Zillow Mortgage Marketplace Milestones
By: Mary Miller, Zillow Director Product Management, Mortgages | July 9, 2008
Today, Zillow Mortgage Marketplace reached a couple of impressive milestones: more than 50,000 loan requests have been submitted, and more than 3,000 lenders responded to those requests with 250,000 loan quotes. All of this activity has taken place since the product’s launch on April 3 — just three months ago!
In addition to the previous feedback we received from borrowers, our site metrics tell us that on average, borrowers wait only 18 minutes to receive their first quote from lenders, and each loan request receives 8 quotes. Some requests are even receiving more than 30 loan quotes! Here is what some borrowers have to say about Zillow Mortgage Marketplace:
- “I like the fact that I am not being contacted by the lenders, and that I have the freedom to choose which company I want to deal with.”
- “I like the anonymity of the whole process. I felt like I was in control and not pressured.”
- “This is the ideal way to shop for mortgages. Thanks for giving the power to the consumer.”
Not only is Zillow Mortgage Marketplace helping borrowers, but it is also working for lenders. According to a recent survey among confirmed lenders, two-thirds of lenders have been contacted by at least one borrower. Lenders stated that the greatest benefits of Zillow Mortgage Marketplace are the ability to get free, unlimited leads, and the ability to get quality leads. These benefits, combined with the effectiveness they’ve seen so far, resulted in lenders rating Zillow Mortgage Marketplace 32% higher than Bankrate and 18% higher than LendingTree in terms of overall satisfaction. Here are some quotes from happy lenders:
- “I have worked Internet leads like Lending Tree and Lower My Bills and I can say I actually prefer Zillow leads, for the pure fact I don’t have to chase anyone. Any loan officer can hunt; pounding the ground with their network or grinding on the phone making cold calls. But here on Zillow, we fish. I choose my river, cast my net and watch it work.” Aaron Opfell, Sunrise Vista Mortgage Corporation, Citrus Heights, CA
- “I previously used online search marketing, but I have suspended that because Zillow Mortgage Marketplace is driving more traffic.” Gregorio Denny, Tripoint Mortgage Group, San Diego, CA
If you’re looking for a loan, it takes minutes to fill out the form and there is no obligation, no personal information revealed and no one will call you until you initiate contact. If you’re a lender, it’s pretty easy to see that you can fish all day for free. And yes, the bites and catches are coming.
- Stumble it!
- Categories: Home Mortgage, Mortgages, Refinance, Zillow
Comments
6 Comments so far
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Charlie Bentley on July 10, 2008 8:11 am
Many lead buyers are sick of Lending Tree and you hear it all over the country. That said, it is no surprise that many would give ANY other lead generator a thumbs-up over LT.
I think there is a very loose usage of the term LENDER. You can find the legal definition of LENDER online. Most of your lead buyers are NOT lenders and (IMHO) it is a mis-statement or at least a misnomer to use such a term when I would bet most of your lead pluckers are branch LO’s, NOT lenders.
Also, part of what you report is part and parcel of the problem with mortgages, that is, the quotations of numerous “lenders” with varying rates and prices, confusing the borrowers. Many LO’s quote pricing well below par to sound cheap because they know the borrowers don;t know the differnces.
I would like to see a report on what the borrowers think about whether or not this is an improvement, not the so-called “lenders”.
David Gibbons on July 10, 2008 9:52 am
Charlie -
We’re invoking the more general definition of lender. The first three quotes above are from the borrowers’ perspective; they LOVE the personal anonymity and quote transparency that Zillow Mortgage Marketplace offers.
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Loan Modification Guy on May 3, 2009 12:35 pm
Nicely done! I definitely agree with the first comment; brokers and homeowners are sick of lending tree and/or getting bombarded with a million annoying phone calls. Keep up the great work.