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Zillow Mortgage is But a (Very) Small Step Forward
Zillow today launched a mortgage product, which lets consumers anonymously request quotes from loan officers and decide who they want to go with.
You can read more coverage on TechCrunch, Mashable, Lenderama and BusinessWeek.
We’ve always believed strongly that the mortgage process needs to change in the interest of consumers. That’s why we launched SmartHippo last September at the TechCrunch40 conference. But Zillow’s new launch leaves us feeling kind of flat.
To be sure, they are an improvement over lead generation sites like LendingTree or LowerMyBills, which essentially just sell off your personal data to the highest bidder. Zillow lets the consumer drive the process, but that’s where the differences end. So, in a sense, they are kind of like a LendingTree v 1.1. You still only get to see quotes from people in their network, and you still have no assurance that these quotes will be accurate.
SmartHippo, on the other hand, is a completely new way of shopping for a mortgage. We are open and transparent. You can find rates supplied by both banks and individual consumers, and we have a community feedback mechanism that allows people to share experiences with and rate lenders and brokers whether they are member of our site or not.
What do you think? Check out SmartHippo.com and let us know, and be sure to follow our demo at FinovateStartup on April 29th for something new.
April 3rd, 2008 at 5:54 pm
Hi George, it’s David G from Zillow,
SmartHippo is cool - I hadn’t seen your site before!
You seem to be missing a few innovations in the mortgage marketplace. First, borrowers get real loan quotes, not rates. Rates are certainly interesting and we will start to publish the rates that are quoted to borrowers in our marketplace but we learned during focus groups that a serious buyer wants to know what loan they qualified for - it’s simply far more useful to a serious borrower than knowing what rate someone similar to them just got.
You also missed two other innovations that distinguish Zillow’s Mortgage Marketplace from current online shopping systems. First, lenders see each other actual quotes. Real competition. Next, lenders’ reputations are transparent. For the first time ever, borrowers can easily select a lender based on both the strength of their quote and the strength of their reputation.
April 3rd, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Hi David,
Thanks for stopping by and congratulations on your launch.
Real quotes are of course great. My concern is that if the quotes are only coming from the lenders/brokers in your network then the universe of potential offers can be limited.
Already there seems to be some groaning from brokers saying they don’t want to put effort into your platform is people haven’t given up their personal info and are hence just kicking the tires.
Personally I think that sentiment is fueled by a mix of laziness and fear; companies like Zillow and SmartHippo and changing the way things have been done for 100 or so years, and some people don’t like that. Hopefully you’ll have enough brokers and lenders participating that this won’t be a major issue.
I’m looking forward to seeing how you guys evolve!
George
May 1st, 2008 at 4:48 pm
First, this is a non bias opinion and have experienced both as a lender and SmartHippo is a much better application, IMO.
One, I can have my best rates posted without having to fill out 100’s of individual quotes. The consumer can kick the tires all they want, but won’t waste my time.
The rates on SmartHippo are judged by the consumer and rated. This means that bate and switch rates moderated by the network.
I really enjoy efficiency of SmartHippo and really dislike the fact that I wasted an hour today placing quotes on Zillow.
The one downfall with SmartHippo is the amount of consumers on the network. It would be much better if it had Zillow size traffic.
Just my two cents