TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/1472906
M R EP O RT | 17 FEATURE COVER STORY Hybrid work-from-home models and consumer demand for slick apps and digital self-service have turned the way the industry does business upside down. MReport speaks with a panel of experts who discuss how the mort- gage sector is working to keep up with both homebuyer and internal team demands By Eric C. Peck W hen the fax machine first hit the mortgage space, it was like the day Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon. Gone were the days it took to mail or deliver copies of W-2s, bank statements, and tax returns from the borrower to the Loan Officer. Within minutes, vital pieces of information were transmitted across a phone line and into the hands of the party responsible for accepting or rejecting the application. A process that often took weeks, with the advent of a complex machine that magically sent copies across a telephone line, would now take just days, with customers and industry execs alike reveling in this new convenience. After having its day in the sun, however, this "breakthrough" was eventually rendered near obsolete. Shopping for a home and a loan all from the comfort of your phone is the new norm. Customers want answers and approval within minutes, not hours, not days, and especially not weeks. Instant gratification is the mantra that rules the day. Time spent waiting equals the loss of a client's business. Bottom line, if you are not embracing all that tech has to offer, you might as well be driv- ing potential business to the next shop. And as technology moves faster to solve problems quicker, customer patience grows thinner. A study of 6.7 million users conducted by Associate Professor Ramesh Sitaraman from UMass Amherst showed that viewers tend to abandon online videos if they take more than two seconds to load.