- Northern California's largest MLS, MetroList, will now use RatePlug to help clients determine monthly payments.
- RatePlug is currently available to more than 750,000 real estate agents in the country.
- The service is provided free to the MLS, but local lenders must pay to have their rates used and advertised on the MLS.
Do you have buyers worried about what the monthly mortgage would be on a house they haven’t bought yet? What about the insurance payments? RatePlug is here to help.
RatePlug CEO Brad Springer
The technology has already been implemented in various MLSs across the country, but the most recent is MetroList Services, Inc., Northern California’s largest MLS. This implementation affords over 17,000 more real estate agents access to the technology.
The Chicago-based RatePlug also joined MLSListings earlier this year, another Northern California MLS, granting 15,000 agents access to the mortgage technology.
RatePlug’s mortgage technology tracks interest rates from local lenders, but there’s more to it than just mortgage rates.
What does this mean for buyers?
“MetroList agents can now provide homebuyers a clear picture of what they really can afford upfront and as they are viewing a property,” Dave Howe, director of MLS operations at MetroList, said in a statement.
The idea behind the technology is that buyers are able to have a better understanding of what they can actually afford when buying a home. Sure, they can afford a $2,500 per month mortgage, but what about the home insurance? What about taxes? What about interest rates? These are the questions that RatePlug answers in real-time.
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One of the advantages is that potential homebuyers spend more time on agent‘s listing pages — around six more minutes than pages without RatePlug information, the company says. And the service is provided free to MetroList agents.
There are fees, though, for local lenders. This group is given the option of paying $59 per month to have their information shared, or they can pay the yearly rate of $435. There is also a one-time $35 set-up fee.
“Most property listing search sites will display lenders the agent has never heard of, much less worked with. RatePlug helps local homebuyer ‘buy local,’ as the agent can select a lender, or lenders, that they work with regularly,” RatePlug CEO Brad Springer said.
RatePlug is currently offered to more than 60 percent of real estate agents in America. This means that nearly 750,000 agents are able to share this valuable information with buyers.
““RatePlug helps provide more transparency to the home buying process when it comes to affordability. And we make this powerful, yet incredibly easy-to-use mortgage technology, free to every MLS,” Springer said.
