The traditional home purchase process is broken. For many people, buying a home is one of the most stressful life events they’ll ever experience. Some say that only a divorce or death of a loved one is worse (Zillow Group, 2018) – and for homeowners seeking to move from one home to another, the process is even more daunting.
In addition to the normal stressors like bidding wars and sticker shock, debt to income requirements or the need to tap equity for a down payment can force more than half of homeowners to sell their current home while they're living in it in order to qualify for a mortgage on their next home (National Association of Realtors, 2023). As a result, many end up moving twice and living in short-term rentals or watching their bids get rejected and contracts fall through due to financing contingencies. Consequently, 37% of homeowners say they want to move but are staying in their current home because of the risks, hassles and stresses that come with buying and selling simultaneously (Zillow Group, 2022).
It’s clear that homebuyers need help. And that’s where Calque and Botsplash come in.
Calque works with established lenders so they can provide homeowners with a fully compliant, white-labeled ‘buy before you sell’ solution called The Trade-In Mortgage. With The Trade-In Mortgage, our lending partners are able to help their borrowers use their equity to buy and move into their new home before they sell their current one, make non-contingent offers that can compete with all cash offers, make a bigger down payment to reduce monthly mortgage payments, and sell with confidence with a guaranteed backup offer.
To some of you, this might sound like a traditional bridge loan, but it’s better. As part of The Trade-In Mortgage process, Calque makes a binding backup offer on your client's house and gives them up to 150 days to sell it to someone else for market value. Unlike a traditional bridge, Calque’s binding backup offer means our lending partners can qualify their borrowers for the loan on the new home right away without including the departing residence or second lien in their DTI. Importantly, many borrowers don’t need a second mortgage and just use The Trade-In Mortgage to eliminate the departing residence from DTI so they can buy before they sell.
Botsplash is the perfect partner to increase consumer awareness and adoption of this new, innovative solution because they provide an always-on avenue to meet potential borrowers where they are in their home purchase process.
“Amidst the evolving landscape of home buying, Botsplash is proud to collaborate with Calque to revolutionize the process. Together we empower lenders to deliver a seamless purchasing and selling experience, addressing the unique challenges faced by modern homebuyers. At Botsplash we believe in creating a human-centered approach, ensuring that consumers have access to expert advice, innovative loan options, and a user friendly digital experience. With Calque and Botsplash, lenders have versatile options for success, offering an updated, on-demand experience that truly transforms the homebuying journey” — Aru Anavekar, Founder & CEO, Botsplash
For example, Botsplash can help lenders introduce The Trade-In Mortgage early on in the funnel to attract more leads with an easier, less stressful home purchase process. Botsplash can also work with lenders to design automated nudges and timely interventions with potential borrowers who are running into common challenges (like losing bids with contingent financing) that could be solved with The Trade-In Mortgage. With Calque and Botsplash combined, lenders can provide a human-centered approach to the home purchase process that gives their borrowers the information and innovative loan options they need to meet their modern needs.
As we see it, the three main ingredients required to ease homebuyer worries from start to finish during the lending process are: 1) the reassurance of working with expert lending professionals, 2) loan products that solve common problems, and 3) an inviting, informative UX experience online. Lenders provide the first ingredient, and Calque and Botsplash can help them easily provide the latter.
By leveraging Calque and Botsplash, lenders can connect with customers across every touchpoint to earn their attention, consideration, trust, and ultimately their business with an easier ‘buy before they sell’ process and modern, on-demand experience.
To learn more about Botsplash click the button below to schedule a demo with our team.
