Welcome back from the Labor Day break! As we start a short Week 48 of the countdown to August 1, 2015, I’d like to point out that by the end of this week, we’ll be halfway through the project research and budgeting phase of the Lender Implementation Timeline. So I’ll ask: By this Friday, will you be 50% complete with this phase in your organization?
Last week was still crazy following the previous week’s announcement of the CFPB e-Closing pilot participants. With all of that news and buzz stirring around in the industry, we decided to change the content pace a bit and throw out some humor with the 7 signs you’re ignoring TILA-RESPA.
To follow that up, we dove into some insights that Google provided on homebuyers. Here’s the six key takeaways they concluded from slicing all of their search data:
1. Every year, searches for real estate-related terms peak in July — a sign that people are out house hunting. Be there to meet this seasonal rise in demand. Remind them throughout the long process with remarketing.
2. Millennials are likely to make their long-awaited entrance into market soon. Understand what this audience cares about and appeal to them with relevant messaging.
3. More people (especially millennials) are relying on mobile devices throughout the process — from finding a home to financing it. Help them find what they’re looking for through mobile ads and extensions such as location and click-to-call.
4. Small and mobile homes are becoming an appealing option, even for high-income buyers. Think about ways you can address this new, growing market. Explore Search data to learn what else interests these consumers and use it to shape co-marketing opportunities, cross-promotions, creative executions and media buys.
5. While they’re looking for homes, people are also looking for interior design ideas, often turning to video for inspiration. Post home-tour videos to YouTube to make it easy for them to get an in-depth look at listings.
6. Vintage is all the rage in interior design. Help people get that retro, one-of-a-kind look with the products you offer and the content you create.
Our Director of Marketing and User Experience provided some valuable perspective in that same post on a digital strategy that you would need to tackle those six points. It’s important to remember that beyond TILA-RESPA lies a whole new world of consumers expecting the rest of the world to be as digital and mobile as they’ve become.
Those of us with children growing up in this era already see first-hand the shift to the “on-demand” expectations that are growing with every social media post, download and text message. But buried in this uncharted digital future is also the desire for consumers to be educated, and as we saw from the Google stats, that’s par for the course with homebuyers.
As we speed through this short week, we also look ahead to seeing quite a few friends and new faces in just under two months at MBA’s Annual Convention & Expo this October. We’ll be at booth #451 (with a special guest), so be sure to visit us.
Check back this week for updates, and be sure to visit www.TILARESPA.com to view a growing knowledge base of information and forums where you can ask questions and interact with others in this industry.
All information and views expressed or implied are provided without warranty and are only the opinion of Pavaso, Inc. Each participant should seek legal representation for legal interpretation of the ruling and the CFPB directly for final instruction and interpretation.The final rule can be found here.
