The following story was reprinted with permission from Home Equity Lending News LLC. You can read the full story here.

Originators of home-equity investment contracts are finding new business on social media, through paid search, and from home-improvement vendors, according to a recent roundtable discussion of C-suite executives. The biggest obstacles to closing the sale are awareness and understanding.

At last month’s HEI and Home Equity Capital Markets Forum in Austin, Texas, organized by IMN, C-suite executives from home equity lenders and HEi providers participated in a panel discussion about product origination. Moderated by Douglas Harter, executive director at UBS, the discussion touched on acquisition channels and competition.

Jim Riccitelli, co-founder and chief executive officer of HEi provider Unlock Technologies, noted that the company has primarily utilized digital channels including paid search, social media, and affiliates to reach its target market.

“Believe it or not, TikTok is a very valuable channel to acquire customers,” Riccitelli commented. “We’re starting to expand our channels with partnerships in retail, and we’re dabbling in a little bit of media. We’re doing some radio, and we’ll do some TV.”

John Green, co-founder and chief operating officer of Nada Inc., said the fintech investment platform for home-equity agreements focuses on meeting homeowners through B2B and B2C partnerships with home improvement-related vendors as well utilizing traditional mortgage advertising channels.

“We also run through a lot of the proven distribution channels of other financial products like mortgage,” Green explained, “but because this is a better product, we can have better performing distribution.”

Pat Doyle, president of Newfi Investment Group, said the mortgage lender must market its EquityChoice shared appreciation mortgage as it would a traditional home loan.

“I have to adhere to a number of regulatory regimes that are applicable to the mortgage market,” Doyle continued. “We have to adhere to a different set of rules in terms of how we engage with brokers, how we handle compliance, and how we handle regulations.”

As for competition, Riccitelli said that the biggest obstacle to securing clients isn’t other lenders but customer awareness.

“Not many people are aware that these products exist, that the opportunity to do financing without debt service is available to them,” he explained. “Over time, we’ll overcome that. We’re starting to now, as the industry is gaining traction and awareness is building. That’s really going to drive a lot of people to our sites and start to create organic leads for all the players.”

Doyle agreed but expanded the challenge to include customer understanding.

“It’s a complicated product, whether it’s truly a mortgage, or an option contract, or an HEi contract,” he said. “It’s something that needs to be explained thoroughly and maybe five times over.”

IMN's next Home Equity Investment Forum will take place on March 27-28 in Nashville. Sign up for early speaking, sponsoring and attendance opportunities by contacting Todd Rosenberg.