__
 
Featured Video Play Icon

If you haven’t heard already, Google is making moves into Mortgage lead generation.  Thoughts?

Comments

comments

additional comments on
"Google in the Mortgage Business"

  1. CFPB busts Google and Zillow … can't wait to to watch that NREP episode.

  2. Ray says:

    Google receiving a referral fee from a lender is a RESPA violation plain and simple. As a real estate broker, I can’t receive a referral fee, so why should they? The difference is that I have a license to protect, Google does not. They will just pay whatever fines they receive until they can buy enough congressmen in order to change the law. That will take years. In the meantime, Google will laugh all the way to the wall street bank.

    Google is also beginning to make themselves irrelevant in search for real estate and mortgage. If you search my local real estate market (Palm Beach Gardens Real Estate), 8 of the top 10 organic results are the likes of Realtor.com, Zillow, Trulia etc. Isn’t the purpose of Google to find local and best results for consumers? Instead, their results display other searchable sites…They are the big gorilla in the room, but I think Google is now setting itself up for competition who will produce the results it used to that made them so great.

  3. Bmoskal says:

    Welcome back! My only thought on the mortgage insurance being in the black is that if we do let it continue to grow and it becomes an appreciable amount, the politicians will want to rape it for only who knows what, maybe refugee funding. The government should never be in the profit business i.e. FNMA/Freddie. Lower, stimulate and grow.

  4. Bernie says:

    in an answer to your first question that is absolutely steering. It is no different than when a real estate agent demands a buyer use their mortgage company or bank or they won’t present the offer to the seller. Google is directing them to 1 lender not multiple choice like what mortgage brokers do. We shop the best rates at all the lenders we are approved with and the best fit for the clients needs.

  5. If a mortgage company pays for an ad in the LA Times that promotes rate and fees, the LA Times wouldn't be steering a customer to that mortgage company. Bankrate publishes a list of mortgage company's retail rates for a click fee, is Bankrate steering? The consumer recognizes each advertisement as an example of a company's offering and not a favored mortgage company. If Google was to disclose that the companies pay to advertize on thier site and the consumer should still look for competing deals (even though they probably won't) it should meet RESPA.

  6. In my mind, Google offering another search engine may be helpful generally, but not competition for me, a small mortgage broker using many different types/kinds of Lenders. Most of the Borrowers with whom I work have difficult loans and/or more challenging life situations, who need "hands-on" assistance from a Mortgage Broker. These Borrowers need a mortgage broker who can shop their loan for them and find the best rates/terms based on their particular set of circumstances. They need me to help them with their LOE (Letter of Explanation), etc. Just because a Borrower is steered to a basic Lender or Bank, does not mean that basic Lender or Bank will and/or can help them. In fact, I think my Borrowers appreciate learning about a smaller lender who likes their particular situation offering them a loan, whereas a bigger, more conservative bank does not want to be "bothered" with figuring it out. So, let Borrowers "Google" away to their hearts content — many will not find what they really need with a general search…

  7. Rick Loveall says:

    Brain lets see the ink

  8. How does lendingtree.com get away with it?

  9. They should get rid of the "Paying MIP rule" for the life of the loan. We would be doing alot more FHA if that went away. Nobody likes it.

  10. Darrell Overstreet says:

    for the last few days, I am receiving your program one day late. the one this morning is dated 12/1/15

  11. Michele says:

    Guys, check your video feed. The screen rotation was continuing throughout the video…unless it was supposed to be that way in which case I vote for not doing that again. Too distracting! As for Google, what am I not surprised? It seems like the some of the big companies can get away with breaking the rules and some can’t. You must have to be on somebodies ‘a’ list. The co-marketing arrangements offered by Zillow between real estate agents and lenders are a clear RESPA violation, but they continue. That’s probably because it’s the poor agent and LO that they will go after, not Zillow for offering an arrangement that is a violation because they only get a fee, not the referral!

  12. The sad truth is 99 out of 100 buyers don't even know what mortgage insurance is or that they are paying it before they decide to buy…I seriously doubt that is what made a difference in the rise in purchasing…

  13. Dora Griffin says:

    I would be a bigger fan of FHA if they would allow PMI to drop on all borrowers. Keeping PMI forever on the low dp loans doesn't make sense.

  14. Indirectly they did.

    Buyers are focused on payment so as prices recovered and the MI went down they're finding the payments meet their expectation this thus making the final decision more probable. At some point, this too will level off.

  15. Doug Stoehr says:

    Does not matter Congress or the White House will come and steal the money as they have done in the past and then say FHA is insolvent when there is a market downturn.

  16. Definitely Steering and unfair to smaller and mid-size broker/bankers who cannot afford the cost of participating. Only benefits banks and national lenders.

    FHA- drop the monthly MI… it will generate more volume and more income.

  17. If google is gathering info and generating a quote there are acting as a lender/broker and either need to be licenses or get fined. It's one thing to show search results that drive traffic to a lenders website it's another thing to gather info and generate a quote.

  18. This confirms I am livingin hell

  19. Still looking for that embed code link!

  20. ZILLOW AND GOOGLE ARE SURELY VIOLATING RESPA. THERE IS A PENDING POTENTIAL LAWSUIT FROM A LAWFIRM IN CALIFORNIA. IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN DETAILS FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME AT 864-486-8000 OR GARY@MGMFINANCIAL.NET

  21. Frank Garay says:

    ?? What embed code link?

  22. Frank Garay we used to be able to embed your videos but after the website change it's gone.

  23. When we hitting the clubs player?

  24. Tom Burris says:

    lendingtree and google have lots of money…. so they can take illegal referal fees and not get slapped.

Comments are closed.