TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/1491913
M R EP O RT | 7 MTECH Zillow's natural language search feature takes users' queries and scans millions of listing details to bring relevant results to the surface. At the same time, the feature is training machine learn- ing models to better respond to search queries that use natural, human-like sentences. Zillow continues to invest in tech innovation like AI as part of its vision to deliver the "housing super app"—a single digital ecosys- tem of connected solutions for all the tasks and services related to moving. "The future of real estate will be powered through AI," Arden said. "We are proud to be the first in the industry to offer this smart- er way to search, and excited to see how it learns and evolves to help each Zillow shopper find their perfect home." Expanding Mortgage as a Service Functionality LOWER UNVEILS MORTGAGE AS A SERVICE PLATFORM L ower has launched a new Mortgage as a Service (MaaS) platform that eas- ily allows consumer brands to offer mortgage products to their customers. After piloting the service, Opendoor, an e-com- merce platform for residential real estate transactions, moved their mortgage fulfillment to Lower exclusively. To lead the new platform, the company has named Chelsea Wagner SVP of Partnerships. Launching an in-house mort- gage lending operation has histori- cally been a complex undertaking for many businesses. Through the MaaS platform, Lower provides a solution for consumer finance, banking, and real-estate brands to offer a digital-first home financ- ing experience quickly and easily, with white-label options available. It can be embedded into the part- ner's customer journey through API and no-code solutions. "Nearly every proptech and fintech company we talk to has some version of home lending on their roadmap. It's a natural value add, but until now there wasn't a solution. Our infrastructure and expertise make us uniquely positioned to accelerate a new mortgage offering," Wagner said. "We believe the demand will be high for this product as a new, easily implemented product offer- ing for companies." As a part of the founding team, Wagner built and managed the company's direct-to-consumer channel from the ground up. She now transitions to her new role to underscore Lower's commitment to the MaaS channel and bring her strategy and lending expertise to every step of the relationship. "Chelsea has been an integral member of Lower since day one. It was a natural fit to promote someone so passionate about the customer experience and com- mitted to helping our partners develop their business strategy in the home lending space," Lower Co-Founder and CEO Dan Snyder said. "We've taken our years of mortgage experience and processes, and allowed any business to offer mortgage to its customers. This is a big step for brands that have captive audiences but not the means or experience