Bankrate Mortgage
Mortgage Leads with more accurate data
The mortgage liquidity crisis has hit independent mortgage brokers hard. Fewer consumers are entitled to loans, and those who do not require more time to do it. Moreover, home sales fell in most areas, so the number of new Mortgages are down. All this means fewer customers and small businesses for the average mortgage broker. Fortunately, a new development in the inner lead market help some brokers thrive even in the credit crisis.
Traditional internet mortgage leads gathered from consumers who go online and request a quote for any kind of home loan: new refinance a second home improvement and consolidation of debt. The completed form, with the consumer's name, address, telephone number and other data is sold to a broker as a sales lead. The company generates lead "scrubs" the data to prevent false information from reaching the broker. The lead generator accomplishes validation of "pinging" the data subject against various databases. The process is automated, so it takes only seconds to verify the accuracy of lead. Because the validation process is immediate and leads are immediately sent to the broker, internet-generated Mortgage leads are often marketed as "real time" leads.
For the past decade, industry has only incremental improvements in lead validation and delivery. A few years ago lead generation companies introduced "live transfer" leads, as they call for the consumer, check interest loan then transfer the call to the broker. Recently, however, lead generation companies have changed some internet mortgage leads in a way that can only be described as revolutionary.
Exploiting newly created strategic alliances, internet lead is not only access to databases to verify the correctness of consumer information but also adds asked data to their head to make them more valuable for mortgage brokers. For instance, iLeads.com of Newport Beach, California, has aligned with First American Financial Core Logic to add detailed property and loan data for its mortgage leads no extra charge. Instead of receiving a summary lead containing only the basics of consumer buying leads from brokers iLeads.com have a long way out, there contains detailed information such as property size, APN code, the original lender, estimated value, and first and second mortgage amounts. With this information in hand, the broker can assess the view and select the right product before the call.
The data adds solve another problem which has annoyed the Internet lead industry: consumer inaccuracy. A survey by Bankrate.com shows that 34% of consumers do not even know what type of loan they have. Other familiar type, but not details about interest rates or loan balances. As a result, the information often proves to be incorrect. Long-form driver of the attached data takes the guesswork out of the process. They replace faulty consumer input with exact data. This eliminates the lengthy question and answer sessions on the phone broker to make more calls and close more deals. It also helps the mediator to continue with confidence, knowing that there will be few if any surprises, as they continue with the loan.
Long-form mortgage leads will not solve the credit crisis, but they can help brokers work more efficiently and profitably.
About the Author
An award-winning author of books for young adults, Bradley Steffens is a frequent contributor to online and print publications, including Gig and Broker Agent Magazine. A copywriter with 25 years experience, he creates website content for health insurance, life insurance, and homeowner’s insurance professionals. His most recent book, Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, is the world’s first biography of the medieval Muslim scholar known in the West as Alhazen.