Borrowers signing up for a mortgage through LoanDepot soon can get real estate agent referrals from the online lender as well.
And later this year, people getting home-improvement loans will be able to get the names of contractors, architects, roofers and other professionals.
“We think it’s generally a trend that customers are looking for recommendations,” said Rick Calle, LoanDepot’s chief strategy officer. “And they’re looking to national brands with a strong online presence to provide that recommendation.”
The referrals are latest services the Orange County-based lender is developing as part of its ongoing effort to build a one-source portal for borrowers seeking home and personal loans.
Founder Anthony Hsieh’s vision, said LoanDepot spokeswoman Lara Wyss, “is for LoanDepot to do for financing what Amazon has done for retail.”
LoanDepot claims it has issued $125 billion in home loans and other types of financing since Hsieh, a Newport Beach entrepreneur, founded the company in Foothill Ranch in 2010.
Last spring, the company launched its $80 million “Mello” initiative, seeking to create the technology behind an online portal where borrowers can shop for loans, upload documents and complete mortgage applications from their home computers, laptops or mobile devices.
The firm currently is preparing to move into a 65,000-square-foot office near the Irvine Spectrum Center that will be its Mello tech campus.
Many homebuyers start shopping for a loan before finding a real estate agent, Calle said.
Mello Home will provide referrals from a list of agents who sign up to join the service, LoanDepot said. At the same time, agents can get leads on potential clients, paying a fee to Mello Home only if they close a deal.
Calle said the agent referral service should become available in March. The home-improvement referrals will become available in the second half of the year.
“We see more and more customers are going online to get connected,” he said. “There’s a lot of parallels between the home service provider and the real estate market.”
