It seems that almost every major industry has been going through a “renaissance” for innovation in technology. With all this fast adaption, is the mortgage industry lagging behind? Well, that’s what most consumers seem to believe. Value Insured conducted a survey amongst modern homebuyers and the results were quite worrisome. 54% of the panel flat out believed the mortgage industry lacked innovation and is virtually the same it was 10 years ago. 64% believe that all mortgage lenders offer the same products, so they can only shop for points and rates.
As mortgage professionals we know certain aspects of the industry can be archaic… but there are still amazing, innovative strides being taken place all over the industry. More and more tools are popping up helping automate processes, companies are researching and applying machine-based learning and blockchain and data is being used to gain insights on borrowers like never before. An Inman article reported a company was able to obtain data from borrowers and could determine the fact that lower-income borrowers were more likely to use mobile devices to apply for a mortgage online than those with higher incomes.
Amazing stuff is happening in the mortgage industry, but the overall issue is an uninformed consumer. Consumers are blinded and do not truly realize or understand how mortgage lending properly works. So, is it our primary goal to find a way to inform the mass? A popular Fannie Mae survey recently discovered that borrowers still prefer a human touch over a digital experience while getting a mortgage, but to counter that point the Value Insured survey discovered that 71% of homebuyers didn’t really care if they liked their loan officer or mortgage broker… they’d rather just have someone who found them the best price. Is our industry doomed to always be viewed as a price centric industry or can we find a way to guide the modern homebuyer into a new light?
The opinions expressed in this post are the sole view of the writer and do not reflect the opinion of Princeton Mortgage Corporation.