When Todd first announced the Zillow Marketplace, I was ready to give it a go. I’m not usually so quick to change my opinion, but after thinking about it, I believe I’ll pass. At first I planned on giving it a try because I am all for technology. The idea that borrowers can rate me is of concern. I’m totally honest and well … some in our profession are not. If I’m going off what a consumer “thinks” their credit score is, then I’m treading in dangerous waters. What if the wife goes through the Zillow process and checks, “Excellent, Excellent, Excellent” when it comes to credit score. Meanwhile, her husband hasn’t told her that they are 90 days behind on the bills. He pays the bills, and he has been putting off telling her how bad things are — either because he doesn’t want to worry her or because he’s can’t bring himself to admit it.
When I pull the actual credit, I’m not going to be able to make good on what the Zillow consumer will most definitely consider to be a “promise” made by me via my rate quote. The lady gives me one star (undeservedly, of course), and I move on to other things.
My bread and butter is professional relationships. I wear a suit and tie every day. I strive to be exceptional at my profession. Last week I had lunch with the Mayor of my local town — Glendale, CO. Today I met with a financial planner who told me on the phone that he has a policy of not referring business to any mortgage brokers at all. He simply won’t do it. He has had too many bad experiences with mortgage brokers. We had a meeting, and now he’s going to send all his clients my way. I turned down a deal today because it wasn’t the best thing for the guy, solidifying my relationship with that referral partner. As you can tell, I’m a relationship builder. I’m in this thing for the long haul.
These relationships aren’t easy to establish. What happens when one of these hard earned relationships runs across my one star rating on Zillow? Relationship over. I simply cannot take that risk. If I were a guy doing mortgages out of my house calling leads in my underwear, it wouldn’t matter. But I build everything on my name. My whole business is based on my integrity, my professionalism, and my good name. After thinking it over, I cannot have some Zillow prospect disparaging my reputation. I love technology, but I’m going to have to leave the Zillow booty to someone else.
Wade Young is a Colorado mortgage broker.
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{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
So Wade, does that mean you would never, under any circumstances give a borrower an idea of what rate they might qualify for without pulling a credit report first?
Todd–
That’s not the point. If a phone quote cannot later be honored because of changing market conditions, the consumer may go elsewhere in a huff. That’s fine. In this scenario, the angry consumer can get their fingers to typing an unfair review into an ebay-like ratings system for all the world to see. I’m uncomfortable with that because I know that many people will give unjust reviews. They will see these quotes as “promises,” and they won’t give a darn about changing market conditions or that their credit score was below what they thought it was.
Wade thanks for the post, it does make you stand back and think about how you should and how you do treat yoru customers. I know that I have the same feelings as you when it comes to mortgage planning and Financial planners you have to find the right one and he/she needs to find the right one, but once you have found them the relationships grow. As for the Zillow and you being rated, this will fall on you and your selling skills, it will need to explain to the borrower the pros and cons and help them understand why they do or do not get what they were told.
VA Refinance–
My selling skills are as good as anyone’s, but my concern is about the people who are unreasonable. They are plenty of those out there. You explain things as perfectly as possible, but they are unreasonable and will still give you a bad rating.
Wade,
You’ve presented some valid concerns and you’re absolutely right, many will undoubtedly find it a precarious broker/client relationship.
I haven’t studied the Zillow Mortgage business model and I’m only making a comment on the client reviews aspect. It definitely gives all the power to the consumer and some consumers in a fit of frustration or anger, etc. may/will type a disparaging review that gets stamped on your Zillow persona for all to see. Kinda creepy.
Having said that, i have the same precarious relationship with the Better Business Bureau. I’m the sole owner of a mortgage company that has closed over 3,000 loans in the past five years or so in Florida. I have a total of two complaints in the BBB. Both are unjustified and unwarranted; nevertheless, I live with it and continue to run an honorable business.
My guess is that many LO’s that join the Zillow Mortgage platform will be thankful despite any anxiety they may have in the beginning.
Wade, I think it is kind of the point. The only difference is that your saying it’s ok to let Consumers part ways with you outside of Zillow because they have less recourse.
I think it comes down to a matter of salesmanship and understanding how to set the correct expectations ahead of time.
Wade I agree with you. It’s a reflection of the times. People want to feel not just that they got a fair deal but that they managed to take advantage of you somehow. And those who know how to play on this and fake the borrowers out will make money in a “price is everything” scenario.
Todd–
Consumers have plenty of recourse outside of Zillow. They can take their business elsewhere. They can choose to NOT tell their friends about you. Or, they can say bad things to their friends and family about you. They can also complain to the Better Business Bureau. That’s a lot of recourse. I’m not concerned about that. I am concerned about the Zillow system being unfair.
Here is an example of how I think a fair evaluation system works. I got a complaint at the BBB. I decided to appeal the complaint. The BBB, to their credit, did a real investigation. They met in person with both me and the plaintiff, separately. They heard both sides, and they wound up siding with me. The complaint was removed from my record. The decision could have gone against me, of course. I’m not happy because I won. I am pleased because there was a fair system in place. I want to place emphasis on the concept of system because the Zillow evaluation thing isn’t a system. Anyone can sling mud at you, and you cannot have it removed — even if the allegation is totally false.
When it comes to salesmanship and expectations — I’m the king. I do extraordinarily well in person. I also do extremely well on the phone. I once had a woman who had run telemarketing rooms tell me I was the best she had ever heard on the phone. I know that I would do well establishing expectations and communicating with these folks. My concern is the people who are unreasonable — like the guy who complained about me to the BBB. I don’t want a guy like that disparaging my record without recourse. I don’t want to have a permanent black mark on my reputation that anyone with Internet access may stumble upon.
Here’s an idea: Zillow could partner with the BBB. Only BBB loan originators could use their system (which would screen out the bottom feeders and low effort types), and every BBB complaint against the broker would appear in the profile section on Zillow. Zillow consumers could make their complaints through an already established process, and the mortgage brokers would have recourse to appeal.
I think you may be on to something, Wade, though the company thinks I may have missed a few things. I commented on this on my blog yesterday and got a response from Zillow in the comments.
They use the word anonymous a lot, but the originator certainly can’t be shielded from consumer sentiment. In fact, Zillow rules require originators to set up public profiles and accept comments and ratings.
While I’m all about getting into the online conversation with your prospects and customers, I’m not so sure setting up a page where unsatisfied customers can slap you is all that great, especially in an industry where the very nature of the work conspires to create unsatisfied borrowers often despite the best efforts of professional loan officers.
“… especially in an industry where the very nature of the work conspires to create unsatisfied borrowers often despite the best efforts of professional loan officers.”
Well said. This is the crux of the issue. The quality of the product we offer is dependent upon the quality of the borrowers themselves.
At a minimum, they need to make the complaint system a mail in paper process. That would deter a lot of complaints made in haste.
“The complaint was removed from my record.”
Hey Wade,
Are you a member of the BBB? If so, under what name?
My BBB doesn’t work like yours does. Sounds like your BBB is far better BTW.
Paul–
This happened over a decade ago. I’m not a member anymore. I can’t remember exactly, but I think I was able to appeal because I was a member at that time. I’m going to be joining again, though. I recently met the guy who runs my local BBB, and he’s great, so I think I’ll join. I’m sure the quality of the BBB varies by who is running the show.
Wade, when I spoke with David Gibbons about the rating process, he did emphasize the challenge they face in enforcing the code of ethics for both lenders AND borrowers. They do offer the ability for a LO to respond to a poor review for all to see. My opinion is that there needs to be a way to rate the borrower as well.
I think you’re objection is valid, but I disagree that it’s valid enough to not participate. On the other hand, I would always recommend doing business in the real world first. So I woudn’t say you’re making the wrong decision.
FYI, the BBB complaints don’t get purged.
They stay on your record with a ‘resolved’ notation.
Perhaps the Zillow Mortgage rating process resembles (or may resemble) the BBB system more than we think.
Hey, where’s Ronnie?
Paul–
I’m pretty sure it was purged in my case. However, the complaint was that I refused to do business with the guy. I didn’t think I could help him, so I refused to take him on as a client. Maybe since he wasn’t a client, they couldn’t let it be on my record. I mean, is it really fair for people who aren’t your customer to be able to complain about you? That brings up a good point with Zillow. Will people be able to rate if they have not done a completed loan transaction? Will they be able to rate after just getting a rate quote? I never thought of it that way. If they can only rate the originator if the transaction goes to closing, that’s a whole different story. Those would be clients giving ratings, not shoppers giving ratings.
Rut roh!
Here’s where Todd’s gonna say we haven’t even checked out Zillow Mortgage enough to critique it!
(duck for cover!)
Here’s what they say:
“You may rate any lender you’ve contacted through Zillow Mortgage Marketplace. However, your rating for a lender with whom you’ve closed a loan carries more weight because you experienced the full extent of the lender’s service.”
I wonder what “carries more weight” means. How much more weight? Is a closed transaction rating worth 5 or 10 times more than someone you had a 5 minute phone call with?
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Sarah
http://grillsblog.com