Real Estate Investor Magazine South Africa April/ May 2020 | Page 34

TECHNOLOGY
Taking ‘smart’ ownership of
your property investment
T
urning a new page in South Africa’s home loan and
property financing era, MortgageMe, a new online bond
aggregator, made its debut in September 2019 to give
property buyers full ownership of their financing prospects.
Cutting out the time-consuming hassle and paperwork of
traditional loan application processes, the new free website
ticks all the boxes for a convenient, simplified solution to
getting your dream home.
Up until this point, South Africa has been latching on
nicely to international technological developments such as
PropTech innovation trends. PropTech (property technology)
is a revolutionary movement in how people are starting to
approach and think about real estate investment, inevitably
disrupting traditional real estate.
While the growing rate of first-time buyers in South Africa
remains at a slow pace, with only 20 to 29 percent of approved
home loans linked to new purchases, there is still much
improvement anticipated for aspiring home owners to buy-in
to the financing process with ease.
MortgageMe is South Africa’s next step to redefining
traditional methods to entering the country’s property market.
The platform, which comes at no cost, initiates a digitised
application process and kick-starts automated negotiations
with banks. With MortgageMe’s instant access to a pool of
South Africa’s most respected lenders, and having the best
rates negotiated on your behalf, are important benefits that
give you the full and realistic picture before settling on your
ideal decision.
MortgageMe is the brainchild of two forward-thinking
companies, e4 and WeAreMonsters, who saw the potential
for better transparency in the country’s property finance
market. The two companies constantly work with the latest
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APRIL/MAY 2020 SA Real Estate Investor Magazine
developments in the online technology and business model
industries.
MortgageMe’s head of product, Kurt Campher says A clear
canvas and visible outcomes are vital in a big decision such as
financing your home or refinancing a commercial property.
“Traditional methods often result in a lack of transparency in
the communication to potential buyers, causing further stress
in the loan application process. We wanted to change that and
empower loan applicants with all the information they need to
make a well-informed investment,” says Champher.
“In today’s real estate industry, it can be daunting to turn
away from what they have accepted as the ‘norm’ in property
investment paths, especially with current financing models still
heavily relying on the steps that have been taken over many
years,” adds Andrew Price of WeAreMonsters.
“The assumption that rings, ‘The Usual Way of Doing Things’,
unfortunately sits safe in the laps of many aspiring property
owners who have come to know the jingle of traditional
lending systems. Such consumer may, in fact, find the value
in breaking away from the ‘known’ and embracing the
convenience of a secure, cost free online aggregator service
that is available to you on your own time.”
MortgageMe’s offering is sealed with various partnerships
and completed stringent processes, putting regulations in
place to ensure that the platforms users’ private information
remains secure. With its initial launch in 2019, the online
public will be able to calculate their true affordability using
the Bond Certificate functionality, and when they have signed
their offer to purchase, they can apply for a home loan on app
and access functionalities like its affordability calculator from 
www.mortgageme.co.za.