MortgageOnlineBlog.Com

Posted At : January 24, 2008 12:27 PM
Tuesday, Jan 23rd, the day of the surprise Fed rate cut, set a record for the most refinance leads received at Lendingtree in their history. Not sure as I write this but the next day may have topped the first. I imagine other lead aggregators saw similar results. Lendingtree and its lenders were so overwhelmed that for the first time Lendingtree restricted the ability of its lenders to adjust filter limits without first requesting the change to the lenders rep.

What does this tell us? (with some speculation included)

For consumers:
• Awareness of what mortgage rates might be doing at a particular moment is high.
• There are in fact a lot of people sitting on the fence waiting to either purchase or refinance if rates were lower (see post dated December 23rd entitled The Coming Housing Boom http://blog.rmcv.com/?p=16 )
• And that maybe because the mortgage industry has shrunk, many consumers have lost touch with the loan officer and/or lender they previously used.

Pervasiveness of technology:
• The internet and Lendingtree is a trusted source for mortgage information.
• Consumers expect instant information.

As it relates to Lending Tree:
• Lendingtree is still committed to its promise “up to 4 offers in minutes”
• Lendingtree is interested in ensuring a quality consumer experience

How this relates to Lenders on/off the Lendingtree network
• Many of our loan officers are working very long hours. One of our loan officers told me that she felt like the only loan officer on earth yesterday.
• Perhaps there is a smaller number of highly motivated and qualified candidates that want to remain in the Mortgage business as Loan Originators.
• Proper use of Technology can expand the ability of loan officers to work with multiple interested consumers

When talking to one of our Investor Account Executives on Wednesday I jokingly said “looks like we made it”. Our industry was overdue for a shake up and I sincerely hope that those left standing prosper from the high consumer demand and low lender supply.Your thoughts?