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Zillow Mortgage Marketplace: Setting Expectations Will Make or Break You

by Justin McHood

in Justin McHood

Today, I thought I would take a minute to cover the fourth rule of negotiation and how Zillow’s Mortgage Marketplace puts the consumer in control of shopping for a mortgage and simply arms them with every advantage possible when it comes to the rules of negotiation.

Previously:

We learned that the first rule of negotiation is the first one to talk loses.

The second rule of negotiation is that when you are explaining you are losing.

The third rule of negotiation is the person with the least interest controls the relationship.

And the fourth rule of negotiation?

It is vital to set expectations and then over-deliver on under-commitments.

In every negotiation… in every relationship… each party will have numerous opportunities to set the other parties expectations. This applies across life, not just when shopping for a mortgage.

Become astute at under-committing and over-delivering and you will become known as reliable. As competent. As trustworthy. As someone who can be “counted on”.

Fall into the habit of over-committing and under-delivering and you will become known as just another ordinary, every-day average idiot.

This subtle -but-not-so-simple skill of being able to set and manage expectations and then over-deliver on those expectations is one that every lender on ZMM knows all too well — they absolutely *must* be stellar at setting expectations and then over-delivering on those expectations or they will simply go buh-bye.

If you are a lender and you somehow manage to hose up this rule of negotiation, you will soon be marked with the digital equivalent of the Scarlet Letter thanks to Zillow’s feedback mechanisms available for consumers to report “how you did”.

For example: look at a few of these top lenders on Zillow. Look at how many people they have helped. Look at their feedback scores.

Think they know how to under-commit and over-deliver?

Yes. And you can take that to the bank.

And if you happen to somehow become one of those lenders who hasn’t learned how to set your client’s expectations by under-committing and over-delivering?

Here’s your toaster, have a nice day.

Toaster as in parting gift.

Parting gift as in: you won’t win any of the “grand” prizes here. Sure, everyone still loves you, but it is back to cold-calling and LendingTree for you because no one that uses ZMM is going to want to be seen with you and your well deserved big, bright, shiny red “A”.

Lastly: a personal note to anyone who is thinking of using ZMM to shop for a mortgage:

Today, more than ever before (in my experience at least) it is difficult to get a loan done for a client. If your loan officer says to expect something and it doesn’t happen *exactly* in the time frame that he said – believe me when I say that there are crazy, crazy things happening regarding lending guidelines and turn times.

So when leaving feedback – just keep that in mind. Maybe even give your loan officer the benefit of the doubt.

Or hand him a toaster, tell him thanks for playing and maybe – just maybe it will be the thing that helps him become suddenly stellar at the fourth rule of negotiation:

Set expectations clearly, then get busy under-committing and over-delivering.

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Zillow Mortgage Marketplace: 3 Day Rule?

Are you still asking yourself “what exactly is so special about the Zillow Mortgage Marketplace anyway?” Previously, we learned that the first rule of negotiation is the first one to talk loses and that the second rule of negotiation is that when you are explaining, you are losing . Ready for the third rule of negotiation? Wait. Before we get to that, let’s forget about mortgage-related stuff and think about something sunnier — love . Let’s think about love for a moment. Think back to the best first-date that you have ever been on. You know, that once-in-a-lifetime kind of date that happens only once or maybe twice in a lifetime. You met that special someone for the first time in a date-setting. You really liked the other person, had a fabulous time and fell asleep that night wishing the feeling would last forever. And then you woke up the next morning and wanted to call your date just to tell them how much of a great time you had… but you just couldn’t allow yourself to. Why? Because of the three day rule. You know, that unspoken rule that everyone seems to know about but yet never speaks about with other people. The one rule of dating that you wouldn’t dare breaking for fear of messing something up. The one that you are absolutely positive would jinx the entire relationship and could possibly lead to sudden cardiac arrest. The three day rule is a very real rule because it follows the third rule of negotiation. The third rule of negotiation is: The person with the least interest controls the relationship. How Zillow Mortgage Marketplace Puts You In Control Everyone has been chased by a rabid, commissioned sales person before. When shopping for a mortgage on Zillow’s Mortgage Marketplace, you fill out your information and immediately you get phone calls and emails from up to 150 rabid, commissioned loan officers who have too much time and not enough to do, right? Wrong. You won’t get a single phone call or email once you submit your information on Zillow’s Mortgage Marketplace because the lenders never see any of your personal information so they have no way to contact you or even know who you are . To the lenders on Zillow’s Mortgage Marketplace, you are just a set of numbers. Important numbers, yes — but just numbers that are only related to your mortgage. However — once a lender submits a quote to you, you are able to not only see their “numbers” (notice how I didn’t use the word measurements ) but you will also be able to see their lender profile, see what other clients have said about them and probably even a picture or two of them along with a profile and short bio. Put quite simply: there are two ways to shop for a mortgage online. One way is to submit your information to a company and that company sells your information (yes, even your phone number) to up to 8 rabid, commissioned loan officers with too much time and not enough to do… Or You use Zillow’s Mortgage Marketplace and collect all of the information about “what the lenders can do for you” without them ever even knowing who you are. Back to the Third Rule of Negotiation — The one with the least interest controls the relationship. Say that you don’t feel like calling (or emailing) your favorite loan officer for three days after you get their quote because you don’t want to get the relationship started off on the wrong foot? It is your choice — assuming you used Zillow’s Mortgage Marketplace and not some other way to shop for a mortgage online. And I am sure the loan officer will understand — after all, you have to wait at least three days according to legend or the relationship may be cursed!

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Bait and Switch: How To Ruin This Game

I got a call from a young lady in Oregon today who asked me a simple question: “Hello, I am about to close my loan tomorrow on a FHA loan and I think something is wrong. Throughout the whole process, my loan officer told me that I was going to get a 5% fixed rate and just today he told me that I could only get a 5/1 ARM at 5%, but that because it was an FHA loan, I could refinance with the FHA streamline program 3 months from now with no cost. Is it true that I can refinance in 90 days with no cost at 5%?” A siren went off in my office and a red flashing light turned on. I was on the phone with a potential victim. Someone who had not-yet-been-taken-advantage-of, but was about to. Now was my moment! Forget about the FHA streamline program, this poor young lady needs to get the rate she was promised! “Maam, I don’t know a nice way to say this, but you just need to put your foot down. You were promised a rate and you might have to work a little bit to get that rate. The good news is that I can pretty much promise that if you do what I am about to tell you, you will get a 5% 30 year fixed rate and not have to worry about the future of whether-or-not you can do an FHA streamline.” What To Do If You Have Been Promised A Rate But Are Getting Something Else: Ask to speak to the manager. Explain to the manager what has happened and that you were promised one rate and now that it is close to closing you are getting something else. Be nice, but firm. Do not, do not, do not back down. If the manager won’t help you get the rate that you were promised, ask to speak with the company owner. Yep, the company owner. The company owner will be able to help you. If the company owner won’t help you – it is time to call in the government. Each state has some form of governing authority over mortgage lending and now is the time to find out who this is and how to contact them. Hint: Google can help you. Call them, tell them that you wish to file a complaint and see if they can help you. Chances are that they will just take your information for now – but depending on what state you live in, they may be very actively involved in investigating claims like yours. Call your local tv station and ask them for their “XYZ news channel on your side” reporter. Tell them how you have been taken advantage of by a mortgage company and there is a good chance that they will not only help you, but maybe you will even get the “bad mortgage company” on tv for promising you something that they refused to deliver. The above scenario is just one of the many reasons to use Zillow’s Mortgage Marketplace . If this poor young lady would have used ZMM to start with, she could threaten her loan officer with something way more powerful than any of these 4 items — she could just threaten him with negative feedback. Will my friend from Oregon get the rate at the table that she was promised? I don’t know. But I do know that her loan officer isn’t all that worried because she didn’t use Zillow Mortgage Marketplace to find him, so she can’t leave any negative feedback. I bet that with the recent jump in mortgage rates , there are many people in this same situation.

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