Monday, July 13, 2026
7.13.26 Rates on the Up; Zillow Home Loans’ Eric Wilson on Borrower Journey; Economic Calendar
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Today’s episode includes a discussion on why mortgage rates have gone up recently. Plus, Robbie interviews Zillow Home Loans’ Eric Wilson on how the company is guiding buyers with care and confidence, helping them move from pre-approval through closing with support from centralized processing, underwriting, and closing teams. And we close with a look ahead at this week's economic calendar.
Thanks to Zillow Home Loans, Zillow’s in-house mortgage lender, for sponsoring this week’s podcasts. By integrating Zillow’s real estate platform with financing, Zillow Home Loans helps buyers move from dreaming about a home to holding the keys. With tools built for modern lending, Zillow Home Loan’s loan officers can focus on guiding buyers with care and confidence. Zillow Home Loans is an equal housing lender. NMLS #10287.
The Chrisman Commentary is your go-to daily mortgage news podcast, where industry insights meet expert analysis. Hosted by Robbie Chrisman, this podcast delivers the latest updates on mortgage rates, capital markets, and the forces shaping the housing finance landscape. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just looking to stay informed, you'll get clear, concise breakdowns of market trends and economic shifts that impact the mortgage world.
Full Transcript
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(0:03) Welcome to the Chrisman Commentary Daily Mortgage News Podcast. I'm your host, Robbie Chrisman. (0:08) Topics on today's episode include, why have mortgage rates gone up? What to look forward (0:13) to on this week's economic calendar.
In my interview with Zillow Home Loans, Eric Wilson (0:17) on how the company is guiding buyers with care and confidence, helping them move from (0:21) pre-approval through closing with support from centralized processing, underwriting, (0:25) and closing teams. Here, take a listen to a little preview. (0:28) Everybody knows Zillow, but there's also ZHL.
And I'm hoping you can explain the interplay (0:34) between the two and how they work together. (0:37) Yeah, totally. So obviously we think about Zillow, and from the consumer and the agent (0:42) perspective, the core of our business is, of course, at Zillow, introducing homebuyers (0:48) to our broker-agent network.
That's certainly one of the core aspects of the Zillow model (0:54) overall. And ZHL, the genesis of mortgage finance within Zillow actually is as a Leeds (1:01) marketplace. (1:01) So we have today still a Leeds marketplace that was at one time 100% of the consumer (1:08) offering that we have as far as mortgage financing goes.
It was an opportunity for consumers (1:13) to be introduced to one of a large number of lenders that are part of a marketplace (1:17) that offer a pretty wide array of mortgage products. (1:20) And over time, as we started to engage in direct lending, ZHL, we have progressively (1:26) started to consume, I'll use the word consume, more and more of the interested customer Leeds (1:31) to engage with them directly. And so that has meant that we started by offering a fairly (1:36) vanilla offering of loans and loan products.
(1:39) And then we've expanded that product offering over time, so that the vast majority of actually (1:44) what we do today as a mortgage company is on a direct basis. So we're a direct lender. (1:49) That's our primary business model.
But we do think that consumer choice is really valuable. (1:55) There are probably products that we won't... We'll probably never offer 100% of the loan (1:59) products that are available out there in the market. (2:01) And we think that it's important that as a lender within the Zillow ecosystem, we're (2:07) creating a path for 100% of customers that can get financing somewhere to be able to find (2:12) their lender in that financing and loan product through ZHL, whether that's us or the marketplace.
(2:17) So it'll continue to be a pretty critical part of the business, but it's the smaller (2:20) portion of what we do today. (2:24) Thanks to Zillow Home Loans, Zillow's in-house mortgage lender for sponsoring this week's (2:28) podcasts. By integrating Zillow's real estate platform with financing, Zillow Home Loans (2:33) helps buyers move from dreaming about a home to holding the keys.
With tools built for (2:38) modern lending, Zillow Home Loans loan officers can focus on guiding buyers with care and (2:42) confidence. Zillow Home Loans is an equal housing lender, NMLS number 10287. (2:50) Rates moved higher last week as investors absorbed another round of geopolitical stress (2:54) and the inflation imperative that comes with it.
Another breakdown in the US-Iran ceasefire, (2:59) along with renewed hostilities around the Strait of Hormuz, pushed crude materially upward (3:03) and kept the Treasury complex on the defensive. Oil finished the week nearly 7% more expensive, (3:08) helping lift the 10-year Treasury yield by 7 basis points and leaving the 2s-10s curve (3:12) slightly steeper. (3:14) This was not the kind of geopolitical tape-bomb event where Treasuries caught a safe-haven (3:18) bid.
Energy prices were the bigger story and investors treated higher oil as a tax on duration (3:24) rather than a reason to hide in it. (3:26) Yet mortgage-backed securities and US Treasuries ended Friday on firmer footing after a week (3:31) of heavy selling and volatility, with shorter-term yields rising to near 2026 highs despite light (3:36) news, no economic data, and falling oil prices, while longer-term yields increased more modestly (3:41) and remained over 10 basis points below their yearly peaks. (3:45) Treasuries entered this week helped by oversold technical conditions, stable oil prices, and (3:54) easing concerns that renewed Middle East hostilities will generate a sustained inflation shock.
(3:59) Strong demand across last week's Treasury auctions was proof of investor appetite for (4:04) mortgage-backed securities, suggesting more comfort with current yield levels. (4:09) The June Federal Open Market Committee minutes also tempered expectations for near-term policy (4:13) tightening, indicating that while officials remain concerned about inflation from energy, (4:18) tariffs, and AI-related investment, any additional rate hikes would require clear evidence that (4:23) those pressures are becoming broader and more persistent. (4:26) The markets continue to view a rate hike this month as unlikely, leaving the Fed in (4:30) a position to monitor incoming data rather than rushing into further tightening.
(4:34) Investors also took comfort in the minutes' continued level of detail, signaling that (4:38) although Chair Warsh has reduced forward guidance in official statements, the Fed remains committed (4:43) to providing transparency around its policy decisions. (4:48) For today's interview, I wanted to welcome to the show Zillow Home Loans' Eric Wilson (4:51) to talk about how the company is guiding buyers with care and confidence, helping them move (4:55) from preapproval through closing with support from centralized processing, underwriting, (4:59) and closing teams. (5:01) He's VP of Business Ops at Zillow Home Loans, where he builds and leads teams that solve (5:06) challenges at the intersection of technology and operations.
(5:09) Very excited to be speaking with you today. (5:13) Obviously, in this new age, data has become of even more of the utmost importance when (5:21) it comes to artificial intelligence being able to do very industrious things with good (5:25) data in, good data out. (5:27) Zillow sees tens of millions of buyers months before any lender does.
(5:33) So this is very exciting to talk about that side of things. (5:36) What does the buyer intent data tell you that traditional lenders don't have access to? (5:43) ZHL being a part of Zillow provides us with a couple of what I'll refer to as distinct (5:47) advantages. (5:48) The first is the opportunity to start to build a relationship with consumers at the very start (5:54) of their journey.
(5:55) If you juxtapose that with the vast majority of lenders that will, in the purchase space, (6:00) since we focus so heavily on purchase, they will meet the customer at the time that a (6:05) real estate agent makes a referral. (6:07) It will often mean that they are coming in mid-conversation, so to speak, and they're (6:11) trying to do two things. (6:12) They're trying to catch up as well as educate and inform because affordability plays such (6:17) a big role in both how the consumer will shop and ultimately how successful they can be (6:22) when they work with an agent.
(6:24) We view the opportunity to build a relationship earlier in the journey as one of the key points (6:29) of differentiation for us and one of the key consumer values. (6:33) So for us, the way we talk about it is the relationship really starts at the search bar (6:36) when we think about the consumer. (6:38) And we've got a couple of different ways that we look to enrich the customer journey, certainly (6:43) the early part of shopping.
(6:45) Viability being chief among those. (6:47) It's what we refer to as a very lightweight way for a consumer to start to get a sense (6:54) for their affordability. (6:55) They don't have to schedule time with an LO, they don't have to meet with anyone, right? (6:58) It's a couple of minutes, they can answer a few questions.
(7:01) And it's a way for them to start to get a sense for their affordability. (7:03) And they can actually take that with them and shop so they can begin to filter homes (7:06) by that. (7:07) If they want to go deeper down that journey, there's education around that as well.
(7:11) And we view it as a way to become an on-ramp to a relationship with an LO if that's where (7:15) we choose to start the journey. (7:17) But we think that ultimately, at the end of the day, it creates better informed home buyers (7:22) and shoppers. (7:23) And that means if you choose to start with your journey with an agent, you're going to (7:26) be that much better prepared.
(7:28) And hopefully that agent will bring you back for an introduction to a ZHL LO and we can (7:32) all take that conversation forward together. (7:33) So that's probably one of the core differentiating factors there for both the consumer but also (7:38) for us as ZHL. (7:39) You're launching a feature that connects pre-approval directly to the home search experience.
(7:44) And I'm wondering what changes for a loan officer when a buyer arrives already tied (7:50) to their purchasing power? (7:52) It's interesting, but it's really... (7:54) We talked about what I'll refer to as maybe that first core differentiating factor and (7:59) the ability to build that relationship early in the journey as a lender. (8:03) And viability is a great tool for the customer and for us as a lender. (8:07) And then you pull that thread and you look at shop with pre-approval.
(8:11) So people will often ask me, someone that's coming up on almost 20 years in the mortgage (8:16) space, why Zillow Home Loans? (8:18) What's the core differentiating factor for Zillow Home Loans? (8:21) And the first thing I actually go to is we are the only lender that is able to persist (8:28) throughout the entirety of the journey as a support to the consumer. (8:32) And shop with pre-approval, which we launched at the beginning of this year, is the thing (8:36) that I've been the most excited about. (8:38) So it's the ability to start with viability.
(8:41) This lightweight way to understand your affordability, move deeper into the journey as you're shopping (8:47) and obtain a pre-approval online with ZHL and then actually take that pre-approval with (8:52) you as you shop. (8:53) So you can now filter homes by that. (8:55) We pair that with the richest set of data available in terms of properties so that we (9:00) can dial in a very precise total cost of ownership.
(9:04) And it allows us to start to move the way you shop for a home more towards shopping (9:11) by monthly payment, as opposed to shopping for a purchase price. (9:15) And we think that that's a more natural way for a customer to shop. (9:18) And in order to do that, you have to be able to provide a very accurate pre-approval.
(9:23) And then a consumer has to be able to have that at their fingertips as they go throughout (9:27) the journey of searching for a home. (9:29) And so we make that possible with shop with pre-approval. (9:31) And what's really cool about that is, there's obviously the cool factor from the customer (9:35) side or the consumer side.
(9:37) And we love that, obviously, from a lending and an LO side, because now our LO is persisting (9:41) throughout that journey. (9:42) They're one click away, but one click to call us on the phone or to get an answer. (9:46) But it also allows us to start to take the signal from the shopping experience and the (9:52) affordability signal that we get based on how customers actually use these tools.
(9:57) And we can provide that data back to their agent as well. (10:01) And so it becomes this really great way to keep the agent and the LO up to date and aware (10:07) of where the customer's preferences lie at any point along the journey, what their affordability (10:12) looks like, so that we can support them or we can be there just in time. (10:16) And that's what I think is pretty cool about shop with pre-approval.
(10:19) And I think it is again, it's reflective of what I think ultimately is one of our key (10:23) is now our core differentiator. (10:24) Yeah, you have an inherently huge competitive advantage by having all these people already (10:29) on Zillow and then being able to show them real-time purchasing power is just a fantastic (10:34) feature and I think will lead to great success. (10:37) And it has! (10:39) Zillow Home Loans posted a 96% year-over-year increase in purchase originations in the (10:43) first quarter.
(10:45) Big congratulations there. (10:46) But I want to ask you, in a market where most lenders are competing for the same shrinking (10:49) volume, what's actually been driving that growth? (10:53) Yeah, it's been a great run here. (10:56) Obviously, yeah, posting that year-over-year, almost doubling of the business we're really (11:00) excited about.
(11:01) That's a growth story that has started way before just 12 months ago. (11:06) I'd say really the last 18, if not almost 24 months, we within ZHL started to make a (11:11) really concerted push towards what we refer to as the integrated transaction and the integrated (11:16) transaction set of experiences. (11:19) Effectively, how do we bring mortgage or home financing into the mixture with Zillow and (11:24) pair that with what we already do really well.
(11:26) We have really an unmatched agent network that we can connect buyers with. (11:30) And now we've got the mortgage side of the equation. (11:33) And so we've been investing in in-app experiences and integration between our loan origination (11:39) system and CRM on the ZHL side, and follow up boss, which is one of the largest real (11:44) estate CRMs out there, and then tying that all back to the Zillow app so that consumers (11:49) have the ability to take both of the experts in the transaction, ultimately, the two experts (11:55) that they're going to rely on most with them as they shop on the app or anywhere while they're (11:59) on the go.
(12:00) And that starts at the point of buyability and it goes all the way through the point (12:04) of closing. (12:04) So to say clearly, or succinctly, 100% of that growth has come from that investment (12:11) in the integrated transaction. (12:13) And it's come from growth in transaction volume where we're pairing a preferred agent (12:17) with a ZHL LO.
(12:19) And you mentioned earlier this kind of putting people in the right products, and that's (12:24) been a huge trend in the mortgage industry. (12:26) How do we create a broader product landscape to suit the needs of the modern borrower? (12:31) And obviously no company wants to say, hey, I don't offer this product, but my competitor (12:35) does. (12:36) And obviously Zillow is expanding their products.
(12:38) You are, though, sending mortgage leads to other lenders through your marketplace. (12:43) And I'm wondering, as Zillow Home Loans scales, how you think about the relationship between (12:46) your own origination growth and the broader lender ecosystem on the platform? (12:51) Yeah, it's a great question. (12:52) And I would kind of go back to the mortgage leads marketplace is really the genesis of (12:57) our foray at Zillow into home financing.
(13:00) And it plays an important part as a way for us to promote consumer choice. (13:05) At the end of the day, everything we do here within ZHL as part of Zillow is really about (13:11) delivering the best possible consumer experience we can to help as many would-be homebuyers (13:18) find their way home. (13:19) That's what we're trying to do.
(13:20) And by promoting access to a different set of lenders than just ZHL or a different set (13:26) of loan products than just what ZHL chooses or is able to provide, we think is a way to (13:33) help us in that mission, ultimately help more folks find their way home. (13:38) So yeah, we've got the marketplace. (13:39) It's actually a smaller part of our business today than it certainly was 12 or 18 months (13:43) ago.
(13:44) But we see it as something that will stay around in perpetuity, so that when we don't (13:50) have the right product for a shopper, we know someone that does and we can ultimately help (13:54) them get connected. (13:55) You also earlier in the interview, you talked about how a lot of the focus has shifted from (13:59) rate to payment. (14:00) And people can see their purchasing power and payment in real time, which is very valuable.
(14:06) It's all part of this modernized home buying experience, search, finance, closing, all (14:11) in one connected flow. (14:14) What does the industry actually need to do to get there? (14:16) And what do you feel like Zillow Home Loans role in that? (14:20) Obviously, we've talked a lot about the integrated transaction experience, shopping with your (14:26) purchasing power, right? (14:27) A lot of these like tech-enabled tools that are part of this ongoing trend of trying to (14:33) modernize home buying. (14:34) I think if we take a step back from the tech, probably the first thing that I would say (14:38) is on the regulatory side, RESPA modernization is one of the key things that we look at.
(14:45) RESPA is 50 years old now. (14:47) The rules were written before a lot of the tech and tools and these modern experiences (14:52) were available. (14:53) Look, I want to be clear, we believe in consumer protections.
(14:57) We don't want to weaken the protections. (14:59) But right now we're operating in an industry where there's a lot of regulatory gray area. (15:04) And I think ultimately, the lack of clarity is born first and foremost by the consumer.
(15:11) When you create uncertainty for key players in the transaction, whether you're the lender, (15:15) whether you're the title company, whether you're the real estate agent, that lack of (15:18) clarity prevents us from doing everything that we can to deliver a better experience (15:23) and a more cohesive customer journey. (15:26) So I think first and foremost, we're really big in terms of how we think about RESPA modernization (15:29) and trying to help the industry make good decisions as we go forward. (15:32) And then if we go back to the tech component, AI obviously, is going to play a big part.
(15:37) It's already starting to play a big part in modernization at Zillow. (15:42) We now have an AI-led journey that's available to consumers. (15:46) You can come in and you can start to chat with AI in the same way that you might go (15:50) to do that with ChatGPT or any of the other tools.
(15:53) And we think that's really cool. (15:54) It's a new way for consumers to start to guide and navigate that home buying journey where (15:59) they can really be in a lot more control than like any one kind of standard UI can ever (16:04) be. (16:04) It offers a lot more personalization.
(16:05) And that's great. (16:06) I think from the lending side, in particular, the way we think about it at ZHL is that it's (16:11) a near-term eventuality that end-to-end automation of a mortgage loan will be possible. (16:17) Certainly the vast majority of loans, I think, will be able to be originated 100% via AI and (16:24) other automation tools.
(16:26) And what that means, I think, for the consumer is like, hey, there's this journey, maybe (16:30) things can be done faster. (16:32) More importantly, what it means is LOs, real estate agents, even settlement agents, have (16:38) more time and bandwidth to invest in personalization, to invest in judgment, to invest in helping (16:46) to guide the consumer and building relationships. (16:49) And that's really what I think humans are best equipped to do, to the extent we're all (16:54) involved in this transaction.
(16:55) And we think that there's going to be no substitute for those 2 players in the transaction. (16:59) And so we're looking at ways that we can leverage AI to really elevate and really bring, at least (17:05) within ZHL, our loan officers more into the forefront so that they're spending the vast (17:10) majority of their time actually engaging, guiding, building relationships with customers (17:16) as opposed to pushing paper and bearing a lot of the administrative burden that goes (17:20) on in the background. (17:21) So we're really excited about the evolution in tech there that makes it possible.
(17:24) But it's probably a combination of both the regulatory framework that's around us and (17:29) then continued investment in tools. (17:31) And ultimately, for us, delivering that nirvana state of that totally integrated transaction. (17:37) This to me feels almost like when Apple launched the iPhone.
(17:42) It made so much sense for so many years that it came to the market and it was so well adopted. (17:48) Zillow, launching Zillow Home Loans makes complete sense. (17:51) And obviously, I think that y'all are incredibly well positioned to make a huge mark on the (17:55) housing industry.
(17:57) Eric, really appreciate the time, man. (17:58) Ton of valuable insights. (17:59) Love hearing it.
(18:00) Straight from the horse's mouth. (18:01) So thank you very much, sir. (18:03) Robbie, it was great.
(18:04) Thanks for having me. (18:07) Today has zip zero for scheduled economic news, but tomorrow has the June Consumer Price (18:14) Index report and Fed Chair Warsh's semi-annual congressional testimony, both of which should (18:19) help shape expectations for the remainder of the year. (18:22) A benign CPI inflation reading expectations are for a 0.2% decline in the headline number (18:28) following a significant decline in the price of energy goods would reinforce the view that (18:32) recent energy volatility has yet to meaningfully spill into broader prices.
(18:37) Warsh is likely to maintain his emphasis on price stability without offering explicit (18:41) guidance on future rate decisions. (18:43) With little scheduled economic data and summer trading volumes remaining light, treasury (18:48) performance is likely to be driven more by technical factors, oil prices, and any new (18:52) geopolitical headlines than by changes in the underlying economic outlook. (18:56) This week's economic calendar has the CPI and June PPI.
(19:00) Other scheduled releases include data, small business optimism, regional manufacturing (19:04) surveys, jobless claims, housing data, industrial production, consumer sentiment, and the Fed's (19:09) Beige Book. (19:10) Throw in some short-duration treasury auctions and remarks from Fed members Bowman and Waller (19:14) and that's it. (19:16) We begin the week with agency MBS prices slightly worse than Friday's close, the two-year (19:20) yielding 4.22 and the 10-year yielding 4.58 after closing last week at 4.57%, up 8 basis (19:27) points over the course of the week.
(19:31) Let's wrap up with a joke and some housekeeping. (19:34) A Mexican magician was doing a magic trick at a kid's birthday. (19:38) He said he'll disappear at the count of three.
(19:40) Uno, dos, and poof, he was gone without a trace. (19:50) Thanks again to Zillow Home Loans, Zillow's in-house mortgage lender, for sponsoring (19:53) this week's podcasts. (19:55) By integrating Zillow's real estate platform with financing, Zillow Home Loans helps buyers (19:59) move from dreaming about a home to holding the keys.
(20:02) With tools built for modern lending, Zillow Home Loans loan officers can focus on guiding (20:06) buyers with care and confidence. (20:08) To learn more, visit zillow.com slash home loans.