Let’s first understand how the industry functions currently
When one needs a mortgage, many ask friends and colleagues for recommendations.
Let’s stop there for a moment.
What? Even in today’s digital age, where information is abundant and resources to get information are unlimited?
Yes. In fact, that is the essence of the problem. The emphasis here is on the word “abundant”.
With information abundance comes a lot of noise
Real estate is close to 13% of the US GDP. Since most homes are bought by taking loans, ‘massive’ is the word used to describe the size of the mortgage industry.
With that large a size, there ought to be an army of participant entities (banks, lenders, brokers et al). And an army can make a lot of noise to corrupt real information.
The bigger the entity, the more firepower it has to create that noise. And the more noise in the system, the harder it is to get to the information you are looking for.
But that’s the case in every industry. What’s the difference?
In one word, transparency.
When you browse around and like a product on a website, you can quickly search for that product on Google and you’ll see all other websites selling it, and for how much. Based on price, service and other factors, you can choose which vendor you like the most, click, pay, and you are done. It’s that simple.
Not with mortgages. Not today at least. And that’s what Stem Lending is changing.
How is mortgage shopping different?
Mortgage application is a tedious process. It takes about 20-30 minutes to fill, then submit all the documentation. After all of that is done will the lender be able to tell you what rates they can offer you for your mortgage?
Can you now search another mortgage provider that is selling the same product for a cheaper price and better service?
No. It’s not that simple. You now have to find a different bank or lender’s website, fill out a new application, submit the same documents and get a new rate quote.
Another half hour just went down the drain.
You don’t even try a third one after that. It’s so painful already.
Lenders launch new products all the time. The intelligence regarding, whether the fourth and the fifth lender you didn’t get to shop to had better rates, is what’s fundamentally missing in the market.