Rocket’s new domain, announced Wednesday, targets potential homebuyers by leveraging AI to provide 24-hour support, answer questions, and provide information to customers and agents.
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Loan and personal finance giant Rocket Companies on Wednesday launched a new website under the recently acquired Rocket.com domain, positioning it as a one-stop home search and mortgage financing site for discerning users.
Rocket CEO Varun Krishna told real estate agents and brokers at Inman Connect NYC, “When we looked at all the home search sites out there, we realized they were all the same.” spoke. “There’s not a lot of innovation.”
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Rocket is unifying the home search and mortgage experience into a “single portal that reflects everything we’ve learned, and we’re making a serious bet on AI technology on top of that,” Krishna said. .
Rocket Mortgage, Rocket’s home lending division, last year introduced Rocket Logic, an AI-driven technology platform that leverages insights gleaned from internal data to streamline lending. Krishna said Rocket Logic has three components: knowledge engineering, machine learning, and natural language processing.
“It’s like an engine. What we’ve done is extended that engine to every part of the company,” Krishna said.
Announcing the launch of the new website, Lockett said an “AI agent” will be at the heart of the site, providing 24/7 support, answering real estate and mortgage questions, and providing support to customers and real estate agents. It said it continues to provide information on interest rates and market trends. .
The AI agent also streamlines tasks such as “filling out applications, connecting users with Rocket Mortgage bankers, and providing guidance throughout the process,” the company said. “Since its launch, this tool has tripled Rocket’s conversion rate from website visit to loan closing, demonstrating the trust and support it gives consumers every step of the way.”
Rocket has long operated the property search site RocketHomes.com, which provides consumers with access to MLS properties and generates leads for Rocket’s mortgage business and referrals to partner agents.
(The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau last month accused Lockett of violating the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act with its referral business, an allegation Lockett denies.)
With the launch of Rocket.com on Wednesday, traffic to the former RocketHomes.com website will now be redirected to the Rocket.com landing page.
The RocketMortgage.com website remains live, but Rocket Mortgage also has a dedicated landing page on Rocket.com.
Mr. Krishna asserted that Rocket.com does more than just combine home search and mortgage financing in one place.
“We’re actually combining our technology stack and data to create a single end-to-end data platform, where visitor data flows ‘all the way.’
When someone looking for a home is ready to talk to a loan officer or real estate agent, “they have the background of what you’re getting into.”
“When you visit our site and view property information, we extract important information that serious homebuyers are looking for, such as commute times and school district information,” he said.
Rocket is also a provider of title insurance and settlement services through its Amrock division (soon to be rebranded as Rocket Close), which services many of the loans it originates, collects mortgage payments, and manages homes. We will support you.
“Rocket is a group of companies, and what that means is we’ve built a platform that represents every aspect of the homeownership experience,” Krishna said. “It starts with finding a home or listing your property. This includes connecting to an ecosystem that includes real estate agents and brokers. We then finance your home and We will go through the process to ensure you have the best option.”
Krishna said the major listing portals receive a lot of traffic, but “not a lot of conversions.” People don’t use these sites with any high intent to actually get serious about buying a home. ”
Krishna said the Rocket.com site, which launched this week, “is the first version of the product and will continue to improve.” In fact, one of the big reasons we’re here is; [at Inman Connect] would like to share this news with you. We want to understand how we can make our site more user-friendly for real estate agents so that we can build more features and experiences to meet your needs. ”
The goal is to take capabilities that Rocket has developed in-house, such as document management, computer vision, data processing, notifications, text messaging, and telephony, and “extend those capabilities so that the ecosystem can connect with us.” It’s about being able to have a dialogue.”
“I think there’s been a bit of a mixed message over the past few years in terms of how serious we are about the importance of real estate agents in our ecosystem. And that’s been the case with our Rocket.com It will change as part of the launch,” Krishna promised.
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