The Integrated Approach Is the Key to Purchase Market Success

If finding buyers in today's market isn't hard enough, losing them somewhere between application and closing is even more frustrating. New data from HomeServices of America shows why: the purchase transaction is fragmented, buyers feel it, and the providers that can't coordinate will keep watching their pull-through bleed away.

A September 2026 HomeServices of America report, "The transaction experience buyers want now," surveyed 1,000 U.S. homebuyers ages 25–64 who had bought within the previous three years. The findings are a warning for lenders. Nearly 7 in 10 described the transaction as a hassle, and the top source of that frustration wasn't rates or affordability — it was uncoordinated service providers (HousingWire).

For those of us running mortgage businesses, that's the real strategic story: cross-provider coordination isn't a nice-to-have. It's the difference between closing a file and watching a borrower walk.

The gap between what buyers expect and what we deliver

Here's the tension in the data. Buyers overwhelmingly expect an integrated experience, yet most of us still operate in silos. In the HomeServices survey, a combined 69% said they went into their purchase believing it was their agent's job to coordinate mortgage, title/closing, and insurance providers — 28% "very much so" and 41% "to a degree" (HousingWire).

What a coordinated operating model looks like

Coordination doesn't mean one provider does everything. It means the people in the transaction stay in sync, with the real estate agent as the central point of contact connecting the steps. For lenders, the question is whether your loan officers are positioned to work inside that model — or left outside it.

Consider a simple example. When a closing date changes, an agent, lender, title professional, and insurer who communicate can sort out what that means for loan milestones, insurance timing, and closing arrangements in one conversation. The buyer never has to track the chain. That's the operating model buyers expect, and it's one lenders can support by making it easy for their consultants to stay plugged into the deal.

Where your loan officers fit

In this model, the Mortgage Consultant's job is to make the financing side clear and keep the agent informed — with the borrower's permission — about relevant milestones and changes. That keeps the buyer from repeating themselves and keeps the file moving. The loan officer is the lender's face inside the transaction, and a well-coordinated one becomes the agent's trusted partner.

There's no single required starting order, but discussing financing early helps buyers understand their budget before they make an offer. That's a win for every party: the buyer is better prepared, the agent has a credible financing answer, and your team has an earlier, firmer commitment in the pipeline.

Why people and technology belong together

Digital tools genuinely help. A secure online portal can make it simpler to submit documents and track progress without phone tag. But technology has its limits. When a buyer needs an explanation, or their circumstances change, they want a person who can answer directly.

That's why the survey found buyers favor a people-led approach: just 26% preferred an app- or website-driven experience with little human contact, while 35% favored one driven by in-person interactions and 39% preferred an experience led by people but supported by an app or website — a combined 74% wanting people at the center (HousingWire). The lesson for leaders is operational: invest in tools that let your loan officers and their agents coordinate faster, but don't confuse automation with the relationship that closes the loan.

Questions for every mortgage leader

The survey data is a diagnostic. Use it to test whether your own organization is built for coordination. Ask these questions of your team:

• Are your loan officers positioned as active partners to the agents and brokers in your pipeline?

• How does your team communicate milestones and changes with the agent, title, and insurance providers on a deal?

• When a closing timeline shifts, who owns the conversation across all parties?

• Do your digital tools connect your consultants to the transaction, or do they stand between them and the agent?

• Are you tracking pull-through by source and by partner relationship, so you can see where coordination pays off?

Why this is a leadership decision

Here's what I keep coming back to: buyers have told us exactly what they want, and the friction they feel is on us to remove. Cross-provider coordination is the single clearest lever we control for pull-through, loyalty, and referral growth in a purchase-driven market.

So the question for every mortgage executive isn't whether to coordinate with the real estate side of the transaction. It's who in your organization owns it. If you're not actively building the model that puts your loan officers inside the deal alongside the agent, someone else will — and they'll close the loans you're losing today.

That's exactly what the HomeServices OnePoint model — the complete real estate experience — was built to deliver. OnePoint integrates brokerage, mortgage, title, and insurance services into a single system, so clients work with one coordinated team rather than juggling separate vendors (HousingWire). For mortgage leaders, that structure is the answer to the fragmentation draining your pull-through: when your loan officers sit inside a coordinated ecosystem alongside the agent and title professional, the handoffs that lose files disappear.

CEO Chris Kelly framed it in terms every lender should hear: "OnePoint mirrors what consumers have consistently noted in survey after survey over the years — an overwhelming desire for a holistic, integrated real estate experience" (HousingWire). The integrated approach is aimed directly at the pain points we've been discussing — delays and miscommunication between separate providers (HousingWire).

You don't need to replicate every piece of that model overnight. But the lesson for your organization is strategic: the leaders who will win the purchase market are the ones building a single point of coordination for the transaction. The question isn't whether your loan officers can coordinate with the real estate side — it's whether you're investing in the operating model that makes that coordination automatic.

Ron Wivagg is SVP of Sales Performance & Development at Prosperity Home Mortgage. NMLS ID #75164.

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