According to survey results released in December by Fannie Mae, demand for and use of mobile mortgage products almost doubled over the course of 12 months. The survey covered 1,200 consumers who bought homes in the last year and have a mortgage guaranteed by Fannie Mae.
“This is a startlingly large increase reflecting the pervasive and growing use of mobile technology among consumers at all income levels,” wrote Steve Deggendorf, director of market insights research for Fannie Mae. “Although this research focused on low- and moderate-income homebuyers, our prior research suggests the results would be even larger for mobile usage and interest among higher-income consumers.”
Fannie Mae’s findings help draw a picture of how the real estate market is moving rapidly toward maximum use of technology, often driven by customers.
Recently, loanDepot, which bills itself as “a fast-growing national consumer lender, announced the launch of its end-to-end proprietary digital lending platform as part of an $80 million investment in technology. The platform features three distinct components: a web-based consumer portal, a mobile point of sale system, and a fully digital mortgage loan application. All will be integrated into loanDepot’s web-based loan origination system, which consumers and lenders can use via mobile or desktop devices.
Development of these types of systems can be both exciting and a bit scary. For all of us, regardless of our specific roles in the industry, survival depends on embracing technology with all its built-in challenges. To put a twist on the old saying from academia: When it comes to technology, we all need to produce or surely we will perish.
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Technology and Real Estate
Tech Talk and the Real Estate Business
By Frank Pellegrini
