The development of Lendicom.com has been driven by the basic convictions that (1) the potential of the internet in increasing the efficiency of commercial mortgage loan origination simply has not been harnessed effectively; (2) that this potential is very great, and that (3) one can only figure out how to fully harness this potential by listening to the people that will use the tool.
Now, a matching/submission tool is probably the most obvious thing the internet can potentially do well for the commercial mortgage industry. At present our primary focus is developing such a commercial loan matching/submission tool that is truly versatile and sophisticated enough that, first, commercial lenders don't feel as if they have to compromise when entering the information concerning their products, and second, the results of the matching process are precise enough that our matches are ACTUAL matches. In other words, a lender only receives proposals he would follow up on is he were interviewing the broker/borrower himself.
On the one hand, we want to eliminate the situation in which a commercial lender says, for example: "Well, we don't really have X, so I'll have to put in Y there instead." We want to allow lenders to be as specific as they want to be, but also have the latitude to be general in their representation as well. You should to be able to choose how big or small a net you want to cast, even if there is only a very, very particular and elusive type of fish you want to catch. To continue the metaphor, there are as many types of fish as there are commercial mortgage loans, and as many types of fishing boats as there are lenders. So the process of developing a good matching tool is inherently one of compromise. And we'll only be able to learn where to compromise and where it's crucial we don't by listening to all of our clients.
Now, in redefining this type of online matching/submission functionality as simply a versatile toolset commercial lenders can use to generate and manage their first contacts with borrowers and brokers, we shift our focus from the traditional commercial loan "lead engine" to something different and, I think, much more useful. People have been making a living generating and selling leads for a long time, and the internet has been used in this capacity before, as just another medium for transmission of these leads. I suppose certain aspects of Lendicom ressemble this, but what we do is fundamentally different in conception. Regarding the matching/submission tool--only one aspect of our services--our focus is not on soliciting leads ourselves and then passing them on to lenders; rather, our focus is on creating tools that allow lenders themselves to effectively harness the internet to generate leads for themselves, and that on the other hand allow brokers and borrowers to shop for and communicate with lenders more effectively.
So, yes, the matching/submission tool is important, and is, at the moment, our main focus. But the lead is just the first instance of communication between a broker/borrower and a lender during the whole process of origination, which, in the case of commercial mortgages, can often last as long as, say, five months. And plainly the internet can be, and already is, used as a communication tool throughout this process.
The commercial loan matching/submission process is just the first point in a potentially long line of communication between the commercial lender and the broker or borrower; and at the moment we are focusing on that point. However, we are also keenly aware of that longer line of communication that follows, and are constantly thinking about how the technology can be applied to it.
Everyone in the industry already uses the internet throughout the process of origination, whether they merely send a couple of emails here and there or are using a full-fledged networked documentation system. So again it's a question of expanding and refining that use of the internet for the specific needs of the commercial mortgage industry. How can we centralize the information, documentation and correspondence related to a particular commercial mortgage transaction? How can we make all of this more easily accessible to the interested parties and streamline its exchange?
As always, we're interested in hearing what commercial lenders and brokers think about these ideas and about any other features that might be useful. Don't hesitate to get in touch with me.
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