And if Fannie and Freddie no longer provide federally-subsidized loans, mortgage products would make a fine fixed income product for Google's cash reserves to help fund Alphabet and Calico.

The AdWords money train ain't gonna run forever. Time to diversify now!

And if they start funding a huge basket of subprime stuff they will have all the funding they need to really soar their Alphabet internet balloons into the stratosphere.

If anyone has enough information on borrowers to properly price the risk, it's Google. Far more information than any traditional lender or mortgage broker is going to have.

I'm not sure they could legally use all of it to do underwriting, that's a tricky area. Also, for better or for worse, the GSEs + Ginnie are not going away any time soon.

$90 for the lead, not what it is worth overall. They're not closing 100% and the leads may be shared down the pingtree or as they age.