• by Ray Schultz , September 26, 2017

Email is a popular medium at several stages of the mortgage process. But it takes a back seat to other channels, depending on the age of the person, according to "Digital Mortgage Experience: a study of Shifting Borrower Expectations,” by Velocify.  

GenX consumers prefer slightly more email and less phone throughout the cycle.

Baby boomers want less email and chat and more phone and in-person contact 

For their part, millennials do not seem to like in-person visits: They demand more chat, especially during the application phase. And they want more phone before and after the closing.

Email is the preferred medium — the dominant preference after the sale — for 27% of borrowers who have closed a loan in the last two years. That includes a large percentage of Millennials.

During the research stage, however, 38% of consumers choose website self-service. At the application stage, 22% like phone and 22% prefer in-person engagement.   

Velocify conducted online surveys of over 500 consumers, all of whom had received mortgages over the past ten years.

The largest group was GenX borrowers (43%), followed by millennials (29%) and Baby Boomers (28%).

The study found that millennials are leading the way when it comes to shopping for mortgages online. However, borrowers in all age groups are using the Internet to shop for lenders.

This is important as the market continues to recover from the 2008-2009 housing crisis, according to Velocify.

Of the consumers polled, 46% of the millennials found their lender online, vs. 42% of the GenXers and 32% of the baby boomers. 

Overall, only 10% of borrowers found their lender through a conventional realtor referral in the last year, Velocify continues.

Among the online lending transactions in the past year, 47% were for refinancing and 38% for repurchase.