Written By: Karen Deis
Zillow.com has had a real estate website for many years but just about a month ago, they created a site where lenders can pay a one-time fee of $25 and are fed anonymous leads. These leads could either be purchase or refinance quotes where Zillow asks about dozen basic questions, including City, State and Zip Code. The loan officer is notified that someone is looking for a quote in his or her area. The loan officer fills out a form provided on Zillow, has the ability to type in comments about the quote, all with the hope that the consumer contacts them. The consumer knows who YOU are, but you don’t know who the consumer is!
The method that I used for this investigative report was:
- I signed up as a” lender”.
- I signed up requesting quotes as a “borrower”.
- I had 3 other loan officers, from different parts of the US sign up both as a lender and a borrower.
- I reviewed 28 quotes from 19 different lenders.
- I interviewed the “control” loan officers (including me) and we compared notes.
- I interviewed 5 other loan officers who submitted quotes but were not part of the control group.
- I tested the different pages on the website.
- I viewed the blog pages to get an idea of what issues people were experiencing.
FYI: I did submit a copy of the report to Zillow. They have agreed to research and review some of the issues and we will publish their response in Part 2 (6-5-08 issue) of this expose'. My whole goal is to show loan originators how to use this site to obtain leads and close more loans.
This article is about the good, the bad and the ugly! Yes, there are some good things about the site, but let’s start with the ugly first.
The Ugly
Becoming An Approved Lender
When you sign up online, it’s a $25, one-time fee. In addition to the regular information, they ask you for your State Broker License Number and your Social Security Number, claiming they need that information to make sure you are legit. The thing that really concerned me is WHY DO THEY NEED YOUR SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER? Were they going to run a credit report (but there was not authorization to do so)? What was the process to check out the mortgage license number? To test the system, I signed up as a lender with a fake company name, fake social security number and fake license number. I received an email notice that they were “investigating” and I would hear within 2 days. Guess what? I became one of their approved lenders.
I also checked out the profiles of the 19 loan officers and 2 of the license numbers do not exist—the numbers given where not even close to the numbering system listed by the State’s licensing board.
So, what’s the purpose of the SS Number? The URL indicates that they have a secure server, but if I were you, I’d be concerned about the reason WHY they need that info. Why the license number? Two out of 19 officers where not properly licensed (that’s nearly 10%). What system do they have in place to stop identity thieves from registering on their site?
The Rating System
Another UGLY? The rating system is flawed. Ratings are posted anonymously and a weighted averaging system is being used.
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