Game Changer: Help Members Find Homes – Not Just Finance Them
Is your plan complete for growing purchase mortgages at your credit union? If you’re not there when members start their home searches, it could be “game over.”
Sure, it’s important to build awareness of your mortgage program by promoting its benefits – like an easy application process, online access and competitive rates. But catching your member at the First Point of Contact™ is a home run.
Why? Because when home-buyer “Bob” starts his search, he’s not thinking about mortgage rates or loan features. He just wants to know two things: How much can he make selling his house and what will it cost to buy a new one? And he’s finding those answers online, the place where your credit union needs to be.
Take an early lead
The best way to capture members’ mortgage business is to help them find their dream homes, not just finance them. Offering a well-designed, online real estate program provides this opportunity. If you are there in the earliest stages of the home-buying cycle, you’ll be well-positioned for the “aha” moment when a member decides it’s time to buy and first starts looking on the Internet. The timing is critical because the person buyers connect with in this initial stage is who will likely lead them through the entire home-buying process, including financing.
Too many lenders presume home buyers like Bob will seek out a Realtor® first – a practice that rang true in the past, but is not as true today. More than half of all home buyers turn to the Internet as a first step to search for homes, and some 90 percent rely on it at some point, according to the National Association of Realtors 2012 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers. Yet, a lot of effort goes into building referral relations with local agents. Referral programs can be an effective approach for credit unions when it’s part of a larger, comprehensive real estate services program. But when you’re going it alone, the venture often falls flat, seldom providing results that equal the time and resources required to manage it.
Change your playbook
With greater competition to capture home buyers from real estate lead companies like Zillow, Redfin and Trulia, agents and their firms are taking notice. Take heed from the warning given by Dennis Cronk, former president of the National Association of Realtors®:
“Everybody wants to be the first point of contact: lenders, title companies, lawyers, and retailers. If Realtors lose their position as the first point of contact, they’ll just be another spoke on the wheel, at the mercy of whoever is at the hub. And whoever is at the hub chooses where to send the consumer next …” [emphasis added].
For savvy credit unions, being at the center of members’ decisions means changing the playbook – thinking differently. It means harnessing the power of the Internet and offering members a place to start their search – and to stay for financing. It’s being the first point of contact, right at the “aha moment.”
Instead of waiting for home buyers to come to you, go where they are — on the Internet. And provide what buyers want: MLS listings, research on local markets, referral networks of pre-screened agents, and opportunities to earn rebates on closing costs.
Transform your (online) game
At CU Realty Services, our HomeAdvantageTM program includes these features and more. We’ve seen more than 100 credit unions in our program maximize the benefits of our online channel, and successfully transform from mortgage provider to comprehensive real estate advisor. And as a result, many of these credit unions have reported purchase mortgage volume growth – some as high as 40 percent.
Competing in today’s mortgage market takes a shift in thinking. By recognizing the home-buying cycle, understanding what buyers are looking for, and providing it to them, growth in your purchase mortgage volumes will follow.
Help home buyer Bob in his search for a new home. Establish a good relationship early on and, later, when Bob is ready to look for mortgage information, you’ll be ahead of the game.
