When we decided to launch the Finside Chats podcast, we knew our first guest had to be a star, a real superhero in the mortgage industry.
That’s why we immediately reached out to Shant Banosian of Rate.
Shant is an Executive VP of Sales and loan officer at Rate’s Boston office. But he’s not just any loan officer. He’s been the top loan originator in the U.S. since 2018, funding more than $7 billion throughout his career. In 2021, he’s funded over 3,700 loans or $2 billion to date. In other words, he knows a thing or two about the lending business—especially the need for innovation and efficiency.
In our first episode, Kosta and Josh talk to Shant about many things but consistently loop back to the idea that technology is profoundly transforming the mortgage experience for lenders, borrowers, and everyone in between.
Shant has observed with great satisfaction fundamental changes to the borrower experience. Changes only made possible by powerful, purpose-built digital technologies.
“A few years ago, I'd have an hourlong, oftentimes in-person, conversation with a prospective borrower. And by the end of it, I'd be exhausted, and they'd be exhausted,” he said, describing the tedious process of collecting information about income, assets, and credit history.
Today, with the help of technology, his initial conversations with clients are streamlined and painless, focused on his customer’s specific goals, not on salary, job history, and account numbers. The ensuing online application process captures the information his team needs from day one, and customers can upload all of their personal and sensitive documents quickly and securely online.
After using time-saving verification tools, Shant’s follow-up phone call is brief and focused on what his customer needs to know and decide on next—current interest rates, down payment source, closing costs, and so on. “What used to take me an hour and a half, or maybe require an in-person meeting, has really been condensed down to a far more impactful15 to 20-minute conversation,” Shant describes.
This digital transformation is a classic win-win in the highly competitive, near frantic real estate environment seen across the country. Plus, it offers an exceptional customer experience. One that is so memorable it keeps Shant’s pipeline full of purchases, refinances, and HELOCs year-round, despite a global pandemic.
Advances in technology have done much more than reduce the length of client phone calls. The entire string of events that culminates in closing is becoming more efficient, timely, and paperless.
“Why shouldn't you be able to close a mortgage in 10 days every single time?” Shant asks intently and calls out that the 10-day close is his “ultimate goal.” “What's so complicated about it that needs to take 30 days or 45 days?”
It’s a great question and one that will separate the most successful lenders from the rest. “With technology where it's at today, [we have] the ability to grab information [for our customers],” Shant explains. The benefits of leveraging technology to streamline are apparent—the client gets in their home faster, and the lender closes more deals.
When the conversation turned to digital closings, Shant pointed out how the pandemic has transformed everyone’s understanding of—and expectation for—what can be done remotely. He also dismissed the idea that the traditional in-person closing is a desirable ceremonial event for buyers and sellers. “When my clients are talking to me, the most important thing is actually taking ownership and moving into the house,” he says. “The closing is just another step toward that goal.”
Shant offered a priceless analogy about picking up a movie or game at Blockbuster years ago. That experience—a neighborhood store full of movies—was exciting when it was the only option. But once streaming became available, the idea of getting in the car, driving to the movie store, searching the racks for a film, and driving back the next day to return it became chore-like, inconvenient, and undesirable.
Blockbuster stores became monuments to obsolescence. Likewise, there’s no reason to expect that in-person closings will be the preferred option as it becomes more and more routine to execute digital closings via secure video conferencing, remote online notarization (RON), and eSignature.
Thank you, Shant, for taking the time to share your perspective with us, and we applaud your astounding performance in recent years. We expect nothing but more of the same in the years ahead. To learn more about Shant and Rate or get in touch, visit him online.
“Everybody thinks their market's the hottest. I'm doing business all over the country and every market's bananas. It's a competitive advantage to be able to keep up with it and thrive in it. Personally, I hope it gets faster and faster because it puts a lot more stress on our competition that can't keep up with speed.”
- Shant Banosian, Executive VP, Sales at Rate
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