Real Estate Marketing & Beyond
Google is getting into the mortgage game with a little help from Zillow Group. The search engine giant is offering a new product that helps consumers to better analyze their mortgage quotes.
The new free service is called Google Compare for Mortgages, and lets house hunters search and compare more than 300 mortgages on offer from over 75 different lenders. The service has been rolled out in California, with more U.S. states set to follow.
Zillow comes into the picture because it's using its own data on lender reviews, rates and ratings to power Google's new service. In addition, the LendingTree service is also providing data for Google.
“This partnership allows us the unique opportunity to help borrowers by providing them with the industry’s most accurate, real-time information about home loans and mortgage lenders while simultaneously offering Zillow Group’s lenders increased reach for their businesses,” Erin Lantz, Zillow Group vice president of mortgages, said in a statement.
The actual user experience while shopping for mortgages is pretty simple. Google Compare will walk you through the basic steps (ZIP code, price of home, down payment, etc.) and then ask you for how long you plan to live in the house (to see if you want a 30-year mortgage or would be okay with an adjustable rate). At the end of the process, it will give you a recommended lender based on your preferences, together with a full breakdown of all the fees associated with the loan.
Google has already offered a similar service for auto insurance since earlier this year, and said that “participation in Google Compare is based on a flexible cost-per-lead (CPL) model, however payment isn’t a factor in ranking or eligibility.”
