We knew Zillow’s expansion into mortgage origination services was coming back in the fall of 2018 when the behemoth acquired Mortgage Lenders of America. Now we know that, in fact, Zillow is in the home mortgage business as the company just announced Home Loans as its newly rebranded mortgage division.
Home Loans is designed to work in conjunction with Zillow Offers, the company’s iBuyer program. As a package, the two operations have been created with the goal of “…streamlining and simplifying real estate transactions…” so that buyers who are shopping for mortgages to support their new Zillow Offers homes can obtain financing directly from Zillow itself without having to go elsewhere. Just as consumers who want/need cell phones, computers, music and movies don’t have to go outside of Apple’s umbrella to get them, consumers who want/need homes don’t need to go outside of Zillow to finance those homes.
Interestingly enough, however, customers who are not buying their homes through Zillow Offers can also use Home Loans just as customers who are not buying their homes through Zillow Offers can use Zillow’s regular website for home listings having nothing to do with Zillow at all.
According to Erin Lantz, Zillow’s vice president and general manager of mortgages, “We are taking an incredible step forward to deliver an integrated payments platform to complete the financing of Zillow Offers that delivers a more seamless, on-demand real estate experience that today’s consumers expect.”
The launch of Zillow’s Home Loans division coincides with Zillow’s new mobile app, the company’s new website design, the company’s new design logo and the company’s new ad campaign.
All of these “new” efforts and launches are part and parcel of Zillow’s “doubling down” on its home buying/selling business which the company projects will generate an annual revenue of $20B over the next five years. Likely, real estate experts speculate other aspects of home buying and selling such as insurance, title, moving services, etc. may be launched under the Zillow umbrella sooner rather than later.
