Having access to fast, accurate, and current rate data is critical in today’s ever-evolving mortgage landscape—and not just for the LOs who quote these loans.
With the right pricing data, mortgage lenders can expect to improve their operations from the ground up. They can attract top-tier talent and create more internal buy-in.
Further, they can craft more effective marketing strategies, identify more lucrative opportunities, and win the margin battle on a market-by-market basis. They can even carve out new niches and expand their geographic footprint.
In short: there’s untapped power in precise pricing data and full-funnel competitive intel platforms. Here are just a few of the advantages they can offer:
Marketing impact
Being able to access instant nationwide loan pricing data gives lenders an immense upper hand in the marketing department. Not only can companies better understand where they sit among competitors, but they can also more effectively convey their unique value proposition in that specific housing market.
Pricing data can also help lenders and their marketing teams:
Better target promotional efforts.
Refinance activity has been dwindling for some time, and competition for purchase borrowers is ramping up. Precise pricing data and competitive intel can help with these efforts, allowing lenders to drill down into funded data on an individual market basis.
They can then determine how much purchase volume is in that area, what competitors are active, and just where they can focus their marketing efforts to maximize purchase leads.
Identify more opportunities.
By looking at pricing data on funded loans, lenders can start to identify pockets of low competition—areas where other lenders are lacking presence or where there might be some opportunity to gain ground. Gerald Dorman, regional vice president of Nomis Solutions, calls these “soft spots.” Lenders can then use direct mail and other marketing efforts to target these areas and scale business.
Understand competitors more deeply.
Knowing where your competition sits is a critical step toward effective marketing and pricing data helps here, too. With pricing platforms like Nomis Mortgage, lenders can evaluate the mix of competitors in any given market. Are they more local banks and credit unions, large depository lenders, or online mortgage companies? They can then better frame marketing efforts based on those findings.
Present a stronger value proposition.
Accurate, live pricing data offers lenders a great opportunity to position themselves as the standout in an increasingly crowded market.
Here’s how one high-volume online lender recently explained it: “With Nomis, we know the markets where we are most competitive from a rate perspective. The ability to add a personal touch by presenting both our rate on a given loan product in a particular market, as well as what the average rate is on that same product in that same market, is incredibly powerful from a consumer perspective.”
Financial and operational impacts
The power of real-time pricing data extends well beyond the marketing department, though. It can also lend itself to more profitability, as well as better internal efficiencies, staffing and operations.
It can enable you to:
Win the margin battle.
“The cost to produce alone has gone sky high,” Dorman explained. “The competition for a single borrower—especially on the purchase side, is through the roof, and margins continue to shrink. You’ve got a perfect storm, and if you’re not careful, your bottom line could be crushed.”
With more granular, real-time pricing data, lenders can prevent this pressure on profit margins. They can better gauge the competitive landscape and more effectively align rates with their goals for that specific market while also ensuring the necessary profit margin for that area.
Increase internal buy-in.
Creating consistency, transparency, and buy-in across all teams is easier with accurate pricing data. Higher-ups can better explain the company’s overall strategy—especially when a higher rate might be called for—with precise, real-time data from competitors to back it up. Pricing with data-based certainty allows for a more harmonious and synchronous work environment overall.
Improve speed and efficiency.
Having access to a real-time pricing platform means no more pulling rate tables or guesstimating margin moves throughout the day. Lenders can do more with less and increase efficiency and speed across the board. It also means fewer costly resources are needed—both staff- and technology-wise.
Attract top talent.
As surprising as it is, pricing data can also assist lenders in hiring top talent—particularly in new markets they’re looking to break into. Lenders can filter down to determine which competitors are performing well in those areas, identify top performers at those institutions, and work to recruit them. Often, these performers come with a strong local network and a continuing stream of referrals and recommendations that lenders can tap.
More than just numbers
Real-time pricing data might seem like just numbers on a screen, but it actually lends itself to some pretty powerful insights and strategies.
From increasing operational efficiencies and attracting better talent to improving your marketing campaigns, strategies, and targeting, the most advanced competitive pricing intelligence platforms like those offered by Nomis Solutions, offer today’s leading mortgage lenders a clear advantage in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
To learn more about Nomis Solutions, visit www.nomissolutions.com.
