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The age of the internet and technology has been upon us for some time now and as the Digital Mortgage Conference in Las Vegas is fast approaching, it is now more important than ever to determine what you can check out at the convention. The 2019 mortgage technology conference from September 23 to 24 is a fantastic opportunity for mortgage lenders to learn what is changing in the landscape, what needs some work, and what has been a success thus far.

The age of the internet and technology has been upon us for some time now and as the Digital Mortgage Conference in Las Vegas is fast approaching, it is now more important than ever to determine what you can check out at the convention. The 2019 mortgage technology conference from September 23 to 24 is a fantastic opportunity for mortgage lenders to learn what is changing in the landscape, what needs some work, and what has been a success thus far.

Buying a home involves a lot of steps: finding an agent, poring over listings, finding a lender, identifying the best loan, and then ultimately getting that loan. Until recently, buyers had to take all those steps one by one — which was kind of silly, considering they’re all aimed at achieving one common goal: getting the buyer into the home of their dreams.

This past spring, the Federal Reserve made headlines when it announced it was ready to move forward with the creation of a real-time payments service, dubbed FedNow, aimed at supporting “near-instantaneous” transfer of funds, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. That’s good news for credit unions, according to Andrew Morris, senior counsel for research and policy at the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU). During the service's design phase, NAFCU worked closely with the Fed, identifying key capabilities and priorities to make the new service “credit union-friendly.”

Housing prices remain strong in Canada, especially in major metropolitan areas like Vancouver and Toronto. Comparatively speaking, Montreal remains a good value among major Canadian cities, with an average home price of about $366K. But just because Montreal homes are affordable relative to other urban locales, that doesn’t mean they’re affordable for a first-time home buyer in Quebec. For many would-be city-dwellers, high real estate costs have meant these buyers have put their dreams of homeownership on an indefinite hold.

Over the last two decades, technology has dramatically reshaped the process of finding and purchasing a home. Despite these advancements, however, the homebuying journey remains frustratingly disjointed. This is true not just for consumers, but also for the professionals who serve them—especially loan officers and real estate agents.

Things are looking up for mortgage lenders. As of August 2019, mortgage rates are approaching their lowest level in nearly three years, while in June, applications rose by 27 percent in just one week, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

While most housing markets have recovered from the 2007 subprime mortgage crisis, consumers are still feeling the lingering effects. North American homebuyers have experienced a decrease not just in overall wealth, but also in confidence. This is certainly true among the millennial generation, who came of age during these tumultuous times and now make up the majority of homebuyers.

The home-buying process has changed a lot during the past decade or so, and with those changes have come a lot of new challenges. For lenders who want to remain competitive, simply meeting those challenges isn’t enough. Today’s lenders need to know how to overcome those obstacles — and maybe even turn them into advantages. Here are the top five challenges lenders can expect to encounter during the rest of 2019 and throughout 2020, along with a few tips on how to conquer them.

In today’s tech-forward lendin g environment, it’s easy for loan officers to lose sight of their most important responsibility: guiding consumers through the loan origination process. For Michelle Bruto da Costa, branch manager at Homebridge Financial Services in Everett, WA, the key to fulfilling that responsibility is communication, and plenty of it.

What's In-Platform Advertising? How does it relate to the world of mortgage lending and real-estate? and why does it matter? I invite you to read-on as I help you explore the subject.

Overview

With over 5,000 marketing solutions and platforms available today, credit unions are finding ways to optimize their lead generation processes with web analytics, audience data management, and many more.  

In today’s digital lending environment, maintaining a consistent supply of homebuyer leads is a constant challenge. With consumers increasingly shifting their homebuying journeys online, and nonbank lenders competing for those consumers, banks and credit unions are hard-pressed to modernize their lead generation efforts.

Fortunately, NestReady is here to help traditional lenders generate up to 90 percent more leads on their platforms. Here are five ways NestReady’s solutions make it happen.

In recent years, you may have heard of “machine learning” being used for everything from diagnosing diseases to writing screenplays. But what is machine learning, and how does it work? Read on to understand the value of this emerging technology and how NestReady is using it to help financial institutions provide a seamless, end-to-end homebuying experience.

Whether you’re a small community lender, or a mid-sized institution with a regional footprint, chances are you don’t have a lot of extra money in the budget to spend on marketing and advertising. That’s why it’s so important to capture and analyze data about the consumers who visit through your website and other online properties.

See what other loan officers and mortgage originators got to say about activating a personalized real-estate marketplace that puts them at the center of a customer home-buying journey, and helps them generate leads.

Overview

With the vast majority of consumers searching for homes on the internet, more and more mortgage lenders are beginning to leverage digital marketing tools to attract, convert, and retain clients online.

These days, virtually all companies understand that they should be measuring and analyzing their app and website activity. With that in mind, the majority of businesses who find or do business online are using web analytics software to track visitors and users. In fact, 68 percent of the top 1 million websites and 88.5 percent of the top 10,000 websites use Google Analytics to measure the customer experience on their online properties.

Online display ads are often portrayed a panacea for today’s businesses, particularly in comparison to traditional advertising methods. But getting a solid return on digital ads is by no means easy. Consider that the average person is served over 1,700 banner ads per month but only half of them are ever viewed. Meanwhile over 70 percent of marketers fail to target these consumers with behavioral data, leading to lower click rates and conversions.

In the age of “Big Data,” mortgage lenders are realizing that their own data on customers and leads is their most valuable source of marketing insight. Yet knowing is only half the battle—and as it turns out, many lenders are failing to activate their so-called “first-party” data to drive new business.

In today’s digital-first world, technology is crucial to the success of any mortgage lender. From managing online advertising efforts, to cultivating relationships with leads, to testing and analyzing performance, the right mix of tools and solutions can help financial institutions and brokers achieve a variety of goals while maximizing ROI.

Savvy consumers in today’s digital world are constantly pushing the banking industry to better meet their needs. With companies like Amazon raising the bar through a variety of services and products, consumers now demand seamless user experiences and 24/7 access in other industries. What if Amazon started offering mortgages? It’s not as farfetched as it sounds — and if credit unions and banks can’t meet the needs of tomorrow’s homebuyers, they may face stiff competition before long.

It doesn’t come as a surprise that over 86% of banks responded in a HousingWire survey that they now offer a digital mortgage application on their website. However, digitalizing the application represents only a partial improvement to the entire experience of purchasing a home. Consumers still feel inconvenienced and stressed by the complicated process of searching for homes, finding the best rates, and working with a real estate agent and loan officer they can trust.

Five years ago one of my dreams came true: I bought my first home!

As exciting as it may sound, I have to say that I did NOT enjoy the process…

Like most first-time home buyers, I had little guidance on where to start when I made up my mind to move forward with this significant project.

Mauro Repacci, Founder and CEO of NestReady, was no stranger to relocating. Having moved and lived in several different countries over the years, he found himself frustrated with trying to find a home that would fit his budget and provide him a reasonable commute to work. He settled on a neighbourhood in Montreal with no amenities, limited public transportation, and a high price for rent.

I just love how straightforward this article published yesterday by Jason Frazier on Housingwire, is. I really recommend reading it.

This is not plagiarism, simply a list of my favourite pieces of the article I wish every mortgage lender would read.“As has been said by many industry titans, the only constant in business you can count on is change. Yet, too many of you are still holding on to the past, to the “good ol’ days” of this business.”

A few days ago Quicken Loans’ sister company, In-House Realty, announced the acquisition of ForSaleByOwner.com, a calculated move of Rock Holdings, their parent company, towards building their one-stop-shop homebuying solution.