"For decades, buyers searched by list price, even though every lender knows that what really matters is the monthly payment a family can carry under underwriting standards. Now, search-by-payment is no longer a theoretical idea it's becoming the core infrastructure of real estate technology. In the past year, we have seen a surge of MLS platforms, brokers, and proptech vendors launching their own takes on monthly payment filters."
"At first glance, that might look like progress. But most of these features are little more than basic calculatorsmultiplying a price by an interest rate and dividing by months. They leave out critical realities: property taxes, insurance, association dues, occupancy type, credit tiers, cash to close. In short, they fall short of mortgage-grade accuracy. What's driving the sudden rush? Until recently, the patent application covering mortgage-grade payment search filed years ago was marked abandoned at the USPTO."
"That absence of protection likely gave legal teams across the industry comfort to say, Go ahead. The path is clear. Budgets were approved. Tools were built. Some were even marketed as affordability solutions. But that path is not clear anymore. In August, the USPTO granted a petition to revive the foundational application, restoring its patent-pending status. The effect is immediate: search-by-payment is again under review and protection, and the assumption of open field is gone."
The real estate industry is shifting from list-price searches to search-by-payment as affordability becomes the primary concern for consumers, regulators, and professionals. Many MLS platforms, brokers, and proptech vendors launched monthly payment filters last year. Most of those tools function as simple calculators that multiply price by interest rate and divide by months, omitting property taxes, insurance, association dues, occupancy type, credit tiers, and cash-to-close. Those omissions prevent mortgage-grade accuracy. A patent application covering mortgage-grade payment search that was marked abandoned has been revived and is now patent-pending, reintroducing IP protection and legal risk for competitors who invested in payment-search features.
Read at www.housingwire.com
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