Zillow Mortgage Marketplace: Changes Make It Better For Consumers

I have found that few things in life separate the sheep from the goats men from the boys efficient from the not-so-efficient like the free market does.

Earlier this week, I received an email from the people at Zillow saying that they were making changes to their Zillow mortgage marketplace and were going to start to charge lenders for each contact with borrowers and my first thought was:

“Well, this oughtta be fun to watch”.

I think it might be the social scientist in me that casually enjoys watching people squirm whenever a perceived “big change” is announced – whether it is a global, national, corporate or maybe even just a marketplace change.

It has been my experience that whenever change occurs, there is almost always a group of people who thinks change is “fun” – no matter what it is – and finds a way to adapt to the change and continue on with life. It has also been my experience that there is also a group of people who resist change and can’t figure out why they never end up on the good end of the changes.

If you enjoy seeing both sides (and everything in between), be sure to follow the debate about the recent changes Zillow announced and how people are reacting to them.

What This Change Means For You: The Consumer

If you are a consumer, be sure to put Zillow on your Holiday greeting card list. They did you a big favor by making sure that lenders are valuing your contact – in fact… they are making your interest and qualifications a “market”.

If you are interested in a loan to buy a home or refinance, have good credit, good income, good assets and want to buy a $500,000 house do you think you are more valuable to speak with than someone who has lousy credit, no money and wants to find out how to use the $8000 tax credit to buy a house?

Of course you are.

So now the lenders on the back end are going to be actually “bidding” for that interest and hoping that you contact them.  When you do contact them (hint: if I were you, I would contact one of the ones who has a stellar reputation), then they will be charged.

Just a hunch here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Zillow doesn’t start out segmenting you as a customer and assigning a different value to you based on certain criteria, they will over time.  Which will only help the process.

I know, I know – it still remains to be seen just exactly how much money Zillow will be willing to pay lenders to talk with people who have lousy credit and no down payment (that was a joke) but one thing is almost certain:

Now that there is a price-tag that lenders are going to be paying each time you contact them – you as a consumer have an even higher chance of getting the best service from your loan officers working right here on Zillow.

Or, maybe I should say it like this: It seems to me that if a lender has to pay $100 for you to talk to him, you have a better chance of getting his/her full attention than if they didn’t have to pay anything for you to talk to them.

Or at least that is where I always try to put my mouth… where my money is.