What is the name of your organization?
HousingNonprofit.com
What is the name of your solution?
HousingNonprofit.com
Provide a one-line summary or tagline for your solution.
A global brand connecting consumers to nonprofit housing counseling, so lenders get mortgage-ready borrowers and issue fewer denials.
In what city, town, or region is your solution team headquartered?
Boca Raton, FL, USA
In what country is your solution team headquartered?
USA
What type of organization is your solution team?
Nonprofit
Film your elevator pitch.
What specific problem are you solving?
There is a systematic conflict of interest that undermines global mortgage distribution. Commission based brokers lack incentive to get consumers mortgage-ready (i.e. fix credit, compare offers, maximize affordability). Instead, brokers are incentivized to issue quick denials or steer borrowers to higher cost loans for greater commission. (1) (2)
In the United States, over 1 million mortgage applications are denied each year amounting to over $100bn of lost equity with communities of color facing denial rates twice the average (3).
By creating a global brand for nonprofit housing counseling and equipping counselors with a modern technology platform to do the work of mortgage brokers for a fair wage, we can reform an unjust mortgage distribution system (4).
Our solution addresses a major contributing factor. Due to a lack of awareness most people do not even know housing counseling exists (5). For example, a survey of counselors found that only 3% of them used search engine marketing to reach consumers (6). And yet research shows that greater than 90% of consumers use search engines to find housing (7). Housing counselors are key to mortgage readiness but need technology to meet consumers where they search (8).
housingnonprofit.com/sources
What is your solution?
Our solution is a platform connecting consumers to housing counselors and lenders.
The platform is accessible on our website, and housing counselor websites, through an embeddable intake form. The form sends applications from a network of sites to a central database for analysis. This process improves match efficiency and marketing effectiveness.
Collaboration makes sense, as a network of nonprofits we are able to access Google Ads and to run high-performing advertisements at scale, for free (9). Our collective ad reach multiplies, thereby reducing administrative costs and scaling impact.
By doing it this way, we save counselors from running siloed ads and duplicating effort. Instead, we pool all leads into the platform and algorithmically assign consumers to the best fit counselor. This eliminates waste and ensures every consumer is matched efficiently without delay.
Housing counselors then access their matches through a subscription-based SaaS (Software as a Service) portal. They simply set a target user profile and opt-in to receive clients.
After housing counseling is complete, mortgage-ready consumers receive multiple loan offers from participating lenders to compare and save even more (10). This closes the loop, with lenders receiving mortgage-ready borrowers whose loans are 30% higher performing (4).
housingnonprofit.com/sources
Who does your solution serve, and in what ways will the solution impact their lives?
We are a multi-sided platform serving consumers, housing counselors, and mission-aligned lenders.
Our “beachhead” or initial market is consumers asking Google and Bing to search for down payment assistance domestically. Using Google keyword planner with an input of 1,330 keywords related to down payment assistance, we see there are over 9 million annual searches (11). Research suggests this search activity is largely driven by lower income (12) and people of color (13).
But what will these consumers find in their search results? We know only 3% of housing counselors utilize search engine advertising so they’re not likely in the top results (6). Instead, consumers find ads that downplay mortgage readiness with promises of quick results which ultimately leads to denials and predatory loans (2). Housing Nonprofit and its network of counselors appear in these search results but like a lighthouse, steering consumers away from peril and towards safe passage to home ownership.
For housing counselors, we solve the visibility issue with a pipeline of clients to boost their impact. Lenders receive mortgage-ready, educated borrowers, whose loans are proven to be 30% higher performing (4). Together we create lasting, affordable homeownership for traditionally underserved communities.
housingnonprofit.com/sources
