SAUGUS -- Lori Greco doesn't remember why she went to the Square One Mall in October, but she does recall that, ''I didn't go to the mall looking to buy a house." Still, as a result of that shopping trip, she and her fianc closed on a three-bedroom, two-bath Colonial in Londonderry, N.H., a month later.
Greco bypassed Filene's that day and found herself in front of The American Dream Home and Loan Center's kiosk, an interactive real estate and mortgage financing booth staffed seven days a week by a loan officer and a real estate agent, where you can have your credit checked, be preapproved for a mortgage, and select a home from four video monitors or from a direct computer link to the statewide Multiple Listing Service. You can then take a drive with an agent to see the place, and even sign a purchase and sale agreement in the comfort of the food court. It might not always work so neatly or quickly, but with the current low interest rates, and high visibility, the kiosks are drawing curious mall crawlers as well as potential home buyers.
In a novel collaboration between D'Amico Real Estate Services, operators of four Century 21 offices in Massachusetts, New Fed Mortgage Corporation in Saugus, and Mancini & Associates, a Saugus marketing firm, it became possible in December to drive to the Square One, North Shore, or Cape Cod malls intending to purchase pants or pots and pans, and return with a new home to put them in.
''We've typically done one loan per week and one sale per week," said Victor Mancini, cofounder and president of The American Dream, who conceived of the collaboration and obtained leasing rights with Simon Property Group, a real estate investment trust that owns and manages 247 malls and shopping centers across North America. Soon, five additional local malls will be offering Mancini's version of the American Dream.
''Our game plan is to have 100 mall locations nationally in the next two to three years," Mancini said. Eighteen Simon malls have been targeted in New England, six in Florida, and Mancini wants to move up and down the East Coast and then into Chicago.
While mall kiosks -- or pushcarts -- have offered real estate alongside candles and CDs for years, American Dream's noteworthy approach is to combine real estate offerings with financing, all in one spot, right there next to TJ Maxx 'n More and Payless Shoes. ''The whole point," said Mancini, ''is to get preapproved while you're shopping."
''Over the last 20 years or so we've intermittently leased to real estate agencies," said Billie Scott, director of public relations for Simon. ''So this might not be a trend, but sometimes we stumble on to something that has potential for expansion, and this is a concept we're looking toward expanding into other malls. It's one-stop shopping."
Kevin Cuozzo, the loan officer who worked with Greco, 33, and her fianc, has elected to man the kiosk for several shifts weekly.
''We're not accosting people when they walk by," he said. ''But if they're interested in real estate, they'll stop. Typically you should be able to get one solid lead in a four-hour shift, and that's better than you'll get in a storefront."
With the assistance of an American Dream loan officer and real estate agent, Meagan Guillory, 29, closed on her first home purchase last Wednesday.
''I work in Boston all day," she said. ''Otherwise I would've had to take time off from work to go to Century 21, but I could go to the mall at six or seven at night. It just felt safer."
She and her boyfriend moved into their new Lynn house the next day. All of her paperwork was filed and approved at the Square One Mall.
''My agent said we could sign the purchase and sale in the food court," Guillory said, ''but we signed it right there at the kiosk."