According to a recent study by Real IQ Consulting, more than half of the consumers who submitted a loan quote request through iHomeowners Inc.’s LoanWeb.com site secured a mortgage. In addition, the study shows that the average online mortgage shopping cycle is 61 days, suggesting a need for mortgage originators to reassess traditional methods for better serving the online consumer.
“The Real IQ study confirms what we have always known – our online customers are serious about obtaining a home loan,” said iHomeowners Inc. President John Hasenauer. “It’s crucial that brokers and lenders build a relationship with their online customers during this instant shopping phase. This study proves that the Internet is a highly efficient marketing channel for all loan originators if they tailor their partners and sales processes to serve the online customer.”
The study found that the rate at which consumers secure a mortgage varies by loan type. Approximately 65 percent of new purchase home loan requests on LoanWeb.com resulted in a new mortgage being secured by the consumer. For all home loan types combined, nearly 54 percent of consumers secured a mortgage within 61 days, on average.
The study also validated the fundamental value that LoanWeb.com delivers to its lender network and online consumers. Competition by these lenders improves the consumer’s likelihood of securing a mortgage. When a loan quote request was provided to four mortgage originators, LoanWeb.com consumers subsequently secured a mortgage 58.2 percent of the time, according to a press statement.
LoanWeb plans to make Real IQ mortgage lead analysis available to its major mortgage originator customers as an ongoing service. “Brokers and lenders need to be able to assess their own lead closing ratios in the context of the high funding ratio for LoanWeb leads” according to Hasenaeur.
The study was based on nearly 40,000 loan quote requests tracked from March 2004 to May 2004
IHomeowners Inc., an Internet marketing company for the mortgage, real estate and insurance industries, operates e-commerce sites LoanWeb.com, 4insurance.com and 4homes.com.
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