As you know, in the past year or so, another refinancing frenzy broke out due to low mortgage rates. Everyone is “fat and happy.” Even though the current rates are still low, the housing market remains turbulent, unemployment rates, and the possibility of inflation continue to be troublesome. Many lenders have tightened borrower requirements in order to mitigate their risk, given today’s economy.
The sheer volume of mortgage transactions has added additional strain and challenges for mortgage departments to support their loan originators, processors, underwriters, and closers to meet the demand. Many have quickly added staff to assist, but as you may have experienced, some hires have not been properly trained or may frankly not be qualified to efficiently do the job as required. An additional lingering concern is when there is the slightest hint of a market slowdown, many companies will choose to quickly eliminate support staff to maintain profitability. The combination of these circumstances has led to the reality that relying on a steady stream of refinancing is becoming more challenging than before.
Relying on a steady stream of refinancing is becoming more challenging than before.
For mortgage lenders, there is yet another threat facing them today in a competitive landscape. That’s why we’ve put together this blog on how you can secure more lending opportunities, that will survive the refi boom, even in these unpredictable times.
The Shift of the Agent’s Role
As you have probably experienced, real estate agents are becoming increasingly less relevant during the early phase of the home shopping process for several reasons. With the increasing availability of for-sale housing inventory online, most consumers are able to narrow their home search without the aid of a real estate agent. In fact, last year over 70% of the home buyers found the home they end up buying on their own. Furthermore, the real estate industry is saturated with a large number of agents who have failed to properly assess and respond to changing consumer demands and expectations. According to the National Association of Realtors Danger Report, “In many cases, the promotion of the real estate salesperson surpasses the importance of the house being sold... Too many real estate agents believe their role is critical and their relationship with home buyers and sellers is beyond reproach. It’s that kind of overconfidence that often results in failure.”
The Danger Report goes on to cite that the growing impact of technology has given home buyers more power to impose increased demands on their agents, which has contributed to the change in the housing industry. In fact, 98% of all homebuyers now use the internet to shop for their homes, and last year, 80% of all Millenials and Gen Xers found their home with a mobile device.
The Shift of the Agent's Role Continued
These shifts in the real estate industry underscore changing consumer needs. First, consumers don’t want to depend on an agent and be subject to their aggressive sales tactics. Second, they want faster or even instant access to houses for sale— preferably online. These changes, however, also mean that mortgage lenders need to adapt. Many lenders typically depend on agents, competitively winning and dining them so they can secure referrals, even though lenders lose 93% of mortgages from their own customer base every year to Agent referrals. Fortunately for lenders, HomeTraq provides the opportunity for mortgage lenders to meet the changing expectations of consumers as well as gain control of their own customers.
How Lenders Can Adapt
With the changing role of the agent and the challenges of the refinancing boom, it’s critical that lenders take control of their lead generation. HomeTraq is a unique solution that enables mortgage lenders to reach their existing clients while offering them an alternative to slow and inefficient agent-centric ways such as Zillow. House hunters use HomeTraq to quickly find agents to confirm an In-person Private Tour or a Live Video Tour home showing in an average of 3-5 minutes, much like they would use Uber or Lyft to find a driver to get a ride.
By offering HomeTraq to your clients, they enjoy a home buying experience that’s free from unnecessary hassles and annoying solicitation while you get customer activity alerts sent immediately to your inbox. In addition, these are ready, willing, and able leads that you likely already have an established relationship with and can further nurture. By intercepting these leads early in the home shopping process, you increase your likelihood of closing since 90% of buyers stay with the initial lender they are pre-approved with.
Thus, HomeTraq solves the lost mortgage problem by re-capturing substantially more mortgage opportunities from your current customer base. With HomeTraq’s 50% conversion rate of home showings eventually leading to closing, you regain the offensive position to win mortgage business faster than your competitors.
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