We’re excited and honored to receive the 2022 Innovation Award in recognition of our visionary mortgage point-of-sale software, Loanzify POS.

Loanzify is the modern originator’s epicenter for automating, mobilizing, and consolidating his origination workflow.

Awarded by PROGRESS in Lending, earning this honor was based on innovation’s overall impact on the mortgage industry including its significance, originality, and overall positive influence as well as the intangible efficiencies  –such as cost and time-saving –achieved as a result of the innovation.

Read more information on the PROGRESS in Lending website along with the entire list of this year’s honorees.

This cover story interview with CEO Rocky Foroutan was originally featured on Tomorrow’s Mortgage Executive.

LenderHomePage.com is a provider of a secure and compliant cloud-based digital mortgage platform that powers lender websites, mobile apps, and mortgage POS solutions. Mortgage lenders of all sizes use LenderHomePage.com’s customizable and scalable solutions to enhance borrower experience, streamline the mortgage process, and increase Loan Officer productivity and efficiency. Beginning with a small group of progressive and talented software engineers, LenderHomePage sought to improve the online lending experience for both mortgage professionals and their consumers. Rocky Foroutan, the Founder and Visionary behind LenderHomePage.com, talked with our editors about the state of mortgage lending today.

Q: There were plenty of predictions for the new year, but now that we’re a couple of months in, what’s the outlook for the mortgage and real estate industries for the rest of 2022?

ROCKY FOROUTAN: We had already seen interest rates begin to creep up towards the end of last year, so it was a safe assumption that it would continue. However, interest rates rose much faster than expected – reaching points that most assumed would happen towards the end of 2022. Although a single fact like this can make the mortgage market look grim, the outlook is still positive.

For one, whether rates are high or low, the market doesn’t stagnate. Consumers were still buying homes in the 2010s when rates were over 4%, and in the 1980s, over 12%! This is because, for homeowners and homebuyers, good decisions about buying or refinancing have less to do with mortgage rates and more to do with personal circumstances.

A wild card that gets overlooked is the shift in the working model and how that affects the real estate market. Many companies – including LenderHomePage – have adopted a permanent remote or hybrid employment model. Many consumers were previously on the fence about moving away from the company base since it was unclear whether their work would require them to return to the office. But now that many companies, both large and small, have permanently made a shift to remote or hybrid, consumers can confidently make a move to less densely populated or more affordable housing. We’re likely to see a significant uptick in home purchases come spring and continue well into summer.

Q: You bring up a great point about how consumers make financial decisions less about the current market rate and more about personal circumstances. How can LOs respond and leverage this in their favor?

ROCKY FOROUTAN: In the past, LOs have relied heavily on leads their companies provided, agent and past client referrals, and also buying shared internet leads. While all of these are still valuable in this new environment, LOs can do much better by concentrating on their own brand marketing – like social media marketing, referral marketing, PPC, SEO – and building up their brand and various networks to stand out from the competition and fill their lead funnel.

Social media marketing, in particular, is a powerful lead generation avenue that every mortgage pro is well aware of. Still, few take advantage of or know how to leverage it properly. But it’s understandable. Social marketing is a whole beast in and of itself, and when you’re focusing on clients and the day-to-day business (as one should be), creating and executing a social media marketing plan takes a back seat to the rest.

Inconsistency is also a considerable hindrance – erratic posting schedule, inconsistent branding, conflicting value propositions don’t just make social media marketing efforts fruitless, but they can end up damaging online reputation.

There’s also the potential problem of focusing on the wrong platform. We’ve seen this many times with our incoming marketing clients. For example, we had a broker looking for help with his social media. After months of creating TikToc videos (because every marketing article he read said that’s THE place to be), he was frustrated that he had yet to see any value in return. Yet another broker was stumped as to why he wasn’t getting any movement despite posting rate updates every day on his personal Facebook page.

Again, this is just one factor of online marketing. Remember, there are also organic lead generation from Local SEO and PPC and other paid marketing! The task is daunting, but in this competitive digital environment where loans are less about rates and more about circumstances, reputation, and trust, LOs can’t afford to ignore online marketing and branding. After consulting with hundreds of frustrated corporate and single mortgage professionals, we decided to develop and launch a comprehensive marketing service specifically for this industry. LenderHomePage is uniquely positioned to offer mortgage marketing services not only in expertise in marketing but, more specifically, our intimate understanding of technology-driven, branded digital mortgage marketing for the consumer.

Q: Many companies have instilled a hiring freeze but their processing needs haven’t changed. How can they handle the workload?

ROCKY FOROUTAN: Looking for a way to “handle the workload” is a dangerous proposition. To me, it means just barely keeping your head above water, and that’s not the position anyone wants their business to be in. So instead, l advise LOs to implement strategies that maximize their margins and increase their loan volume processing capabilities without hiring more staff.

It is necessary to put it into practice even without the hiring freeze when you really think about it. But, as it goes with most of life’s challenges, one doesn’t realize there’s room for improvement until they’re faced with the urgency to improve. They can do this by refining the workflow of their current team and improving operational efficiency to maximize the team’s time and revenue-generating potential.

The first step is to overview the workflow and the borrower’s journey. From initial contact to funding, what is the touchpoint, the purpose, the action, and the next step from both the consumer’s viewpoint and the origination viewpoint? Then one can start drilling down on each of those points to uncover friction points, gaps, or problematic tasks that can be eliminated or simplified. For example, we had one broker branching out on his own, but with limited start-up funds, handling the workload with a team of just him plus a processor was daunting. In this case, the broker needed to invest in a point-of-sale system that acted as a centralized hub for organizing and collaborating with his processor with maximum efficiency.

When we developed the Loanzify platform, we envisioned it not as a typical point-of-sale system but rather as a mobile office and extension of everything an originator has to offer and must accomplish as they process a loan. For example, Loanzify’s document collection, notification, and filing system are second to none. Taking a note from the originators’ need to be utterly accurate and productive, Loanzify features a flexible document uploader that can be accessed via mobile or desktop devices.

First, users can either drag and drop or upload a photo of the documentation easily and securely into their personal borrower portal. Without losing a money-making minute, the originator will receive a notification and be able to review, accept or reject the document quickly. Users also get timely notifications and reminders about completing their Needs Lists task, guiding them through the funding process in record time. Once the tasks and automated asset verification are completed, the entire loan package is instantly and accurately submitted for fast approval. Once approved, the user can generate and download their own self-generated pre-approval letters.

These perfectly synchronized functions eliminate massive amounts of time and exponentially increase the originator’s workload capabilities.

Q: You mentioned that LOs should also focus on increasing margins. How does technology help with that and what features exactly help with increasing margins?

ROCKY FOROUTAN: Loanzify is packed with critical automation essential to boosting processing volume. But let’s keep in mind that it’s not just about handling the current workload – we also want the originator to maximize his profit margins. While one can argue that technology in general increases margins simply by eliminating human-led work, that’s not always the case.

For example, some POS systems with incomplete or broken integrations with third-party systems offer little to no value in streamlining the workflow. So if data has to be entered manually from the POS to the CRM and back again, the technology is actually more of a disruption and is sucking time and money from the bottom line. On the other hand, deep integration plus an intuitive design is insurmountably valuable for boosting productivity that directly results in increased profit.

A more specific example of technology enlarging the profit margin can be found again in our Loanzify platform with our exclusive in-app self-pay credit pull. Credit Connect serves as a self-pay feature where users can purchase their own credit report to submit as part of their application. This influential yet straightforward feature acts as a sort of “filter” that underscores the prospect’s commitment to see the loan application through the end.

But more importantly, Credit Connect wipes out thousands of dollars that originators would spend on credit pulls that never converted into a loan. This feature alone has massive and immediate implications for increasing profit margins.

Q: Now that businesses across the country are re-opening their offices, is it still necessary to invest in a digital transformation as earnestly as the industry did at the beginning of the pandemic?

ROCKY FOROUTAN: Absolutely! The industry was undergoing a digital transformation well before 2020–that year punched it and pushed the accelerator to the floor. But make no mistake, we are not slowing down or looking back.

In fact, recently, legislators in Pennsylvania passed a bill that permits non-bank lenders to conduct their business remotely permanently, should they choose to work in this fashion. This includes working from their private residents. Certain stipulations were waived or altered during the state’s work-at-home orders to allow lenders to continue their business. However, this new bill removed those requirements, giving non-bank lenders who chose to work remotely the same opportunities as any other lender in the state.

This is just one example of how radically things are changing and how imperative it is for mortgage professionals of all sizes to transform their business digitally. It’s not just about preparing for temporary market rate changes. Mortgage professionals need to stay abreast of shifts in compliance, consumer habits, and technology.

Q: In closing, you shared a lot about technology and strategies that LOs should implement – if you needed to boil it down to the most critical component, which would it be? Where should they focus?

ROCKY FOROUTAN: That question hints at the most significant challenges LOs face when it comes to digital transformation – the research, decision, and ultimate implementation that an LO has to go through just to get started is overwhelming even for tech-savvy originators.

And just when the LO is relieved to find what they believe is the best software for them, they encounter the next set of hurdles—realizing there are gaps and everything still needs to work together. It’s daunting.

It’s also expensive and time-consuming! There are several helpful mortgage software products out there, but when it comes to getting them to work together efficiently and seamlessly, it’s wild. Even if they integrate, the user experience and branding are off, completely negating the LO’s goal of winning the online consumer.

That’s why my advice to LOs is to prioritize platforms with several components of digital transformation already built into their structure.

At LenderHomePage, our all-in-one approach makes it incredibly simple to achieve complete digital transformation within minutes. From a Mortgage Website to Mortgage POS to Digital 1003 to Mobile Mortgage App to Local SEO Marketing to Social Media Marketing to Creative On-Demand, originators can manage their mortgage business with a single provider and single log-in. It’s the preeminent digital solution for every originator at every stage of growth.

INSIDER PROFILE

Rocky Foroutan is the Founder and Visionary behind LenderHomePage.com. He founded the company from his small home office in 2003 by building turnkey websites for mortgage brokers and loan officers. Sixteen years later, the company has grown to serve over 2,000 clients with an innovative, multi-channel digital platform that helps customers enhance borrower experience while gaining efficiencies and saving cost. Prior to LenderHomePage, Rocky spent nineteen years as a software developer, sales and marketing management in Fortune 5000 companies.

INDUSTRY PREDICTIONS

Rocky Foroutan thinks:

1.) The post-pandemic “work-from-home” model will continue to fuel home buying for employees who have moved to more affordable areas.

2.) Rate hikes will not necessarily dampen the purchase market.

3.) The rush to digital transformation will not slow down even as the pandemic is subsiding, if anything it will accelerate

You watched the tutorials, read the how-to’s, and boosted your top Facebook posts for several weeks now. Yet still, your mortgage marketing efforts have failed to produce results. Truth be told, marketing is partly an experiment, and sometimes, a particular marketing campaign just doesn’t work. However, there are plenty of instances where marketing campaigns fail when they shouldn’t have. 

Read on to learn the most common reasons mortgage marketing fails –and what you can do about it!

Tops Reasons That Mortgage Marketing Strategies Fail

Unclear Objective Or How To Measure It

The first common mistake made in mortgage marketing is not defining the objective or having too many objectives on a single campaign. Along the same lines is failing to determine whether meeting just one of those goals equates to success or failure. 

The best marketing campaigns have a single measurable objective that allows you to develop a plan and outline what success looks like. While being stringent about your objective can seem counterintuitive (being flexible will widen the possibilities, right?), the opposite is true. As it goes with any life’s goal,  determining the goal and what success looks like will make it more likely that you’ll achieve it. 

Application: A brokerage is expanding and is now licensed in a new state. They want to launch a campaign to create awareness of their brand and service to the new market (objective). They decide to run a video marketing campaign featuring high-value mortgage content discussing the buyers’ needs in that specific market. The video ads are set to run in their target location. Success is measured by video engagement, such as liking, sharing, commenting, or following. 

Undefined Calls To Action

A call-to-action (CTA) lets the consumer know what to do next. After engaging with your ad, the prospect’s next logical question is, “now what?” Your CTA answers the question by telling them what to do next. 

If your CTA is weak or missing altogether, your prospect won’t move forward. Likewise, if you have too many CTA options, they’ll be confused and are less likely to take any action.

Remedy this by establishing a single and well-defined CTA. Make sure the CTA is easy to find, and the task is simple enough for them to complete without challenges. 

Application: An LO is running ads on Facebook to generate more leads. She pairs the smartly worded copy and attractive graphic with a CTA that says “Learn More.” Clicking through, the prospect is taken to a landing page with a few bullet points on the loan product and adds more sizzle with an offer (aka, the solution). She then has another CTA, “Your Homebuying Journey Starts Here,” with a simple lead capture form below. 

Read this previous post for the Ultimate Call-To-Actions for Mortgage Pros

Insufficient Budget

The thing about setting a marketing budget is that it typically isn’t set at all. Like any other business expense, a marketing budget should be based on a percentage of the revenue. But all too often, companies will base their marketing budget on what they feel comfortable spending. The problem with not putting enough money to finance your marketing could mean not running your ad long enough or not reaching enough people to see results. 

Application: One way to set your marketing budget is to review past revenue sheets and set aside a percentage for marketing. Allocating between 6.5% to 8.5% is the norm for established businesses. If your business is less than five years old, consider spending 10% to 12%. 

Read this previous post on Reducing Loan Production Costs by 50%!

Relying On LOs or Interns To Do The Work

As mentioned earlier, marketing is partially an experiment, but handing off the experiment to a novice will make it doomed to fail. It’s also costly. So while there’s no guarantee that a particular campaign will succeed, a professionally crafted campaign based on metrics, solid theory, and past successes will likely yield positive results. 

Application: Employ either an in-house marketer or hire a mortgage marketing agency to handle the planning and undertaking of the overall campaign. Social media marketing, creative, paid ads, video creation, and SEO content are critical marketing elements requiring professional development and execution. When it comes to the finer aspects of marketing, like building relationships and nurturing leads, let your LOs take the lead on that. 

Read this previous post on Increasing LO Volume By Freeing Them From Marketing Responsibility

Customer Experience Is Subpar

Sometimes a business will think that the marketing campaign failed when in reality, it was the experience after the fact that was unable to get results. Challenging to navigate POS, a digital 1003 that isn’t mobile responsive, or an LO that didn’t respond to the lead fast enough are possible reasons outside of marketing that could make it seem as if your marketing isn’t working. 

Remember that no amount of marketing will fix poor business operations or customer experience. 

Application: If you haven’t already refined your digital mortgage transformation, do it now before adding any more money to your marketing budget. Your website, digital application, POS, mortgage mobile app, and every element in between must be working at the highest level of performance in both consumer and business-facing processes. 

Read this previous post on Mortgage Touch Points and Creating An Exceptional Customer Experience Through Digital Means

Ready to level up your mortgage marketing and customer experience? Contact us today to learn more about our stackable digital mortgage tools and services –everything you need to grow your business in any market. 

Schedule a Demo

User experience isn’t just an element that would be good to have. In modern lending, user experience (UX) is a matter of your business’ survival. And while many have incorporated mortgage software into their acquisition and processing, a large portion has yet to embrace the fullness of UX potential. Why? 

Some may be in the dark about what user experience is. Others may be unaware of what a superb user experience actually looks like. 

Still, others place false hope in that “good enough is good enough.”

But is “good enough” even enough to get by in today’s environment? We don’t have to search hard for examples where mediocre UX was the culprit of business failure. Do MySpace, Blockbuster, and YellowCab ring a bell? 

These three failed businesses have something in common –they each had a competitor obsessed with innovative service and exceptional UX design. Now consider three businesses that owe their formidable success to UX design: Google, Amazon, and Walmart. 

The bottom line is that companies without a compelling UX have lower customer satisfaction, less repeat business, and, ultimately, lower revenue. 

And if you’re still not convinced that UX matters to your clients, consider this:  if you don’t provide a customer-centric UX, your competitors will. 

Ready to learn what it takes to have a first-rate user experience that keeps clients loyal? Read on. 

Personalized and Borrower-centric

Because you’re immersed in the industry, you can sometimes forget how intimidating getting a loan is for the consumer. The process can be confusing and stressful, and without a helping hand, getting a loan is overwhelming and unnerving. 

In the past, face-to-face interaction helped to put the borrower at ease. But with the convenience that is the digital revolution, it seems that personalization took a back seat. While no one can argue that a digital mortgage is massively advantageous in nearly every aspect, the digital factor can sometimes make the experience somewhat robotic, cold, and dull.

Definitely not the sort of experience that keeps customers loyal.

However, that’s not the case when you implement a UX strategy. Firstly, make sure that there are multiple avenues for communication. Whether email, chat, video call, or instant messaging, offer a variety of options for your borrower to get in touch with you.

Secondly, make sure that those communication avenues are centrally located. 

You may be wondering if giving borrowers options will make it difficult for you to juggle multiple conversations. That won’t be the case when you use digital mortgage software with superior UX design where communications are organized by loan file, making it easy to keep track. 

This small but pivotal UX feature also frees up time so that the LO can engage more with clients, strengthening the relationship and increasing their loyalty to your business. 

Emphasize Your Brand and Differentiator 

One of the most overlooked reasons that clients won’t convert into lifelong customers is that they simply forgot who you are and what made you different. Wait –that point could be presented more clearly.

If the client forgot about you or they simply didn’t understand what made you different, it’s likely because the user experience failed to impress that upon them. There are many online mortgage businesses, and just like any other digital business, it’s essential that you set yourself apart from others. UX is how to do it. 

Everything from your navigation to consumer-friendly web copy to seamless integrated 3rd-party applications to a consistent logo and color scheme matters when it comes to UX design. Individually, it may seem that small elements like a customized loan checklist are menial, but collectively, branded elements and consistent messaging make your businesses memorable, impressive, and worthy of repeat business. 

Over-Deliver

It was a mystery for some time as to why Costco and Sam’s Club gas was so much cheaper than major gas stations. But the secret is out and it’s worth mimicking. The reason these two major stores are okay with making very little profit on gas is that those customers eventually make up for it when they shop at the warehouse.

Essentially, they over-deliver on their promise of overall value, and, in turn, the business is rewarded with customers that are willing to pay for membership and spend more at the store.

Chances are that you, as a professional, are already overdelivering in how you help your borrowers. When you love what you do, it’s easy to give more. But does is that the case with your mortgage software, too? Does it over-deliver? Does your mortgage mobile app have that wow factor?

Does your mortgage POS have an element of delight?  

Or does it just gather information and silo it into a portal where it waits for you to organize it into the proper format for the loan file?

Elements like self-paying credit checks, one-click connection with their financial institution, and auto-generated pre-approval letters over-deliver on your promise to make the loan process faster, more efficient, and enjoyable for the borrower. 

Consider the Employee Experience Too

Despite technology touching every aspect of processing a mortgage, the business of lending is still a human-based experience. That said, you want your mortgage team to always reflect positivity when representing your business. Whether the client is reengaging with the realtor who referred you, the appraiser, or one of your loan officers, you want nothing but optimism and confidence expressed about working with your business.

While leadership style and company culture certainly play an essential role in that, so does the technology you use to manage your business. Mortgage tech that is cumbersome, inefficient, error-prone, or lackluster is a formula for distress. 

High employee turnover, infrequent referrals, and zero repeat customers are sure to follow.

However, when you empower your mortgage team and referral partners with mortgage technology that’s intuitive, automated, configurable, and exceedingly efficient UX design, you’ll create an unrivaled ambitious, and enthusiastic network –-one that keeps borrowers coming back to you.

***

We gave you a lot to think about already, but here’s one more thing. Now that you know what’s required of UX design in mortgage technology, is your current software capable of delivering? Is that “good enough” tool truly good enough for your business and creating lifelong borrowers?

If not, let’s talk. Contact us today to schedule a conversation with a LenderHomePage Account Executive. 

Schedule a Demo

Referrals are the lifeblood of any business, accounting for as much as 65% of new business. However, your former clientele isn’t the only source of referral –you also have realtors! The value of connecting with real estate agents is clear –you share the same consumers and complement each other’s services. 

However, while it’s an obvious avenue for mortgage referrals, few pros know how to get referrals from agents. Fewer still know how to keep a steady stream of qualified leads flowing. 

(Offering to buy them lunch or coffee won’t cut it)

In this article, we’re going to give you three actionable strategies to help you build a robust network of real estate professionals that will enthusiastically refer their homebuyers to you.

Let’s dive in.

How to get more qualified mortgage referrals From Real Estate Agents

Drop The Sales Pitch. Build Relationships.

Realtors are excellent salespeople, so they’ll appreciate a good pitch when they hear one. However, coming off too “sales-y” will have the opposite effect you’re hoping for. You might start to sound like competition, making the agent resistant to anything you might have to offer.

Let’s also remember that realtors are not your end consumers. They’re your colleagues and referral partners.

Here’s how to have a “building a relationship” approach that effortlessly encourages more agents to give you leads:

• Learn about the agent. Research the realtor to know more about their business style, clients they serve, and strengths. Even info about associations, hobbies, or other interests could come in handy when getting to know a potential referral partner. 
• Make the first conversations light. Don’t always talk business. Agents often get approached by loan officers looking to take them out to lunch and explore how they can “partner up.” Don’t be that basic mortgage pro. Instead, keep the first meeting friendly and personal. Congratulate them on a recent accomplishment or other noteworthy bits of news. 
• Share your value (but don’t brag). Casually sharing how many referrals you’re getting and how happy those clients are is a subtle way to hype yourself up without pushing it. It’s also a way of letting them know that you are open to receiving referrals and are successful at seeing it through to completion. 

Partner With Them In Social Media Marketing

Here’s what we know: Real Estate Agents are some of the most active professionals on social media. In fact, an estimated 90% of all 2 million licensed real estate agents use social media for marketing their services regularly.

This fact alone underscores their ability to be powerhouse networkers and your most lucrative ally for getting more qualified referrals. 

The key to getting “in” is not to pitch them, to echo the above point. Instead, you need to focus on creating a reciprocating relationship that genuinely adds as much value to their business as it would to yours. Here are some ideas to get started doing just that:

• Help cross-promote special events like live virtual open house events. 
• You can also offer to participate in the event via chat or live stream to answer questions from participants about home financing. 
• Create real estate-related centered content such as articles, infographics, or videos that you can co-brand with the agent. 
• Better still, have them publish the original content on their site and link back to your site for an additional SEO boost.
• Continuing the spirit of offering free valuable content, reach out to their email list. If you’re not already aware, email lists have one of the highest conversion rates. So if your agent has a list of a few hundred emails that they organically grew, it can prove to be a white-hot lead source. 
• Engage with the agent’s social media. Go beyond just liking every post and take the time to comment with additional insight or echo their sentiment. 

Leverage Your Digital Mortgage Tools and Co-Branding Opportunities

Historically, the real estate profession has been historically an in-person profession –at least when it comes to doing open houses and showing properties to potential buyers. So when the industry was suddenly thrown into virtual-only, it posed a significant challenge. 

Fortunately, it seems that both the industry and consumers have embraced a virtual way of home buying as a welcomed alternative to traditional in-person. And much like in the mortgage industry, technology in real estate is proving to be a significant boost to revenue potential.

As such, real estate agents look to partner with technologically savvy mortgage professionals. Products like our co-brandable mortgage mobile app Loanzify are a popular and valuable tool that agents can easily share with their clients. It’s free for the agent and consumer to use, and it’s packed with resources, information, and interactive tools that lead all users back to you. 

Loanzify POS is another tool you can use to win over more real estate referral partners. Keeping every interested party informed is hard, and miscommunication is a major cause of delayed funding and unhappy customers. With Loanzify POS, the agent can have secure access to the loan file with a pre-determined level of access.  They can also be assigned to specific loans.

From the agent’s admin view can see where the borrower is in their journey to approval and can even download the borrower’s preapproval letter to submit with their offers. 

Real estate agents are a powerful resource for finding quality leads, but only you make a conscious and strategic effort. Remember that when you approach it from building lasting relationships, you make it a win-win for everyone. Make it personal, overdeliver, be social and genuine, and leverage your mortgage technology every chance you get. 

Want to learn more about implementing mortgage tech to win over more referral partners? Click below to try it out for free and schedule a live demo with one of our helpful account executives.

Learn More

Santa Ana, CA., Jan 12, 2022 — LenderHomePage today announced new custom “Loan Milestone” capabilities to their mortgage point of sale software, Loanzify. This exceptional update is designed to help originators improve business processes by synthesizing information based on loan type.

Mortgage companies are increasingly turning to technology to help them comb through rising volumes of data sets and sources required for credit decisions. By adding customization capabilities to the intake process, mortgage professionals can collect data relevant to the specific loan product and quickly organize it to hasten fact-driven funding decisions and improve the customer experience.

See the Loanzify and LendingPad 2-way integration in action! Join our webinar this Friday, January 14.

Webinar Sign Up

“Digital transformation is an ongoing process, and it’s imperative that we offer products that not only scale with our clients but are also adaptable to their evolving needs and industry demands,” explains Rocky Foroutan, CEO of LenderHomePage. “Seemingly simple changes can have a huge, positive impact on productivity and profitability.”

Tailored Milestones Per Loan Type 

Users can identify the workflow they prefer based on the loan type, such as purchase, refinance, VA, etc… Loanzify POS will then populate the required milestones for the consumer. The consumer-facing milestone text and the order can be further edited as the mortgage company sees fit.

Customized Notifications Per Milestone

Users can further personalize the borrower experience by editing the notifications based on the milestone they achieved and the loan product. These notifications also accelerate the loan’s lifecycle and bolster the relationship between borrower and lender, heightening the likelihood that the borrower will complete the application.

LendingPad 2-Way Integration

LendingPad is the first LOS to take advantage of this feature. Loanzify POS milestones have bi-directional communication with LendingPad. This integrated pipeline makes it easier to securely extract data, maintain its integrity, and keep records on both platforms accurately.

About LenderHomePage:

Since 2003, LenderHomePage.com has been the leading provider of a secure and compliant cloud-based digital mortgage platform that powers lender websites, mobile apps, and mortgage POS solutions. Mortgage lenders of all sizes use LenderHomePage.com’s customizable and scalable solutions to enhance borrower experience, streamline the mortgage process, and increase Loan Officer productivity and efficiency.

About Loanzify:

Loanzify POS by LenderHomePage is part of a suite of innovative productivity solutions developed for the modern mortgage professional.

We’re recapping 2021 and the remarkable shifts that made for an excellent year for the mortgage industry and 50% growth for LenderHomePage!

As the year draws to a close, we’re seeing mortgage rates inch away from the record–lows of 2020 and early 2021. However, when we look at them from a historical perspective, rates are still ultra-low. Three years ago, December’s 30–year rate averaged at 4.75%, and December 2019 averaged around 3.75%. 

According to Freddie Mac, there was also a 33% increase in refinances when comparing the first half of 2020 to the first half of 2021 – amounting to an astounding $1.6 trillion in first-lien refinance originations. This also translated to borrowers saving an average of $2,800 a year. 

Applause all around!

For LenderHomePage, 2021 was a pivotal year of product improvement, integrations, and company growth.

Check out all the advancements that we made and that our clients benefitted from:

Early 2021 marked the deadline for the much anticipated and compulsory URLA Mismo 3.4 compliance. Although the industry was warned of the impending change, many originators were slow to transition and faced significant disruption to their business. Fortunately, our Loanzify POS was well prepared ahead of time, and those who rushed to comply were able to do so swiftly when they implemented our software. 

April 2021, we launched v.4 of Loanzify Mortgage Mobile App. The mobile app fully integrates with Loanzify POS, simplifying and reimagining the digital mortgage acquisition and process. It provides a simple yet intelligent consumer-facing UX with engagement tools plus powerful loan management for Loan Originators.

June 2021, we announced all-new “Personal Brand” mortgage website templates. This all-in-one website solution highlights the loan officer’s brand and supports their career growth and longevity in the industry. 

July 2021 brought a new partnership between Loanzify POS and Insellerate, delivering lead management, sales enablement, engagement, and data intelligence to help maximize the loan officer’s productivity and enhance the borrower’s digital mortgage experience.

Late summer 2021, we simultaneously released our Spanish language digital 1003 and CreditConnect, our self-pay credit pull for Loanzify POS. These breakthrough features help mortgage professionals to serve the diverse real estate market better, exponentially expand revenue opportunities and minimize the costs associated with creditworthiness analysis. 

In September 2021, we announced integration between Loanzify POS and Integra LOS, helping to facilitate the mortgage operation from origination to closing seamlessly. 

That same month, we also shared the new partnership with LeadMailbox, aiding mortgage companies to streamline and enhance their lead management process.

LenderHomePage also made waves in the industry by being featured in industry-leading news outlets, expanding its leadership team, and winning several industry awards. 

CEO Rocky Foroutan was featured in California Business Journal and BankingCIO Outlook Magazine and was awarded 2021’s Lending Luminary Award and MPA’s Housing Industry Icon in Mortgage Technology –as voted by industry peers.

LenderHomePage was also honored with MPA Magazine’s “Top Mortgage Employers 2021” award and “2021’s Top Lending Management Solution Provider Award” from BankingCIO Magazine.

Rounding out a year of big wins was bolstering our leadership team. In 2021, we welcomed Brandon Salisbury as the new Director of Sales & Marketing and Brian Dugan as the newly appointed Director of Customer Success. We also had the strategic transition of Bryan Skitt to Chief Creative Officer, where he oversaw the launch of our new Creative On Demand service.

Applying for a mortgage is a means to an end. Whether the “end” is a new home, funding for a home remodel or investment property, or saving a few hundred dollars a month with a lower mortgage payment, and the application is simply a step towards the prize.

The trouble is that for many consumers, the mortgage application isn’t “a step.” It’s a hurdle.

With seemingly endless intimate financial questions, unfamiliar terms, cumbersome process of requesting and submitting documentation, and a mishmash of paper docs and online apps for completing the process are frustrating, to say the least.

So frustrating that most consumers abandon their 1003. One startling statistic revealed that about 78% of consumers back out of transactions solely based on a poor online experience.

So what does it take to create a favorable mortgage experience? A study conducted by McKinsey discovered that there are four factors that mattered the most when it came to creating a pleasant online application experience: reassurance, transparency, simplicity, and speed.

When comparing old school processes with modern mortgage software, which do you think does a better job in those four areas?

Customer Experience is the Real Differentiator, and Mortgage Application Software Delivers

In an industry where competing with numbers is the norm, mortgage pros often forget how vital the experience is in the borrower’s journey. That same Mckinsey study demonstrated that not only were those four factors essential to an exceptional experience, but in regards to what consumers desire, they were nearly as crucial as saving money.

In other words, most mortgage applicants in the study were unwilling to sacrifice an excellent experience for lower interest rates.

So if you’re looking for ways to boost your mortgage application conversion rates, you must provide what consumers desire above all else —a superior mortgage application experience.

Key Areas Where An Online Mortgage Application Boosts Conversion Rates

Optimized For Mobile

Over 50% of all web traffic comes from mobile, and this trend is growing every year. This means that a mobile-optimized mortgage application is foundational to increasing conversion rates.

However, beware of poor-quality ones. Tiny details like too small buttons or awkward navigation placement can make your conversions plummet. So when shopping for a quality mobile-friendly online mortgage application, look for items like drop-down menus, checkboxes, large enough content boxes, and easily accessible buttons and explainers.

Bite-Size Where Possible

The mortgage application can be a lengthy process, and some may even feel it intrusive. Smart online applications reduce intimidation by breaking into smaller steps. This can be accomplished by having fewer questions per screen, pre-populating information where possible, asking more sensitive questions later in the application, and displaying a progress bar to how much more is necessary to complete it.

Details matter!

Features like animated graphics or simulated text messages lighten the mood and encourage the applicant to continue. Applications with a single sign-on feature and the ability to flip from short pre-qual to full 1003 (without having to re-enter data) empower the consumer and boost their confidence, ultimately influencing your conversion rates.

Self-Serve Efficiency

Self-serve efficiency refers not only to the ability of the consumer to DIY it, but also the speed and ease in which they are able to do it. 

With key features like real-time notifications of changes or next steps alert and reassure the borrower that things move as swiftly as possible.

Has the loan been approved? Don’t make your enthusiastic borrower wait a minute longer. Use mortgage software that allows borrowers to download their approval letter instantly!

Mortgage Software Transforms Your Conversion Rates

With estimates that over 5.1 billion people are browsing the internet via smart devices, your intake must meet modern online consumer behavior if you want any hope to raise your conversion rate.

LenderHomePages’s digital mortgage tools are precisely the mortgage software to do it with.

Our customizable and brandable software helps originators streamline their workflows, connect with borrowers, expedite funding, strengthen customer relationships, and automate with self-serve efficiency –all of which increase application conversion rates. Plus, online mortgage software like Loanzify POS allows originators to handle a higher volume of loans and be more productive without adding new hires.

Take the first step towards success with a conversation. Schedule a live demo with one of our account executives today!

Schedule a Demo

Some pretty fantastic promises have been made regarding what social media can do for a business. Post daily on Facebook and triple your revenue in 3 months. Be more active on Linkedin, and leads will pour in by the hundreds. Reach 10,000 followers on Instagram, and your pipeline will be filled with qualified leads.

While social media is a catalyst for remarkable growth and revenue, it doesn’t happen quite so easily or quickly. It takes time –a continuous and strategic effort –to achieve measurable, long-lasting, revenue-generating results. 

However, the bottom line is that social media for mortgage businesses does, in fact, work. It’s just a matter of knowing how to work it and having the patience to do it for a sustained period. In fact, it can be one of your most powerful tools in lead generation and so much more. 

Let’s take a look at recent stats that every mortgage professional should be aware of regarding social media and consumer behavior:

• 72.3% of Americans are on social media (Data Reportal)
• 74% of social media users review business sites to make buying decisions (Statista)
• Facebook is the largest organic lead source, second only to websites (Hootsuite)
• The number of social media users in the US increased by 10 million between 2020 and 2021. (Data Reportal)
• Information found on social media influences the shopping behavior of 75% of Americans (Adroit Digital)

Now that we’ve established that it’s is a powerful tool that’s worth the investment and effort, let’s drill down even further and explore the various ways social media benefits your mortgage business.

The Power of Social Media for Mortgage Business Growth

Increase Traffic To Your Mortgage Website

Social media posts are vital for driving more traffic to your mortgage website. You can do this by sharing content from your blog or with a graphic that directs them to a landing page. Be sure to include your main mortgage website on all your social media profiles, as motivated prospects often investigate a business’ online presence before contacting them.

Generate More Mortgage Leads

Social media is a critical part of your mortgage sales funnel, and as the number of users continues to boom, so does the opportunity to reach more prospects. Use the platforms to amplify your reach and put your lead capture form in front of more eyes.

The Power of Social Media for Mortgage Branding

Increase Brand Awareness of Your Mortgage Business

Social media users are open to discovering new brands on social media. Instagram recently released stats that showed that over 200 million users turn to their Explore page, and over 80% discovered a new product or service from their platform.  And with nearly 70% of Americans checking social media at least once a day, your brand is more likely to stay top of mind. 

Increase The Trust Factor with Your Prospective Borrower

Trust is the precursor to all transactions, especially when it comes to large ticket items like mortgage loans. Use the platforms as a way to increase trust by showcasing your company’s mission and values along with establishing your brand as a thought leader in the mortgage industry.

The Power of Social Media for Communication with Borrowers

Manage Your Mortgage Company’s Reputation

Even if you’re not currently active on social media, chances are that people are still talking about your business. Use social media as a listening tool and be part of the conversation about your services. If the conversation is positive, use it to highlight your business and win over more potential borrowers. If the conversation is negative, get ahead of the situation and attempt to resolve it before it turns into a major issue.

Engage With Borrowers and Prospects

When a person feels noticed and part of the conversation, the stronger the bond becomes. In the case of the prospective borrower, this bond makes it more likely that they’ll apply for a loan. For a current or past client, engaging with them builds loyalty that compels them to recommend your services to others and generate leads on your behalf. 

Social Media Management Solutions By LenderHomePage

Communication is as old as humanity itself, so the principles of social media are nothing new. However, the digital age has altered how best to execute communication via social media. The tools, strategies, pace, scale, and capabilities make it a total game-changer in the business world. Are you keeping up with the best practices in social selling? Or are you leaving that to your competitors? 

We can help. 

Click below to learn more about our social media management services and schedule a conversation.

Marketing Services

The goal of boosting your loan volume without increasing your payroll may seem like an impossible task, but you’re closer to achieving it than you realize. With a few strategic pivots –some in behavior and some involving adding mortgage software — you’ll be able to massively increase your loan volume without so much as adding an intern. 

Seem too good to be true? Read on to find out how close you are…

How To Increase Loan Volume Without Increasing Your Staff

Revamp Your Business Model

In modern lending, the market moves fast and change is constant. Ensuring that your business is agile enough to keep up with the shifts is vital to scaling your volume. That said, has your business model changed since the beginning of 2020? Are you stuck in the mindset of making do until things go “back to normal?” Are you or is your remote team struggling to find harmony in workflow? 

If you find that your loan volume growth is stagnant, the positive buzz about your business has grown silent, and your top producers are jumping ship, then it’s time to revamp your business model. Here are areas to focus on:

• Evaluate your business processes –really drill down on the loan cycle every step it takes to acquire, nurture, and close a loan.
• Revisit your key partnerships.
• Consider your target prospect –have you lost touch with who they are and what their buying habits are?
• Reassess the business values and goals. How can you better align your business to match those points?
• Reevaluate your lead generation strategy – Digital marketing for mortgage businesses is an ever-evolving practice and requires regular updates to your mortgage marketing strategy.
• Freshen up your branding to help boost interest from prospects and reignite enthusiasm from your employees.

Improve Operational Efficiency

One strategy that consistently leads to dramatic growth is improving operational efficiency. It’s estimated that most organizations bleed about 20% of their potential profits due to time mismanagement and an organization’s poor implementation of technology –both of which add up to operational deficiency.  

Now, when we say time mismanagement, understand that we’re not talking about staff scrolling through Instagram when they should be following up on leads. Rather, we’re talking about bigger time-suckers like remedial manual tasks like data entry or changing a document from one format to another before submitting. There’s also the huge mistake of having loan officers do your mortgage marketing, pulling their time and attention away from processing loans. We talked in-depth about that folly in a previous article.

When it comes to poor implementation of technology, there are several areas that you can improve on to 10x your loan volume. Consider the following critical areas:

• Refine the process -Assess whether you currently have the digital tools required to operate at a higher volume level. Examine how efficient your day-to-day operations are well as look for any gaps in the workflow.
• Automate repeatable tasks – Like mentioned above, weeding out work-intensive processes by reducing unnecessary data entry means your mortgage team gets more done with less effort. In addition to increasing their intake, mortgage automation also speeds up the closing timeline. 
• Consolidate communication –Communication is essential to operate efficiently but often too much time is devoted to answering emails, making phone calls, and attending meetings when the same can be achieved with less active effort. Instead, make use of software like a mortgage POS with a client portal. With a mortgage POS acting as a hub of operations, the assigned mortgage team can access the information and documentation they need. Notifications alert you of any changes to the loan file and communications from email and instant messaging are automatically archived and organized for easy retrieval. 

Elevate Your Borrower Experience

Increasing the number of leads is worth nothing if they don’t translate to more loans, and that’s where improving your borrower experience can make all the difference. McKinsey’s insights found that, on average, organizations that work on bettering their customer experience increase their revenue by 10-15% while simultaneously lowering their costs by 15-20%. These higher rates ring especially true in financial services. 

Thanks to technology, a remarkable experience doesn’t require building a whole new customer service department. Do the following to elevate your borrower experience:

• Be proactive –Have an omnichannel digital presence. That way wherever the consumer is on the web and whatever stage they are in the borrower journey, there’s a touchpoint that leads them back to you.
• Have open communication –While consumers readily embrace a digital mortgage, the lack of a human element can leave them feeling unsettled. Remove this barrier by providing multiple channels of communication such as in-app or website instant messaging, group chats, video calls, SMS reminders, and the like.
• User-friendly tech –Delicate processes like online loan applications can overwhelm and frustrate even the most tech-savvy consumer. Eliminate this stress by using mortgage tech that has a dynamic and modern interface. Bonus points if it’s branded too!

It’s entirely possible to 10x your loan volume and grow your business without hiring new staff. By looking for ways to maximize your current team, update your business structure, reallocate your time, and implement technology, you’ll find that taking your business to the next level without increasing your payroll is achievable.