Millennials Embrace Mortgage Technology but Still Need a Personal Touch

Now that many millienials have reached an age where settling down is on the horizon, there are a lot of young people looking to make one of the biggest steps of a lifetime: buying a house. However, as with many other things, millennials’ approach to finding the perfect home is very different from the generations that came before. A new study shows that when it comes to house hunting, millennials are looking for both technological and face-to-face interaction. According to JD Power’s 2015 U.S. Primary Mortgage Origination Satisfaction Study, which examined “customer satisfaction with the mortgage loan origination experience among the nation’s largest mortgage lenders in the United States,” 85% of potential homeowners own a smart phone, and for 94% of them, that’s the first place they start when looking for a home. Let’s face it, for a lot of young people, technology is one of the most important aspects of life, and it is changing the way a lot of things are done.

In fact, the majority of millennials say that they would be more interested in a new offering in financial services from companies like Apple, Google, or Amazon over the same offering from their bank. However, millennials also say that technology doesn’t do enough to educate them on the ins and outs of home buying. According to the study, some of this dissatisfaction stems from the fact that young people have “trust issues,” but it is also largely because mortgage lenders have been relatively slow to adapt to and make use of technology. As more millennials become prospects for home ownership, mortgage lenders will have no choice but to become more active on online platforms and will be expected to provide the necessary information.

However, even with more online interaction, most communication will still need to happen face-to-face to make sure that all questions can be effectively answered, and buyers — especially younger ones — can feel like they have a personal connection with the person helping them make a life changing purchase.

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