Move, Inc. Makes a Real Move on the Online Mortgage Market

The Internet mortgage market has traditionally been full of marketers pitching hopeful offers to hopeful homebuyers. Today, Move, Inc. placed a significant outlier into the Internet mortgage market.

With the launch of MortgageMatch.com, Move, Inc. could change the expectations of online mortgage shoppers. Actually, they might simply be fulfilling the expectations most new home buyers already have; but rarely, frustratingly so, ever get.

To understand the compelling nature of Move, Inc.’s new venture lets look at the disconnect between consumer expectations and the state of the marketing today–the mortgage marketing blender.

Online Mortgage Shopping, Perception v. Reality

New home buyers (even veteran homeowners refinancing) come to the Web for a quick (read: instant) and easy mortgage program, rate, and payment comparison. Preferably with real numbers, to questions like:

• How much cash am I going to need to bring to the closing table?
• What is my real mortgage payment once taxes and insurance are included?
• Are there any crazy stipulations, which I can never meet, buried somewhere?

Most homebuyers expect these to be pretty straightforward and easy to answer questions. However, the reality is that to get to that kind of pre-qualification certainty you need run this gauntlet:

• Give up your telephone number and email
• Get a quesstimate of mortgage rates and payments you might qualify for
• Brace yourself for the half-dozen (minimum) calls from hungry mortgage brokers
• Haggle, compare, and negotiate with each lender

After several days, much stress, and a splitting headache you might have a pre-qualification letter in hand. Allowing you to shop for a new home with some level of confidence.

To be fair, much of this complexity has been built into the system over time out of absurd necessity–customer experience flaws spawned from navigating onerous regulations governing mortgage and real estate transactions.

This is what makes Move., Inc.’s approach with MortgageMatch quite intriguing and I in my opinion quite compelling to online mortgage consumers.

Automated Underwriting Goes Online (with Real Numbers)

The real magic of MortgageMatch.com is the elegance with which they take automated underwriting to the Web. Consumers, especially Web consumers, want simplicity.

Online mortgage shoppers see mortgages as a payment, maybe a rate, and in some rare cases a certain type of program–probably very rarely considering all the high-risk negative amortization and interest-only loans written in the early 2000s.

They don’t understand all the nuance and complexity that goes into calculating these few important, bottom line numbers. More importantly, they don’t care. Nor do they have the patience to listen to a broker pontificate on the importance of the right mortgage.

This is where automated underwriting comes into play. We’ve had it for years. Arguably it’s a modern necessity, even for the mortgage broker. There’s no way any human can navigate all of the hundreds of possible mortgage program permutations to come up with the perfect mortgage for any given client situation.

So, why try?

Move, Inc. obviously came to a similar conclusion and said something like, “let’s put the decisioning directly on the Web, let the machine crunch the numbers, and when the home buyer picks what they like–we’ll get it closed.”

The simplicity is intuitive. Getting there was two years in the making, according to Sue Stewart, Senior Vice President of Move, Inc.

Giving a Real Pre-Qualification Letter

MortgageMatch.com really gets exciting when you think about the consumer experience. In a matter of moments, without talking to anyone you can walk away with a real mortgage offer and a real pre-qualification letter.

This is a significant departure from the current state of the market. Most online mortgage rate quoting websites are only indicative mortgage rates and payments, full of caveats and disclosures. MortgageMatch.com yields a real pre-qualification letter from Mortgage Match. A closer look reveals Cornerstone Mortgage Company d/b/a Mortgage Match, an exclusive partnership between Move, Inc. and Cornerstone Mortgage Company.

Does It Really Connect the Home Buying Dots?

The website is amazing, the technology appears sound, and I think bring transparent underwriting direct to the consumer via the Web is long over due. However, I think the proof is in the pudding as the saying goes.

Will the exclusive partnership between Move, Inc, and Cornerstone Mortgage Company deliver the marketing power and meet consumer expectation in a way that makes this the new standard?

I hope so. The Web promises this kind of simplicity. We need to see Internet companies and/or mortgage companies making mortgages this simple.

What do you think? Have you tried it? It’s free and anonymous–try it and come back and tell us what you think.