Zillow Wants to Be Your Mortgage Lender

Zillow recently rebranded Mortgage Lenders of America, which it purchased in August 2018, as Zillow Home Loans.

The acquisition of the Kansas-based lending mortgage originator comes as Zillow is turning itself into a one-stop shop for homebuyers and sellers, Curbed reports. The company’s Zillow Offers program allows homeowners to sell to Zillow instantly at a “fair market” offer. The site also provides authorized agents to help with traditional buying and selling methods. With the addition of Zillow Home Loans, a homeowner moving to a new city could do all of their real estate work in one place.

“It’s all about just reducing friction for customers and making that whole process easier and more transparent,” real estate technology consultant Mike DelPrete told Curbed last month. “The people that [add services] as a money grab are going to lose. It’s not about if I sell this guy a mortgage or title insurance I’ll make tons of money.’ It’s about ‘Hey work with us, we have this great dashboard we’ll give you. You can see where you’re at at all times. You can ask questions and it’s all captured transparently online.’”

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