Introducing iLENDi, an online community for homebuyers. An interview with Courtney and Filip, co-founders. Part 1.
Where did the idea for iLENDi come from?
Courtney: After nearly 20 years as both a loan officer and a realtor, and later doing digital marketing for lenders, I was working for a digital learning company that was producing tools to facilitate mortgage lending for loan officers. I spent a lot of time training mortgage industry professionals and had a front-row seat observing not just their grievances using the technology, but also how the technology was actually holding them back!
On the other side of this was the consumer experience. You have to remember the mortgage industry has long been dogged by a halo of mistrust. Furthermore, it’s perhaps the least fun experience in the world—tedious, confusing, nerve wracking!
As a homebuyer and seller myself, I started to think about how to make the mortgage model fun, convenient, transparent, service driven—addressing all the major grievances. We wanted to bring education to the forefront, and create a social community around home buying.
My background in digital learning introduced me to my crackerjack tech partners and after batting around my idea with Filip (Rokita), who was at the time the CEO of Atticmedia, we decided, we can do this! The rest is history. Filip may have something to add…
Filip: Yeah, the beginnings—fun to think about it. Back then, about five years ago, we immediately recognized a massive opportunity in mortgage lending to elevate the tech standards, bringing innovation to the masses, whilst excelling at customer service.
At the time, the mortgage industry was eons behind. While every possible modern convenience was available through technology—from food to transport to dating to banking—home buying wasn’t. Riding the wave of fintech, we set out to change that, to modernize the user experience from the way consumers and loan officers communicate to the way they transact to the way they find each other!
iLENDi is at its core about people. You can read reviews about everything on the planet, but very little when it comes to mortgages and the loan officers servicing those loans! Considering the relationship between the borrower and lender is as important as finding the right lawyer or therapist, we knew there was a better way.
We are disrupting the home buying industry by building the first great community around homeownership. Our platform is both consumer- and business- facing, supporting both sides of the mortgage transaction—buyers and lenders. The depth of iLENDi is something we are particularly proud of. And we are bonkers-excited about its potential to evolve with the feedback of our users.
About iLENDi
iLENDi is a social network for homebuyers starting with a better borrowing experience. Our mission is to advance homeownership for a generation of modern homebuyers that value convenience, speed, service and straight-talk in real time. Visit iLENDi.com to join our growing community of empowered homebuyers and learn more.
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