Online-Leads Firm Plugs Into Refinancing Scene
Los Angeles Business JournalGiven the flood of owners scrambling to refinance their home loans, L.A.-based Internet leads firm LeadPoint Inc. figured there was a buck to be made.
The company announced Jan. 15 that it had launched a new product that would help marry those seeking a refinancing with brokers and agencies. In the past, the company primarily sold leads for mortgages and credit card debt consolidation. Chief Executive Marc Diana said the company projects it could net $5 million to $10 million a year in revenue from loan modification leads.
LeadPoint works this way: People looking for financial services on the Internet find a site that asks them to provide personal information and the kind of service they’re seeking. If they have landed on a LeadPoint partner site, that information is then sent to LeadPoint, which sells it to brokers. The brokers will then contact the customer.
For phone contacts, LeadPoint partner organizations air commercials on television or radio asking people seeking financial services to call a 1-800 phone number. LeadPoint’s technology then routes those calls to brokers, or to a LeadPoint call center where the information is recorded then sold.
Diana said the 50-employee company decided to branch into refinancing leads when it saw a 20 percent spike among customers who inquired about adjusting their loans, presumably because their adjustable loans were resetting at higher rates. It’s a challenging time for homeowners in that situation, because declining property values are making it more difficult to get loans refinanced.
“Our customers are driving this request,” Diana said.
Diana conceded LeadPoint’s new program would probably last only as long as the demand exists. The company will likely fold its loan-modification leads service when prices begin to rebound and the economy stabilizes.
This appears to be an opportunistic and shrewd move for LeadPoint, which is a private company founded in 2004. And it could help bolster the company during a down economy that has taken a toll on other Internet businesses.
For instance, Oversee.net, an L.A.-based firm that buys and sells Internet domain names, recently laid off workers who ran a Web site that relied on advertisements from mortgage companies. Chief Executive Jeff Kupietzky cited the state of the economy and declining ads sales for the move.
But Diana said low interest rates have been generating consumer desire to lock down favorable loans so his mortgage leads business is strong.
Solutions
LeadClass Quality
Quality filtering functionality that enables you to select the quality that best suits your operational needs. Click to read more
LeadPoint Connect
A new feature that enables buyers and sellers to interact across our state-of-the-art platform. Click to read more
First Call
Convert more leads with our First Call service! Click to read more