6 ms·

This feels like Elon Musk opening a Denny's restaurant. You do other stuff, why get into this business, especially if they're just rebranding the Zillow mortga

This feels like Elon Musk opening a Denny's restaurant. You do other stuff, why get into this business, especially if they're just rebranding the Zillow mortgage feed. There's a lot of money to be had (a well qualified mortgage lead is worth ~$90 a pop), but it seems inappropriate for google.

sureshv 11y ago
I'd have to think as a licensed mortgage broker, their take would be much greater than $90.
- adwordsjedi 11y ago
  $90 for the lead, not what it is worth overall. They're not closing 100% and the leads may be shared down the pingtree or as they age.
- toomuchtodo 11y ago
  And if Fannie and Freddie no longer provide federally-subsidized loans, mortgage products would make a fine fixed income product for Google's cash reserves to help fund Alphabet and Calico. The AdWords money train ain't gonna run forever. Time to diversify now!
  - cma 11y ago
    And if they start funding a huge basket of subprime stuff they will have all the funding they need to really soar their Alphabet internet balloons into the stratosphere.
    - toomuchtodo 11y ago
      If anyone has enough information on borrowers to properly price the risk, it's Google. Far more information than any traditional lender or mortgage broker is going to have.
      - bradleyjg 11y ago
        I'm not sure they could legally use all of it to do underwriting, that's a tricky area. Also, for better or for worse, the GSEs + Ginnie are not going away any time soon.
joelrunyon 11y ago
Agreed - they're moving up the value chain (why sell ads when you can just take the commission yourself). That said, it does feel inappropriate and I wonder at what point Google's results will become the thing that they tried to differentiate from in the first place (previous search engines had ads placed throughout the results without scrutiny). Funny how they're moving from "these are the best results" to "these are the results that make us the most money."
tosseraccount 11y ago
Denny's actually makes a profit. Elon Musk doesn't.
- hamitron 11y ago
  Denny's doesn't make rockets or electric cars, just 24 hours of shitty breakfast food.
  - tosseraccount 11y ago
    Denny's doesn't need government bailouts to stay open. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=elon%20musk%20survive%20on%20government%20subsidies&t=ffsb https://duckduckgo.com/?q=elon%20musk%20survive%20on%20gover... Los Angeles entrepreneur Elon Musk has built a multibillion-dollar fortune running companies that make electric cars, sell solar panels and launch rockets into space. And he's built those companies with the help of billions in government subsidies. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-2015... Uncle Sam would have been better off investing in Denny's.
    - ugh123 11y ago
      My stomach needs to be bailed out after eating at Denny's
    - e40 11y ago
      Uncle Sam would have been better off investing in Denny's. I think that's an absurd statement. The upside for Denny's is not nearly as much as it is for the businesses that Musk is in.
      - deleted 11y ago
        [deleted]
    - oldmanjay 11y ago
      I can't tell if you're trying to say that only proven ideas deserve investment or something else. Care to clarify what your point is here?
billions 11y ago
Google is likely doing this to quantify your buying power. Advertisers will pay Google premium CPC for targeting buyers with deep pockets. Google can do the math backwards and estimate things like buying power and income provided an applicant can afford a mortgage of X per month. google.com/compare/autoinsurance serves Google's ad targeting in the same fashion.
- petra 11y ago
  Google can already very accurately estimate your buying power using it's availble data.
- elsewhen 11y ago
  do you have a source for this idea that they take your inputs and use it for further ad-targeting? i don't see this specifically mentioned in the privacy policy for this auto-insurance product: https://www.google.com/compare/autoinsurance/form?p=privacy-policy https://www.google.com/compare/autoinsurance/form?p=privacy-...
uptown 11y ago
It's low hanging fruit ... too good to pass up for the potential revenue, and they already have an idea how many people have searched for this info using Google as their starting point.

sureshv 11y ago

I'd have to think as a licensed mortgage broker, their take would be much greater than $90.

adwordsjedi 11y ago
$90 for the lead, not what it is worth overall. They're not closing 100% and the leads may be shared down the pingtree or as they age.
toomuchtodo 11y ago
And if Fannie and Freddie no longer provide federally-subsidized loans, mortgage products would make a fine fixed income product for Google's cash reserves to help fund Alphabet and Calico. The AdWords money train ain't gonna run forever. Time to diversify now!
- cma 11y ago
  And if they start funding a huge basket of subprime stuff they will have all the funding they need to really soar their Alphabet internet balloons into the stratosphere.
  - toomuchtodo 11y ago
    If anyone has enough information on borrowers to properly price the risk, it's Google. Far more information than any traditional lender or mortgage broker is going to have.
    - bradleyjg 11y ago
      I'm not sure they could legally use all of it to do underwriting, that's a tricky area. Also, for better or for worse, the GSEs + Ginnie are not going away any time soon.

joelrunyon 11y ago

Agreed - they're moving up the value chain (why sell ads when you can just take the commission yourself). That said, it does feel inappropriate and I wonder at what point Google's results will become the thing that they tried to differentiate from in the first place (previous search engines had ads placed throughout the results without scrutiny). Funny how they're moving from "these are the best results" to "these are the results that make us the most money."

tosseraccount 11y ago

Denny's actually makes a profit. Elon Musk doesn't.

hamitron 11y ago
Denny's doesn't make rockets or electric cars, just 24 hours of shitty breakfast food.
- tosseraccount 11y ago
  Denny's doesn't need government bailouts to stay open. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=elon%20musk%20survive%20on%20government%20subsidies&t=ffsb https://duckduckgo.com/?q=elon%20musk%20survive%20on%20gover... Los Angeles entrepreneur Elon Musk has built a multibillion-dollar fortune running companies that make electric cars, sell solar panels and launch rockets into space. And he's built those companies with the help of billions in government subsidies. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-20150531-story.html http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hy-musk-subsidies-2015... Uncle Sam would have been better off investing in Denny's.
  - ugh123 11y ago
    My stomach needs to be bailed out after eating at Denny's
  - e40 11y ago
    Uncle Sam would have been better off investing in Denny's. I think that's an absurd statement. The upside for Denny's is not nearly as much as it is for the businesses that Musk is in.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
  - oldmanjay 11y ago
    I can't tell if you're trying to say that only proven ideas deserve investment or something else. Care to clarify what your point is here?

billions 11y ago

Google is likely doing this to quantify your buying power. Advertisers will pay Google premium CPC for targeting buyers with deep pockets. Google can do the math backwards and estimate things like buying power and income provided an applicant can afford a mortgage of X per month. google.com/compare/autoinsurance serves Google's ad targeting in the same fashion.

petra 11y ago
Google can already very accurately estimate your buying power using it's availble data.
elsewhen 11y ago
do you have a source for this idea that they take your inputs and use it for further ad-targeting? i don't see this specifically mentioned in the privacy policy for this auto-insurance product: https://www.google.com/compare/autoinsurance/form?p=privacy-policy https://www.google.com/compare/autoinsurance/form?p=privacy-...

uptown 11y ago

It's low hanging fruit ... too good to pass up for the potential revenue, and they already have an idea how many people have searched for this info using Google as their starting point.