If you’ve moved houses as a child, you probably still remember your parents browsing newspapers and calling multiple people to inquire about homes. You might also have seen photos of beautiful homes pinned on your fridge door because those were your parents’ dream home for your family.
Fast forward to today, when you’re finally old enough to live on your own. As you search for houses for sale, it would never cross your mind to check the newspapers, pin photos of abodes on your fridge, and least of all, call multiple agents or sellers. Instead, you’d go straight to your smartphone or laptop, make a few clicks, and schedule a meeting with an agent or seller, all without leaving your seat.
With every information now available in the palm of our hands, you no longer need to leave the house to get the best mortgage loan and to shop around for homes. The only times you’d leave the couch are when you inspect your prospect home, and when you move in.
Yes, receiving your borrowed cash and closing a deal may not require face-to-face meetings anymore. Even before the pandemic, remote transactions are already a booming trend. In fact, COVID-19 has helped pave the way for its normalcy, so starting this year, we might witness more business processes going fully digital.
That said, here’s how technology has made mortgage application and home-buying a breeze:
Mortgage Calculators Became More Sophisticated and Accurate
In the past, mortgage calculators used generic data and broad assumptions, making them an unreliable medium for estimating your prospect loan. They, however, worked as a basic guide. But thanks to smart technology, today’s mortgage calculators now use AI, not just to compute your potential loan, but to also match you to lenders. Unlike generic calculators, AI-powered mortgage calculators can compare up to 12,000 mortgage deals, helping you pick out what’s best for you.
Lenders Attract Buyers Through User-friendly Systems
At the end of the day, mortgage companies are still a business, hence they need to maintain a steady stream of customers. But with a market that’s becoming more competitive by the day, every mortgage company needs to step up their game, and what better way to do that than streamline their systems?
Mortgage software allows lenders to simplify the lending process. In turn, they persuade more people to borrow. Even if borrows are essentially in the mercy of their lenders, they are still customers, so mortgage companies are bound to serve them to the best of their ability. Like other industries, lenders also use machine learning to further understand their market’s shifting dynamics, allowing them to design or adjust their offerings accordingly.
Buyers Can Now Tour Homes Virtually
It’s fascinating to think that just ten years ago, real estate photos on the internet were blurred. But now, even amateur home photos look Instagram-worthy thanks to filters. As such, we can now tour our prospective homes using our mobile devices. Sellers can show us a complete set of photos, use a 360-degree camera, or do a full video tour.
Speaking of video tours, technology has also encouraged celebrities to show off their abodes. In the past, we couldn’t ever expect celebrities to do such. But since social media influencers started the trend of house tour videos, celebrities joined the bandwagon and gave the public a glimpse of their multi-million dollar dwellings. It helped ordinary home-buyers widen their imaginations and standards when it comes to planning and designing their ideal spaces.
Buyers Now Have More Options and Security Tools
If you watch a lot of horror movies, you’ve certainly noticed that many of them have a common plot: A family moves into an old home, and experiences terrors as a result. But how realistic is that occurrence? In reality, chances are if you happen to find a haunted-looking house on the internet, you won’t buy it.
Real estate tech tools, such as broker websites, Google Maps, agent sites, and more, help buyers avoid sketchy deals. By using them, your likelihood of ending up in a haunted, fixer-upper house will be reduced to zero. Tech tools also help you ensure that you’re moving into a safe neighborhood. The Sex Offender Registry website discloses the address of each offender, allowing you to check if your prospective home is near one.
Property tax websites count as a real estate tech tool, too. While some mortgage calculators also show your estimated taxes, official property calculators still give you the most accurate figures. Just type in your complete address, and the website will immediately conjure up detailed tax information.
Seeing all these amazing developments, anything is really possible with technology. A decade ago, we wouldn’t have imagined these innovations. We may be at the peak of technology right now, but give it a few years, and these trends will become dated too, just like the ones that have come and gone.
