For the past five years, my co-founder Gary and I have worked on the infrastructure side of mortgage. That included a joint venture with a major mortgage bank to digitize the mortgage and make the process essentially paperless. It also included spinning out on our own to build mortgage solutions for the banking industry. It was a major undertaking and, not surprisingly, working with banks is slow. At the end of the day, we are far more consumer-focused, and we had accomplished as much as we could from the infrastructure side.
So, six months ago, Gary and I spun out to create Ike.
The concept was simple. Technology on both the front and back ends of mortgage has advanced to the point where the loan officer is being rendered unnecessary. Sorry to be blunt, but those are the facts. LOs now spend most of their time selling Realtors for business. Why? Realtors refer more than 70% of loans, so spending time courting them makes perfect sense.
That is the vision. Turn Realtors into dual-licensed agents, add no more work than they are already doing, and let them collect the income that normally goes to the LO. The premise is simple: help agents qualify to perform mortgage origination work and earn compensation for that work. Their clients already trust them with the biggest purchase of their lives. Why should they not carry that relationship through financing?
Gary and I knew the mortgage world, including the regulations, compliance, and technology, backward and forward. But we were never Realtors. That is when our third co-founder, Garrett, joined the team. He is our insider in the world of the Realtor. He had started and sold his own brokerage, as well as a CRM for Realtors. And off we went.
The reality is this: Realtors are feeling pressure from the NAR lawsuit and now have to negotiate on buy-side transactions. LOs are feeling pressure to add value as technology encroaches on and eliminates much of what they once did. So, who stays? Our bet is that the buyer and borrower ultimately make that decision. Their logical choice is the person who started the relationship, cultivated it personally, showed homes in person, and provided advice over weeks, months, or even years.
Ike is a tool that will make the Realtor indispensable again, while increasing their revenue by up to 40%. Frankly, we do not need both people in the transaction. We are here to make sure the Realtor is the one who stays.
Ike is going to make this happen. It is an app that will make the mortgage effortless for the Realtor and their client. It is a product that will give Realtors the confidence not only to do this easily, but to provide an exponentially better experience by being their own LO.
We know it will take some education on our side to ensure Realtors are comfortable. We believe that once the product is in their hands, they will never go back to handing their clients off to someone else.
We are advocates for the Realtor. Our product is designed to give agents superpowers and put them back in the position of adding exponential value for their clients. That is what we are going to do, Realtor by Realtor, city by city.
Our first two markets are Chicago and Denver. From there, nationwide. The idea of giving Realtors not only more value, but more revenue as well, is all-consuming for our team. We cannot wait to show everyone what we have created in the coming weeks.
Shane, Gary and Garrett