Build vs buy: The traps and benefits that no one wants to talk about

As AI platforms make it easier and easier for us to experiment and vibe code, I am often asked, “Can’t I just build this myself?” That is an important question, but it’s not really the deciding factor. Instead, we should be asking, “Should I build this myself?” It’s easy to think about the benefits of building a product yourself, but each one of those benefits has a few hidden traps you should know before you decide to become a technology company that produces mortgages. The real traps behind the build-it-yourself pitch The most common reason I hear that lenders want to build technology for themselves is that they think it will cost less and it will be fairly easy to do. The good news is that you may be able to build a tool with your vibe-coding platform of choice for a fraction of what you could partner with a vendor for. However, in a lot of cases, this likely isn’t a tool at all. It’s likely just a picture of a tool. It’s rarely scalable and more often than not, there isn’t the necessary built-in security and governance structure that is needed for our industry. Another thing to consider is that if you do find a tool that you can build on your own, make sure that you are calcula...