Orchard, a New York City-founded real estate technology company, announced Wednesday it’s launching a mortgage division to integrate into its existing product offering suite for customers both buying and selling a home.
Court Cunningham | Photo credit: Orchard
“At Orchard, we have a relentless focus on customer delight,” Court Cunningham, the CEO and co-founder of Orchard said, in a statement. “We’ve heard repeatedly from customers that they loved their buying experience with Orchard and only wish we could’ve helped them with their mortgage as well.”
“After piloting Orchard Home Loans in Texas, we’re thrilled to now offer all of our customers the option to simplify their experience, and secure their dream home, quickly and easily,” he said.
Orchard aims to serve dual trackers – consumers buying and selling a home simultaneously. The company operates in essentially three phases: a modern search platform, enabling customers to buy before they sell with a guarantee and an all-digital close. Cunningham estimates these dual-track customers represent roughly two-thirds of the marketplace.
Now, in addition to the existing services, Orchard customers can choose a home loan that’s integrated into the existing platform, in what the company boasts is just a few clicks.
“Real estate closings have changed little over the last century and have traditionally required the consumer to coordinate a complex closing across multiple fragmented service providers,” Cunningham said. “Orchard is bringing the transaction into the modern era, by giving consumers the choice of an integrated, all-digital closing.”
The company first piloted the offering in its Texas markets and found that 50 percent of customers who bought a home through Orchard opted to use the company’s home loans platform for the purchase. After the initial pilot, the home loans platform is now live in Colorado and Georgia as well, all Orchard markets.
The platform gives consumers multiple rate options and outlines all the costs involved. The company says the rates will be competitive and the terms of the loan will be simple with no excess paperwork, bots or “banker lingo.”
Orchard Home Loans joins Orchard Title, the company’s title and escrow company.