36% of Americans said they would buy a Home entirely on-line. Some thoughts for Loan Officers...

One of the big trends emerging in real estate is the willingness of Buyers to purchase a home without ever having set foot in it. This would have been unfathomable just a year or two ago. But Zillow is currently reporting that number is about 36% of Americans, up from April when it was an estimated 25%. It's likely within a year or so, about half of all Americans will be comfortable purchasing or selling a home completely online.

There will likely be close to $1.5 trillion this year in new Purchase loans, very approximately 6 million units (250k/loan). 36% of that is 2.16 million Home Buyers who are completely willing to buy sight-unseen. Right now. Only virtual.

The Take-aways for Loan Officers are obvious. Sometimes these Articles write themselves..lol.

1. Your business needs to also be capable of 100% virtual transactions. Make sure you understand how E-Closings and Hybrid closings work. Learn about branded Mortgage Apps that connect the Borrower/Realtors/Broker/Lender. Don’t be re-active here, get out in front of it and start to place yourself ahead of the rest.
2. Loan Officers need to support your Realtor partners. Let them know you can schedule any video conference. Make sure they have all the cool Apps that measure rooms, show different appliances, and show paint colors, etc…
3. You can no longer have a crappy website. Sorry, some of them look like you don’t care, and that you are investing very little to stay current. Not only will Borrowers be turned off, but more importantly, so will your referral partners.
4. Your Website will become the interface for clients, it needs to have some sophisticated utility. If possible, avoid the cheap ‘DIY’ sites. You need things like secure uploads and logins, blogs, encryption, real time chat, data collection, mailing list, branded App synching, LOS connectivity, high end video capacity, etc.
5. Put a plan in place to meet and execute these ideas. Make it a firm and regular commitment, put it on the calendar immediately. Meet/build as much as possible.

In April, Realtor.com said that about 25% of home shoppers would buy a home without even stepping foot in it. Now, just 4 months later, Zillow reports 36% of Americans would be more likely to try and buy a home entirely online because of the pandemic, and a full 43% said they would be more likely to sell a home entirely online because of the pandemic.

Thanks for reading everyone, have a great day ??

Rich Phillips

Partnerships & Wisdom

Billions Funded! Multi-year recipient of ‘America’s top 100 Wholesale AEs’ by the Scotsman Guide.

To see some of my archived articles please visit me at www.dhirubhai.net/in/richphillipsAE

Senior Account Executive. Wholesale/Correspondent Lending.