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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