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Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

closingwtf.com

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Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#31

Post by aaln »

thinkxl wrote: post #18

i don't want to be the "get off my lawn" person or "old man yells at cloud," but i couldn't get to what the tool does because the landing page is so overwhelming with colors, the background, the borders, things moving around. the CTA buttons across the site are inconsistent in shape, form, and color. the text color in the footer has awful contrast, so it's hard to read.

Thanks for the feedback old man! I'm going to improve the aesthetic of the dark mode. You can try the light mode which should be easier to read right now.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#32

Post by aaln »

WaitWaitWha wrote: post #17
aaln wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, Aaron the builder here. The scamming that happens to homebuyers is not even comparable to the risk in uploading docs to a website which promises they won't share user data with anyone. This is genuinely a pro buyer tool with no association with any 3rd party. The tool has already helped many people negotiate and get a better deal on their mortgage. Please before judging understand that 70% of buyers overpay in t…

Allow me to expound on @kojeovo's remark. Please take this as a constructive criticism to improve your success potential. Much of it is from a quick glance, and am sure there are many other facets to improve. A business is not just about the product. Your Privacy Policy. There is no default way to download it (see 9.), and since it is window-ed cannot print entire doc. That means I cannot keep a copy of it for myself…

Thanks for the constructive feedback.

I just added a way to easily download the entire privacy policy and terms of service, also quickly added an about page with some info about me - https://closing.wtf/about

Eventually I'm going to get a certification and will keep your other points in mind.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#33

Post by b1ngb0n1 »

adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #30
WaitWaitWha wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow me to expound on @kojeovo's remark. Please take this as a constructive criticism to improve your success potential. Much of it is from a quick glance, and am sure there are many other facets to improve. A business is not just about the product. Your Privacy Policy. There is no default way to download it (see 9.), and since it is window-ed cannot print entire doc. That means I cannot keep a copy of it for myself…

Legitimately curious, what’s the worst they could do with this data?

Aside from the personal details (name, address, etc), they can collect pricing info on houses, run analytics, and swoop the deal with a slightly better offer or better yet, sell it to wholesale buyers, reits, and whoever is interested in stealing the deal.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#34

Post by beezlebroxxxxxx »

yungporko wrote: post #21

[flagged]

Par for the course on HN. You just gotta have thickskin and learn to acknowledge the comments without wholesale accepting them. Some nitpicks are great, some are flat out stupid. When it's your product you have the benefit of deciding which is which for your product (and accept the consequences, of course).

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#35

Post by effingwewt »

mannyv wrote: post #10
aaln wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, Aaron the builder here. The scamming that happens to homebuyers is not even comparable to the risk in uploading docs to a website which promises they won't share user data with anyone. This is genuinely a pro buyer tool with no association with any 3rd party. The tool has already helped many people negotiate and get a better deal on their mortgage. Please before judging understand that 70% of buyers overpay in t…

Ignore the haters, they will probably never be your customer.

Ah the Disney approach.

Bold strategy Cotton.

Owner did the smart thing and listened to the constructive criticism which made me feel infinitely better about using his tool.

Which I will now do, and would not have before. I am also his exact customer.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#36

Post by ziddoap »

mannyv wrote: post #10
aaln wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, Aaron the builder here. The scamming that happens to homebuyers is not even comparable to the risk in uploading docs to a website which promises they won't share user data with anyone. This is genuinely a pro buyer tool with no association with any 3rd party. The tool has already helped many people negotiate and get a better deal on their mortgage. Please before judging understand that 70% of buyers overpay in t…

Ignore the haters, they will probably never be your customer.

People are trying to increase the potential customer base of the author by pointing out where there is room to improve. That is incredibly valuable, and one of the major reasons to do a Show HN.

That is not being a "hater".

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#37

Post by AntiRush »

adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #30
WaitWaitWha wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Allow me to expound on @kojeovo's remark. Please take this as a constructive criticism to improve your success potential. Much of it is from a quick glance, and am sure there are many other facets to improve. A business is not just about the product. Your Privacy Policy. There is no default way to download it (see 9.), and since it is window-ed cannot print entire doc. That means I cannot keep a copy of it for myself…

Legitimately curious, what’s the worst they could do with this data?

The most common scams around home buying are wire fraud - contact the buyer pretending to be the title company and steal their money. The data in a mortgage is exactly what you need to enable these scams and you're getting people to hand it to you and at the same time tell you they are about to wire money.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#38

Post by jjav »

aaln wrote: post #5
kojeovo wrote: post #2

The privacy and security part is not inspiring confidence. Scrolling to the next section got me thinking "Don't get scammed at closing, get scammed before closing after uploading your mortgage documents to a random website." Cool idea though.

Hey, Aaron the builder here. The scamming that happens to homebuyers is not even comparable to the risk in uploading docs to a website which promises they won't share user data with anyone. This is genuinely a pro buyer tool with no association with any 3rd party. The tool has already helped many people negotiate and get a better deal on their mortgage. Please before judging understand that 70% of buyers overpay in t…

> not even comparable to the risk in uploading docs to a website which promises they won't share user data with anyone. This is genuinely a pro buyer tool with no association with any 3rd party.

I have no reason to think you're not completely sincere in this!

But, realize it doesn't mean anything.

Unless that promise is backed by some ironclad contract, it means nothing. Companies grow and hire new people who don't care about the original values. Or they get acquired and all bets are off. Or they start running low on cash and suddenly decide monetizing all that data is a good idea after all. Or it becomes visible enough to attract attention of the government who shows up demanding copies of data. And so on.

I've been in one or more startups where all of these things have happened.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#39

Post by scottishbee »

b1ngb0n1 wrote: post #33
adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legitimately curious, what’s the worst they could do with this data?

Aside from the personal details (name, address, etc), they can collect pricing info on houses, run analytics, and swoop the deal with a slightly better offer or better yet, sell it to wholesale buyers, reits, and whoever is interested in stealing the deal.

That...is not how mortgage servicing companies operate.

Re: Show HN: Free mortgage analysis tool to avoid getting screwed by closing costs

#40

Post by Kiro »

b1ngb0n1 wrote: post #33
adamtaylor_13 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legitimately curious, what’s the worst they could do with this data?

Aside from the personal details (name, address, etc), they can collect pricing info on houses, run analytics, and swoop the deal with a slightly better offer or better yet, sell it to wholesale buyers, reits, and whoever is interested in stealing the deal.

> name, address, etc

In my country all that plus your social security number and tax declarations etc are public information. What's your opinion on that?

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