Bank Of Internet Gets Into Real Estate

Bank of Internet USA (BofI USA) announced the launch of BofI Realtor, a new mobile app designed for residential real estate sales agents.

A division of BofI Federal Bank, BofI’s app allows realtors to track the status of their clients’ mortgages originated by BofI Federal, as well as communicate directly with BofI team members through their smartphones or tablets.

“We have developed a proprietary technology platform that will improve the mortgage experience for realtors and homebuyers,” said John Dustman, senior vice president of consumer direct lending for BofI Federal Bank. “BofI Realtor redefines communication standards and is focused on personalization, streamlining processes and creating efficiencies between BofI and Realtors. Realtors who use our new mobile app can save valuable time and get access to vital information, such as loan status updates, key milestones in relation to the close of escrow, loan conditions, real-time mortgage rates and payment calculators throughout the loan origination process.”

The free app can be downloaded from Google Play or the Apple App Store.

With the home-buying market heating up, real estate apps are a growing trend. Last year, home-buying website Realtor.com announced it was releasing two new mobile app features, Sign Snap and Street Peek, which leverage the capabilities of image recognition and augmented reality.

And last summer, Zillow and the AI-driven CRM Signpost joined forces to allow Zillow agents to automatically generate requests for user reviews of their services.

Even Amazon is getting in on the act, as it prepares to add the option to hire real estate agents via its professional services marketplace, which would make it a direct competitor with Zillow. A source said agents would have to pay an upfront fee to get leads, in addition to real estate referral fees, while users might be able read reviews on local real estate agents.