TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/1472906
M R EP O RT | 9 those possibilities to life in a much more interactive, realistic way," said Josh Weisberg, VP of Zillow's Rich Media Experience team. "Now shoppers can act more quickly and confidently, whether they're searching in their own neighborhood or hundreds or thousands of miles away. We're pushing the boundaries of what home buyers and renters can expect when shopping for a home online." For buyers and renters, Zillow's AI-generated floor plan means navigating more seamlessly and naturally through photos, a 3D Home tour, and other listing information. According to Zillow, more than half (56%) of buyers agree they wasted time on their home search by viewing properties that they would have skipped if they had understood the floor plan before their visit. Nearly three-quarters (74%) agreed that a dynamic floor plan helps them determine if a home is right for them. With more virtual tours on Zillow listings than ever before, it's easier to explore and picture life in a home. Shoppers can evaluate homes from the comfort of their couch—assessing condi- tion, validating details, layout, size, and orientation—to make the most of their time. Or they can relive an in-person tour without traveling for a second visit. For agents and landlords, this new and expanded technology means bringing a listing to life and showing homes to more serious and interested shoppers. Zillow found that 81% of buyers and 71% of renters said they were more likely to visit a home if the listing included a floor plan they liked. Zillow uses panoramic photos captured by an agent or photog- rapher with the free 3D Home app and a 360-degree camera, and then applies the company's com- puter vision and machine-learning models to generate a 3D Home tour and interactive floor plan. This includes AI-predicted room dimensions, square footage, and the location of the listing photos relative to the other media. And now, it also imports every listing photo and places them on the floor plan to more easily navigate and get a feel for the home. The floor plan, 3D tour, and photos are automatically uploaded to the listing on Zillow and Redfin, and can also be added to the MLS, embedded in a website, or shared via email or social media. "Immersive floor plans give agents the ability to build a connection between potential buyers and listings prior to any showings," said George Laughton, Founder of the Laughton Team in the Phoenix area. "They give buyers a sense of familiarity and make them feel as though they've been in the home before, helping them establish a stronger emotion- al connection with the home." Lender Offers New Time-Savings Option MID AMERICA MORTGAGE NOW OFFERING ENOTES M id America Mortgage Inc. has announced that it is offering eNote capabilities via its wholesale channel to enable nondelegated correspondents to operate more efficiently and competi- tively as they make the transi- tion from mortgage broker to banker. Through this program, third-party originators (TPOs) can deliver the convenience digital closings provide to their customers and enhance relation- ships with their existing real estate and title partners amidst an otherwise challenging operat- ing environment. "With the rise in rates, dwell time is much more consequential as it ultimately eats into profit- ability. Mid America has always sought to operate from a position of providing liquidity and revenue retention options to the industry, and our wholesale eNote program is a natural extension of those efforts," Mid America Owner and CEO Jeff Bode said. "With eNotes, our approved nondelegat- ed correspondents can decrease turn times on their warehouse line to 48 hours or less, which ul- timately saves them money in the form of reduced interest charges and enables them to turn over their warehouse lines far more frequently." To help nonelegated cor- respondents take advantage of this program, Mid America has established partnerships with private investors to provide lines of credit to qualified program participants. Mid America's TPO approval process captures most of the relevant financial statements and insurance exhibits requisite to the warehouse approval process, thus materially accelerating the warehouse approval timeline. "Despite the push for 'indus- trywide' adoption, the digital mortgage conversation has largely excluded TPOs, which has put them at a distinct disadvantage. Furthermore, many budding mortgage bankers have been reluc- tant to go down the digital path, thinking there are insurmountable operational/financial limitations," Mid America's Executive Director of TPO Lending Adam Rieke said. "Given our success as a digital-first lender, we wanted to extend this same opportunity to the next generation of rising mort- gage bankers. Due to the secure nature of eNotes, many mortgage lenders that were previously ineligible for warehouse lines can move forward as mortgage bank- ers and do so with full confidence that their operations are as effi- cient and cost-effective as possible from the start." Bolstering Customer Retention NEW XACTUS OFFERING ASSISTS LENDERS WITH LEAD GENERATION AND RETENTION X actus announced that it is offering active listing data to help lenders attract new applicants and retain existing relationships. Active Listing Scan is a monitoring solution that scans residential addresses for changes in listing status, alerting lenders when properties have recently been listed. It leverages a combi- nation of the most comprehensive, continuously updated listing databases available and includes MLS listing data as well as public records from data aggregators. The new Xactus product offers coverage for all 50 states— with the highest hit rate in the MTECH "Despite the push for 'industrywide' adoption, the digital mortgage conversation has largely excluded TPOs, which has put them at a distinct disadvantage." —Adam Rieke, Executive Director of TPO Lending, Mid America Mortgage