What if mortgage closings didn’t feel like a handoff? In this episode of Ten Minute talks, Allison LaForgia interviews Jeremy Potter on how technology and data can reinvent the lending experience.
Potter shares practical strategies for cutting closing times down to 24 hrs, while simultaneously creating a smoother, more personalized journey for consumers. He discusses the importance of trust, consistency, and delivering a borrower experience that exceeds expectations.
From rethinking the role of title partners to using pre-approvals to compete with cash buyers, this episode is packed with insights for anyone navigating the housing and mortgage industry’s digital transformation.
00:00What should it feel like to close with my lender?
00:03I don't want to feel handed off a bunch of times if we can help it.
00:11I'm Alison LaForgia, the managing editor of HousingWire's Content Studio,
00:15and I am joined by someone who needs no introduction, Jeremy Potter.
00:18Thank you. Good to be here.
00:20Thank you for being here.
00:21So, Jeremy, you've spent your career at the intersection of legal, title, and fintech.
00:26Where do you see the biggest opportunities to modernize?
00:30I think one of the things that I had thought about a lot is how we use data and where we use data.
00:36One of the biggest areas to modernize is using what you know about your customer,
00:41about your lead, about your file, about your loan, whatever you call it, wherever it sits.
00:46What do I already know about it?
00:47And what can I supplement or add to that to do more faster?
00:50And so using those indicators or using those data points, whether they come in from the web,
00:56whether they come in from a lead gen provider or from your referral source,
00:59whether they come from your actual system because you've worked with them,
01:02because you know them, because you already have some of that,
01:05and actually making that more valuable to everyone
01:08turns the whole process from reactive to proactive in many cases
01:12because now you're actually doing tasks or other indicators ahead of
01:17the way you would have done it yesterday or the day before.
01:20And you spend a lot of time on the innovation side.
01:24So let's talk a little bit about what's broken in the closing and title process.
01:30Okay.
01:30And who's actually fixing it?
01:32Who's making some progress here?
01:34Yeah.
01:35I mean, one of the things that I just mentioned was what is the order that things happen in?
01:39What is the order of operations?
01:40And often we're waiting way too long to ask for a task, ask for an order,
01:46ask for a partner to do something.
01:48The trends I'm seeing that are actually really interesting,
01:51using data fields or data points,
01:53or even how many of the data points are full and ready
01:57to then trigger a task automatically,
02:00either from your own system or from a partner.
02:02So let's take title as an example.
02:04If you have the right setup up front
02:06and you've configured your leads and your applications to come in in a certain way,
02:10your system knows when it's the right time to order title.
02:14You don't have to wait.
02:15And then the title company can get started earlier with what they already know
02:19from the property address and the other data that you've shared as a partner.
02:23So what you end up seeing is you end up getting almost like your system's getting a head start
02:27on what already should be happening.
02:29And you don't have to wait to call, check on it, get a status,
02:33have somebody push a button to order title.
02:35And that happens earlier.
02:37So those things we used to hear about title taking 10 days,
02:41it's taking two to three days, maybe even 24 hours,
02:44because you're triggering it off the data as it comes in.
02:47And you know how complete a file is.
02:49And then you know how quickly to order a title policy
02:53and then to complete that transaction.
02:55So that's, I think, one of the things that's moving digital lenders faster
02:59with their title partners by just integrating.
03:01So we're actually using our data.
03:03Yeah, we're actually using data.
03:04We're actually using our data and applying it to our tech process
03:06and optimizing things to move.
03:08I mean, the idea of going from 10 days to shorter than that is amazing.
03:12I mean, what consumer doesn't want to have the same level
03:16or the same process at a shorter time span?
03:18Yeah, it's one of those things where, let's say,
03:21there are 99 discrete tasks that have to happen on a loan from start to finish.
03:27Well, if 98 of those take 24 hours and the last one takes seven days,
03:32it took seven days.
03:34So you actually do have to think through every discrete task
03:37to get it to 24, 48, 72 hours to get the whole loan to get there someday.
03:43And that's where we are today.
03:44And that seven days is extremely noticeable.
03:46Extremely noticeable.
03:48Extremely noticeable.
03:48Because everyone's sitting waiting.
03:50So let's talk a little bit about trust.
03:52Where is trust being built or lost for consumers,
03:58between consumers and lenders,
04:01in this process,
04:02in a time when consumer expectations are so high?
04:04Yes.
04:05The number one thing we hear from consumers in either market research or direct feedback
04:10is when you ask me for something I've already provided multiple times.
04:14A subset of that category is asking me for something you should already know.
04:19So more and more we're seeing lenders try to avoid that.
04:22First of all, I mean,
04:23understanding your process and that to not make the mistake of asking twice is an important part.
04:29But actually what happens is asking the consumer,
04:32is this still true?
04:34Can be a fundamental question to make them feel part of the process.
04:37When what you're doing is just verifying,
04:39I do have it.
04:41I don't know if it's true.
04:42And I don't want to use it if it's not.
04:44So now I'm just asking you,
04:46is this still true?
04:46Is this still true?
04:47Is this still true?
04:48They feel like you knew or you should have known that,
04:51but you're getting the verification and validation.
04:53You need to move that faster in underwriting or to closing.
04:57And so I think that's the biggest thing is don't ask consumers for things that they feel you should know
05:02or that you've certainly already asked them for.
05:05So digging in a little bit more to that consumer journey,
05:08you've mentioned the change in the length that it takes to close and the actual application of data.
05:14So how do you think technology is helping in that process?
05:18And where do you see success with technology?
05:22Yeah,
05:22I think the biggest thing that would make the biggest difference to the way a consumer feels
05:28about mortgage and the process is using those individualized data points about their income,
05:34their employment,
05:35and some of the other factors about them like credit to put together a better offer,
05:40a more customized offer.
05:42We know when it's personalized and customized or feels personalized and customized that it has a higher satisfaction score.
05:50So using technology and data, the way you said we're actually using our data, you said that earlier.
05:54What I like to say is now combine that with not true customization, but the feeling of customization.
06:01And the example I like to use is an iPhone.
06:03Well, I recently ordered an iPhone.
06:05I didn't have a lot of choices.
06:07It was the amount of memory I needed.
06:09It was maybe the model.
06:10It was maybe the screen size.
06:12And it was maybe the color.
06:13But even the color was about what?
06:15Four or five colors.
06:16I felt I had made all the choices and personalized it and had it sent to me.
06:20But I didn't have that many choices.
06:22So I think it's like that with mortgage.
06:24It's not that there is going to be some revolutionary structure
06:27that changes how all of these lenders deliver the product and pricing offer.
06:32It's actually saying, based on what you just gave us, we know this about you.
06:36Make these three choices.
06:38And now you feel like you've customized your mortgage.
06:41So it's incorporating the customer into that experience with the data you already have.
06:45That's such an interesting concept.
06:47The idea of having the consumer make an active choice in their process
06:51so they feel better about it throughout the rest of the process through closing and then afterwards.
06:56Exactly.
06:57And so I think the underwriting part is critical to that when it comes to income and employment vacation.
07:04I also worked on just the experience itself.
07:07What should it feel like to close with my lender?
07:10I don't want to feel handed off a bunch of times if we can help it.
07:15We still tend to do that a lot.
07:17Technology that we've been talking about is a lot of the data and processing technology.
07:21There's also a lot of just great UX, consumer experience technology,
07:24that we could do a lot more with to not have the consumer feel the handoffs.
07:30We understand, at least today, they're still largely required behind the scenes.
07:35We've got to do a better job making them feel like this is still my closing as a lender.
07:39I still care about what's about to happen.
07:41I'm still going to move you into my servicing book.
07:43You don't have to feel that transition behind the scenes.
07:47Of course, we're QCing the loan, we're delivering the loan, we're getting paid on that,
07:51we're moving you into our servicing book.
07:53But there is much better and smoother technology we can use so that you don't feel that.
07:57Because it can make the consumer feel like the whole process is a little transactional.
08:01Correct.
08:02Exactly.
08:02And we want to avoid that because that's an icky feeling.
08:05And whenever we hear about what's making the most value out of it,
08:09companies talk about value a lot.
08:11We heard it on stage, lifetime value of the client.
08:15We heard it a bunch this week.
08:16Well, lifetime value of the client means this is what you're experiencing this time.
08:20And I'm foreshadowing what you're going to experience for the rest of our time together.
08:24Whether it's 30 years or 30, I want you to know this is what you have to come.
08:30The only way to do that is to think about it the way you just described.
08:32And it goes back to that building trust question that we talked about.
08:35Exactly.
08:36So Jeremy, thank you so much for joining me.
08:37Before we leave, tell me one trend that you're keeping your eye on.
08:41One trend that I'm keeping my eye on is how we buy homes better, faster, stronger than, say, a cash buyer.
08:51Right.
08:52I think we talked a lot about proactive data and enabling or empowering our customers to feel like we know what they need.
08:58One of the trends I think we're really not leveraging is giving them approvals in a way that they can actually use it to beat a cash buyer, to win that contract in the market.
09:11Often we kind of leave it up to real estate as a mortgage industry.
09:15We leave it up to a builder to build.
09:17I think we can do a better job saying to builders, I have 2,000 pre-approvals in your MSA, in your zip code.
09:24Can we build 100 houses?
09:26That's a small conversion.
09:28Can I build 200?
09:28That's 10% conversion.
09:30Saying to real estate, are you jockeying for position with a cash buyer?
09:35Here's how my cash coming from my lender is actually better than the cash.
09:41And so those trends actually require the data and technology to work with a professional to lock that in.
09:49Now, that's a big trend.
09:50That's a big dream.
09:52But I think it actually helps us, especially in the mortgage and title side, validate we're here to give a differentiator to the customer and to the real estate agent in winning that house.
10:05I love that.
10:06Jeremy, thank you so much for spending time with me tonight.
10:08Great to see you, Allison.
10:09It's nice to talk to you as always.
10:11And to our audience, for more information about Jeremy, you can check out the link below.
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