long-shot tactic: If you are having no luck at winning the bidding wars, ask your agent to research expired listings: houses that haven’t sold and have been taken off the market. If he finds one that fits your requirements, and you like it, he can approach the owner to see if she is still interested in selling. If so, maybe you can strike a deal without having to compete with other wannabe buyers.

Nowadays, you can get a mortgage any way you want it: You can apply online or in person. You can apply online, then jump off the internet to talk to a real, live person anytime you want. Or you can stick to the old-fashioned face-to-face application process throughout the entire transaction.

But what about the other important parts of obtaining financing -- the appraisal, the underwriting process and the loan servicing? These processes, too, are changing, but at a slower pace. Here’s a brief rundown:

-- Appraisals. Forget that appraisers sometimes seem to be slow to keep up with rising values. While that, in itself, can squash transactions in markets where house prices are rising rapidly, the real bugaboo these days is that it takes so long for them to complete their tasks.

The reason isn’t that the new regulations require them to be more thorough. Rather, it’s that there aren’t enough appraisers to keep up with the volume of work. And it’s going to get worse before it gets better.

Many appraisers are leaving the business because management companies, those controversial outfits hired by lenders to oversee the valuation process, are taking such a big slice of valuation fees that appraisers say they can’t make a living. And with the average age of appraisers approaching 60, many are either slowing down or retiring.

To remedy the situation, the Appraiser Qualifications Board, which sets education, experience and examination requirements for property appraisers, has boiled down its course load. Soon, this will allow appraisers to go out on their own in a year instead of the usual 2 1/2 years, reports William Fall of Valuation Partners in Toledo, Ohio.

Unfortunately, the new program won’t go into effect until July 2018. Until then, it’s going to cost more and take longer for appraisers to get their eyes on properties. “This is long overdue,” says Fall. “I wish it would have been July ‘08. Unfortunately, you can’t go backwards.”

-- Underwriting. Waiting for word from your lender that you’ve been approved for financing can be a suspenseful period. But forces are at work to streamline the process to give would-be homebuyers an answer more quickly.

Generally, it takes eight to 10 days to hear back from your lender. But under Fannie Mae’s new “Day 1 Certainty” program, lenders are making their decisions in a day and a half. “Thirty-six hours is a big deal,” says Andrew Bon Salle, executive vice president of single-family business at Fannie Mae.

Fannie Mae doesn’t make loans, at least not directly. But it is a key force in America’s mortgage financing system. Without it and other secondary market investors, lenders would run out of money to make loans. So to replenish their vaults and keep the spigot open, lenders sell their loans to Fannie. And to keep her happy, they follow her rules.

Under the Day 1 program, lenders don’t have to worry about being forced to repurchase loans to borrowers who default if they use Fannie Mae’s electronic validation service. With the borrower’s permission, lenders using the software can corroborate income, assets and employment, all online.

“We’re enabling a more accurate, simpler digital process,” says Bon Salle. “Lenders and borrowers benefit by moving away from the manual processes prevalent in the industry today.”

In other words, with the company’s technology updates, pay stubs, W-2s and tax returns will no longer be required. And, better yet, appraisals can be accepted upfront without the need for follow-ups.

Says Glenn Brunker, president of BOK Financial in Tulsa, Oklahoma: “This is a win-win, as the customer’s experience is improved through reduced documentation and accelerated closing dates, while we receive reps and warrants and operational efficiencies.”

-- Servicing. Another major pain-point for some borrowers is how their payments are collected and their money disbursed to the loan’s owner, the property insurer and the state and local taxing authorities. Sometimes, it just doesn’t go right. And to compound matters, the companies that manage your mortgage -- called servicers -- are not terribly responsive to your complaints.

But firms like BSI Financial Services of Irving, Texas, are using big data to service loans “cheaper, faster, with higher quality -- and with fewer mistakes,” says BSI President Gagan Sharma.

With the data his company has in its system, Sharma says he can identify small problems before they have a chance to become big ones. So, if your tax payment has been routed to the wrong agency, the system will catch the error -- probably before you do.

Equally as important, if you normally make your payment on the fifth of every month and the system hasn’t received your payment by, say, the seventh, the system will flag your account and a human will call to ask if something is wrong. Perhaps it’s lost in the mail, or maybe you’re having a bit of trouble financially. If it’s the latter, the human will ask, “How can we help?”

“With automation,” says Sharma, “we can find and address problems earlier. And that makes for a smoother process for everyone.“