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Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, 3 weeks in

The Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is now about three weeks old, so I thought I'd give an update.

What is it?

In short, think of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace like a free, anonymous version of Lending Tree. Borrowers submit loan requests but don't share their name, their SS# or their phone #. Lenders then respond to the Loan Requests with their own customized Loan Quotes, for free. Borrowers then choose which lender to reach out to and the borrower contacts the lender. The entire marketplace is transparent, so everyone can see what loan requests have been submitted, and what loan quotes have been returned.

Is it working?

Undoubtedly yes. If you go to the mortgages page, you can see a snapshot of the marketplace's activity. As of 4/25, we had received 15,093 Loan Requests from borrowers and 44,152 Loan Quotes from lenders.

Use the dropdown box to select a region to drill down, or use the United States default here.

For example, it looks like 5 minutes ago someone submitted a Loan Request in Austin TX for a purchase loan of $370K. And already he has 2 Quotes back.

Drilling down on that Austin Loan Request, here are the Loan Quotes the Austin borrower has so far. Notice how much higher Ruth Smith's fees are than Mike Meyer's. The borrower already has two real, customized Loan Quotes back after only a few minutes, and he hasn't had to offer up his phone number. Meanwhile, Mike Meyer (a mortgage broker from Dallas) already has a shot at closing this loan, and he paid $0.00 for this lead.

I encourage you to check out the marketplace (use the filters on the left and the dropdowns on top to change the sort order). I never expected rate voyeurism to be this much fun.

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Posted by Spencer Rascoff on 04/25/2008 01:44 PM

Comments (28)

mortgages, refi, zillow, zillow mortgage marketplace

Post is included in group: Realtors®
Post is included in group: Mortgages
Post is included in group: All About Mortgages/Mortgage Networking
Post is included in group: Mortgage Professionals
Post is included in group: Zillow Mortgage Marketplace

28 Comments on Zillow Mortgage Marketplace, 3 weeks in

APR

2008

Thanks for the information. I will definately add it to my source list.

Interesting, Spencer - I will be watching this in the coming weeks ...

Thanks for the update. I can't believe it has been 3 weeks already. Guess there should be some closings that lenders can report soon!

Jo -

Yep, I've heard from stacks of lenders that have Zillow loan applications at the bank - those should start to close within the next two weeks.

I have not heard of this but will definitely check it out

I would like to see what 's funding. So many of these end up not funding.

Spencer

Undoubtedly, you have a great product on your hands. To continue making the system even more effective, there has to be a way to add secondary financing, and customizing of fees (none) and interest rates for a HELOC as a sample. The Z system is awesome, but it does tend to overstate monthly payments quite often.

Keep on doing what you're doing....I'm happy to provide any additional feedback to keep the system growing.

Excellent. I too have doubts as to funding but I'll put in on my list of things to check out.

Spencer - I will probably close my first loan through this in about 30 days (Purchase Money). The borrower saw my quote and then googled my name and came across my blog here. He did his homework and decided he wanted to work with me. What is impressive to me is that he's extrememly intelligent in regards to Mortgages and the whole process. He liked the idea of being able to 'shop' anonymously and then do his own legwork from there.

Is Zillow using this to sale leads back to Real Estate Agents?

Bonner

Spencer, Please do keep us informed about the progress of the applicants and lenders. Looks very promising !

Spencer..... question, what about those loan officers that keep offering lower rates that don't exist? What I call, low balling. Sure, it works... you are getting a lot of hits... sure, many loan officers will be closing loans. But my biggest gripe is that I have been able to see more than a small percentage of quotes that are low balled. And I have been told about this by more than a handful of loan officers. So I was just curious on your take on this. I know nothing will ever be perfect, but it was sold to me with the idea that this wouldn't happen much. And personally, I don't see how you can control that part of it... thanks

I am curious to see what results other LOs have with the system. It sounded like a great idea when I signed up, but so far I haven't been impressed by what I've seen. I agree with Jeff that there seems to be a lot of low-balling going on. Also, it seems that, not unlike AR, people can't resist the temptation to game the system. I was amazed at the number of lenders who had perfect 5 out of 5 ratings within the first couple of days! So far I have submitted 15 quotes and received 1 response. 8 of my quotes were never even viewed, which tells me they weren't serious inquiries. I was spending a good deal of time putting together honest, accurate quotes, so that's a little frustrating. I wonder how many were other LOs shopping the competition.

Also, the format for my message to the borrower was poached and copied by another lender on the second day. Not a great start for me, but I plan to keep at it when I have time.

I have not had luck with internet lenders, they don't understand the local market. I like to keep my business relationships with trusted lenders

Great post.

A good resource for loan officer who like to work leads.

Great post... I have looked in to getting the leads from zillow but I always get freaked out when an internet company wants my Credit Card #.... For those of you that are using this service do you think it is worth-while???

Kevin -- Keep in mind that even if the status of your quotes reads "active" in your Loan Quotes summary page, it does not necessarily mean that consumers have not looked at your quote. When you submit a quote, we send the borrower a message letting him know that he received a quote and we provide a summary of the quote details in the email. So the borrower is very likely reviewing your quote, either in the email or by coming back to the site to see more details

Thank you for the quick update and information. This is the first time I have heard of your company. It is always good to have information like this for our clients to inform them of what is available. Sometimes the really just want a list of companies they can investigate on their own instead of a realtors preference on whom they shouls use. So, again, thank you and this will be added to my list. Terrie

The system is pretty cool. It has it's negatives, though. I hate creating a rate quote without knowing anything about the borrower's situation except for a small blurb of information that they input. I do it anyway because I don't want to miss the train. I just try to keep it honest while still competitive. You've got to look at it as a free lead. You didn't pay for it, so you're probably going to have to lower your fees to win the race.

The rating system is a great idea, but I agree that it is being gamed. If there is some way to keep us honest, I wish I would see it. If ratings weren't being manipulated, then underquoting wouldn't be a problem. The buyer would pick the lowest (imaginary) rate and fees. He'd make an application and eventually that broker would jack his fees and rate up to normal. The buyer would get angry. Even if he still closed the loan, he could easily give him a low rating and a detailed explanation of what happened. Next time this guy tried quoting someone, they wouldn't choose him because of the lower rating and bad feedback. Problem solved. Eventually, all the low quoters would be out of the picture. But the gaming is preventing this natural process from happening.

Just some feedback. Otherwise, it's a great way to provide free leads. I can't complain too much. I just got a call on one today. I'll close him in less than a month if he doesn't shop me around. That's a big "if" with these borrowers. They are being trained not to trust us and instead get as many opinions as possible.

APR

2008

It will be interesting to see how this unfolds. Thanks for the post.

Spencer--- I hate to be the buzz killer here but I tried it for a week, made numerous quotes every day where I beat everyone's rate and got zero activity. None. Barely even a profile view.

I work at Countrywide so I would assume the brand, combined with the lowest quote, would carry some weight over the others like it does in regular life. None.

Now you may try and tell me I didnt give it enough time, but we all know the web, when successful, usually produces pretty immediate response. Thats part of what makes it so exciting.

I believe there are two reasons for this: First is like Jeff Belonger writes above. The loan officers on the site are not filling out the closing cost section accurately so they are quoting the lowest possible rates with absolutely no closing costs. If anyone is going to get a call, its the guy who is misleading them most.

The other reason, which I believe is the more accurate one is one in which all seasoned real estate professionals know by now. Real estate sales and mortgages are a referral-based business. Buyers and Sellers use people who come from the referral of others they love and trust.

Zillow has provided a great tool to shop to see what you should be paying for your mortgage. You post, you get your low quotes, and then you call your local lender, who was referred to you by your next door neighbor or brother and make sure he honors the quote.

I am far too busy managing those clients who are referred to me to quote 100 loans a month and maybe get one. I am sure once your data is in place and seasoned 1 in 100 will be a great conversion rate.

If you are an LO with very little business, you may have nothing to lose except time.

However, in my opinion, there are many more tried and true marketing methods where this time spent posting and competing against inaccurate quotes could be much better spent. Like calling your sphere or on local real estate agents.

APR

2008

It is a great concept if it can work correctly. I haven't been on it since the 1st week. but in that first week i did get a zillow application however, unfortunately after reviewing the customers info they really didn't have the equity they said they thought they had and it turned into a no deal. But that doesn't mean zillow doesn't work.

I guess you have to put alot of time into it to really see how it works. I have been so busy lately not much time this month to put more quotes in. I wonder how everyone else is doing?

Hey Spencer. Thanks for the update. Would you allow a mortgage broker to sign up as a lender, or no?

Thank you everyone for the great feedback.

@Bonner -- no, we're not selling leads to real estate agents or mortgage lenders or anyone. All of the leads in Zillow Mortgage Marketplace are free.

@Jeff -- yes, we too were worried about bait and switch rates when we first came up with the idea for Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. So we created a reputation system (like ebay) where borrowers can rate lenders. You can already see a bunch of ratings on lenders which is helpful to borrowers, and helps keep people in check.
It's not a perfect system, but it works pretty well.

@Aaron -- thank you for your feedback. There's no doubt that working your own network of referrals is the best source of clients. I wouldn't presume that any product which Zillow could come up with would be more effective than your own network. Hopefully though Zillow Mortgage Marketplace will prove to be a good place to find new leads when you need them.

@Crystal -- yes, both mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers are welcome to participate.

APR

2008

Great post. Thanks for the info.

MAY

2008

I've been watching Zillow for about a week now and what I've found is that the rates seem to be in line but the closing costs are low-balled. Looks like LOs are only inputting part of the "800" fees required and then in the body of their quote stating that there are other "Lender" fees that will be quoted later.

The Zillow model of anonymity is great for consumers but once again, LOs trying to beat the system are going to screw it up.

MAY

2008

Seems like they haven't come up with an effective way to stop the low ball rates without all of the fees.

John Thomas - Certified Mortgage Planner

John,

One of the benefits of a transparent marketplace is that professionals can help to keep each other honest. To help with this effort, last week we added a loan quote flag feature to Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. If you see quotes that seem to be inaccurate or violates the code of conduct, click the "Flag quote" link under the Tools section on the left-hand side of Quote Details pages. This will alert Zillow's Customer Support team to review that quote. In addition to flagging quotes, lender reviews that don't follow the code of conduct guidelines can also be flagged by clicking "flag content" directly under the review.