April 2019 Issue

HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ APRIL 2019

WEATHERING THE STORM How HUD advocates for underserved communities.

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SFR SOLUTIONS Amherst Holdings, Green River Capital, Lima One Capital HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ APRIL 2019

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100 COMPANIES PUSHING THE LIMITS OF POSSIBLE

Meet the new face of Non-QM. First Guaranty Mortgage Corporation® is excited to introduce Maverick Solutions SM, a new proprietary suite of products designed for today’s borrowers. With flexible options for every scenario, Maverick Solutions is revolutionizing the Non-QM market.

LEARN MORE

fgmc.com/maverick-solutions

Telling the Unique Stories of Today’s Borrowers.

This information is provided to industry professionals for their business and professional use and should not be considered an advertisement to extend credit. Equal Opportunity Employer.

NMLS ID 2917. All information stated is subject to change without notice.

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SERVICE As a broker, you are the lender’s customer. The lender competes for your business on every loan - providing top of the line service to make sure you are a repeat customer. Faster turnaround on files in underwriting and quicker closings for borrowers!

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HOUSINGWIRE APRIL 2019 EDITORIAL

CONTENT SOLUTIONS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jacob Gaffney

MANAGING EDITOR Sarah Wheeler

EDITORS Ben Lane Jessica Guerin Caroline Basile

CONTENT WRITER Alyssa Stringer

ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kelsey Ramírez REPORTER Alcynna Lloyd

TECH REVOLUTION THE 2019 HousingWire Tech100 winners are some of the best we’ve ever seen. They’re great every year – don’t get me wrong, but this year there was just something special about them. There are the giants that continue to transform the housing industry in

CREATIVE

new ways, combined with new startup companies

GRAPHIC DESIGN Traci Cortez

that are taking their innovative technologies to the next level. But big and small, new and old, these companies all have one thing in common – they are all transforming the industry in ways that, 10 years

CONTRIBUTORS Diane Tomb, Matt Ishbia, Steve Gaenzler

ago, we could have only dreamed of.

This year for our Tech100 awards, we knew we were going to need more than our internal selection board – the competition was fierce. That’s why we enlisted the help of our first-ever advisory

SALES

CORPORATE

NATIONAL SALES DIRECTOR Jennifer Watson Laws jlaws@HousingWire.com

PRESIDENT AND CEO Clayton Collins

CHIEF REVENUE OFFICER Diego Sanchez CALIFORNIA MARKETING MANAGER Christi Lingard Caren Karris clingard@HousingWire.com MARKETING CENTRAL COORDINATOR Mark Adams Lauren Neaves madams@HousingWire.com CLIENT SUCCESS SOUTHEAST MANAGER Tamara Wren Haley Hess twren@HousingWire.com AD OPERATIONS MOUNTAIN WEST COORDINATOR Bill Brown Matthew Stafford bbrown@HousingWire.com CONTROLLER GREAT LAKES Michelle Monroe Lorena Leggett lleggett@HousingWire.com

committee. And within that committee, there were some who went above and beyond, who really helped us out. A special thanks goes out to Justin Powell of ERA Franchise Systems, Mike Jones of Dixon Hughes and Patrick Hartford of Quicken Loans.

If this year’s Tech100 winners show us anything, it’s that the technology revolution in the housing industry has only just begun, and here at HousingWire we can’t wait to see what happens next.

Kelsey Ramírez Associate Editor @kels_ramirez

Subscriptions are available for $149.00 for one year. A subscription includes the print magazine and online access to the digital magazine. Canada and foreign are only eligible to purchase the “Digital Only” subscription plan at $149 for one year. Visit www.housingwire.com/subscribe for more information.

The information contained within should not be construed as a recommendation for any course of action regarding legal, financial or accounting matters. All written materials are disseminated with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering legal advice or other professional services. HW Media does not guarantee the accuracy of information provided, and is not liable for any damages, losses or other detriment that may result from the use of these materials. © 2019 by HW Media, LLC • All rights reserved

Tweets From The Streets I’ve become more and more convinced that the woes affecting the global economy aren’t a bunch of discrete problems, but an intertwined set of forces that feed on each other.

35

76

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by @Neil_Irwin

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 5

APRIL ‘19

30

TECH100 From innovative startups to technology giants – this year’s winners continue to push the edge of innovation and move markets forward.

54 WEATHERING THE STORM How some public servants at HUD advocate for underserved communities.

By: Alcynna Lloyd

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66

DISRUPTION

SFR SOLUTIONS

Technology is the key that unlocked single-family rental, proving that a little disruption can go a long way.

Amherst Holdings, Green River Capital and Lima One Capital offer products and services that deliver the best value for SFR investors.

72 COMPANY SPOTLIGHT SWBC provides flexible lenderplaced insurance options with its AutoPilot client portal.

By: Diane Tomb HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 7

NMLS #3038

CONTENTS THE LINEUP

10 PEOPLE MOVERS

12

Blend appointed Timothy Mayopoulos as president.

12

EVENT CALENDAR

CBA Live hosts its 10th annual event in Washtington, D.C. 13

ON THE SHELF

The empowerment of women changes the world.

14 DISPATCH 1

14 Automated valuations models: A modern assembly line.

28 BECOMING A BROKER Mortgage broker shops are the obvious choice for LOs.

74 RENTWIRE An inside look at the GSEs’ record-breaking year in multifamily.

78 LENDINGLIFE Letters to the editor: Mortgage chaos at TIAA? 82 REVERSEREVIEW Home equity is the key to solving the looming retirement crisis.

86 CFPB WATCH Rep. Maxine Waters vows to fully empower CFPB employees.

90 KUDOS

TMS explains customers are worth more than an extra 2 bps.

Cook & James delivers winter gear to Atlanta mission.

16 DISPATCH 2

92 Q&A 1

The Auction.com platform allows direct buyer-seller interaction.

Sutherland uses RPA, data analytics and journey mapping.

VIEWPOINTS 26 MODERN AVMS

BACK DEPARTMENTS

18 DISPATCH 3 FirstClose delivers home equity and vendor management.

20 UNIQUE SOLUTIONS Implementing blockchain is not risky or unconventional.

93 Q&A 2 Pricing engine MiQ was built to improve the customer experience.

94 Q&A 3 Servicers must adjust operations to meet HUD deadlines.

96 KNOWLEDGE CENTER

22 A LIST Ten states with the lowest mortgage rates.

23 TAKE 5

96

Five things you never knew about Pam Patenaude.

Did you sell off yourself along with your loans?

98 KNOWLEDGE CENTER The next mortgage innovation: Software that can think.

24 HOT OR NOT

100 COMPANIES/PEOPLE INDEX

Multifamily investing is on the rise; prepayments slowing down.

102 PARTING SHOT HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 9

Timothy Mayopoulos Blend

10 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

ROMEM

ANZALDUA THOMAS

DINGMAN BRENNAN

F

redd ie M ac promoted Sa ra Mathew to non-executive chair of its board of directors. Mathew was previously Dun & Bradstreet Corporation chair and CEO, where she worked for 12 years and held roles such as president, chief operations officer and chief financial officer. Before moving to Dun & Bradstreet, Mathew worked at The Procter & Gamble Corporation.

First American announced it promoted Odeta Kushi to the position of deputy chief economist. Kushi joined First American in 2015 as an economist, eventually ascending to the position of senior economist in 2017.

C l a s s Va l u a t i o n n a me d Jo h n Dingeman chief appraiser. Previously, Di ngema n worked for L a nd m a rk Network, before it was acquired by Class. He is also president of the National Association of Appraisers and served on the Coalition of Arizona Appraisers.

WFG National Title hired Jessica Figueroa as senior national commercial underwriting counsel for its New Yorkbased commercial division. Previously,

ANDERSON

KUSHI BOLGREN

Blend appointed Timothy Mayopoulos to the position of company president. He previously served as Fannie Mae CEO, and worked at Bank of America as its executive vice president and general counsel.

Figueroa was national commercial underwriter at Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company. She also held underwriting positions at TitleVest Agency and First American Title Insurance Company.

Trulia appointed Issi Romem as its new chief economist. Prior to joining Trulia, Romem worked at OnPoint Analytics as an economist. Romem also served as BuildZoom’s chief economist for more than four years.

Freddie Mac named Ricardo Anzaldua general counsel and corporate secretary.

Prior to joining Freddie Mac, Anzaldua worked at MetLife, and held senior positions in the legal department of the Hartford Financial Services Group and at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton.

Open Mortgage appointed Kathie Thomas to the position of executive vice president of lending operations. Thomas is an industry veteran with 39 years of experience in the mortgage banking industry, most recently serving as regional manager of business strategy at SecurityNational

Mortgage.

RE/MAX Holdings promoted Josh Bolgren to senior vice president of business growth, Roy Schwalm to vice president of finance and strategy and Brett Ritchie to senior vice president and chief accounting officer.

F u nd i ng Sh ie ld we lcome d E r ic Hjelm to the company as its director of business development. Prior to joining FundingShield, Hjelm served as the director of lender relations for First American Title Insurance Company.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency appointed Morris Morgan as senior deputy comptroller and chief operating officer. Prior to working with company, Morgan served as senior deputy comptroller for Large Bank Supervision.

Renters Warehouse promoted David Sommer from executive vice president of operations to chief operating officer.

Prior to working with company, Sommer served Target as vice president of store operations for 17 years.

Covered Insurance Solutions hired Robert Brennan as chief revenue officer and Mickey Freeman as chief operating officer. Brennan has served on Covered’s advisory board since 2018. Brennan joined Covered from mortgage servicer Specialized Loan Servicing, where he served as executive vice president of corporate strategy and business development.

Pavaso appointed Tim Anderson to the position of senior vice president of business development. Prior to joining Pavaso, Anderson worked at DocMagic as its director of eServices. He also held executive management positions with Lender Processing Services and several large financial and technology companies.

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EVENT CALENDAR

CBA LIVE APRIL 1-3, 2019 Host: Consumer Bankers Association Location: Gaylord National Harbor, Washington, D.C. Cost: $1,895 - $3,795 On the agenda: CBA LIVE is one of the most sought-after events for the retail banking industry. Now in its 10th year, the conference boasts the attendance of more than 1,500 senior bankers and industry leaders. This year, the Consumer Bankers Association will bring attendees together to discuss the new trends and ideas shaping the market. consumerbankers.com

WASHINGTON, D.C. CBA LIVE will take place in the heart of our country, Washington, D.C. What better way to learn about our great capitol than taking a tour of some of the most prestigious monuments in the nation? The Washington D.C. Night Tour will allow you to personally learn the stories of our great home. citysightsdc.com

LENDIT FINTECH USA 2019 APRIL 8-9, 2019 Host: Lendit Location: Moscone West, San Francisco, California Cost: $2,495 - $2,995 Lendit.com On the agenda: The premier fintech event of the year will be held in San Francisco, California, where attendees will network with the top decision makers in the finance industry. The 2019 conference will focus on the importance of innovation, offering guests the ability to learn all things digital banking, blockchain and lending related. This year’s keynote speakers include, Ellevest CEO Sallie Krawcheck, Kabbage CEO Rob Frohwein and Green Dot CEO Steven Strait.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA Do you enjoy going to see a good film? What if your movie going experience was paired with a delicious steak and red wine? That’s exactly what you’ll get at Foreign Cinema. Located in San Francisco, this one-of-a-kind vintage movie theatre will not only delight our eyes and ears, but your taste buds as well. foreigncinema.com 12 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

Your brand’s message delivered directly to industry decision makers’ inboxes every day.

ON THE SHELF

HousingWire.com/Newsletter

The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World

BY MELINDA GATES FLATIRON BOOKS

In The Moment of Lift, Melinda Gates details lessons she’s learned from the inspiring people she’s met during her work and travels around the world over the last 20 years. Gates’ narrative is backed by startling data on issues that need attention, from child marriage to lack of sex education to gender inequity in the workplace.

Gates paints a portrait that shows how society can be lifted up when women are not kept down.

The Big Nine: How the Tech Titans and Their Thinking Machines Could Warp Humanity

BY AMY WEBB PUBLICAFFAIRS

Author Amy Webb details how the “big nine” tech corporations such as Facebook, Amazon, Google and others, are the new gods overseeing and driving artificial intelligence. Webb explains how thes companies are shortchanging the futures of everyday Ameicans for financial gain along the way. She details the invisible ways in which the foundations of AI – the people working on the system, their motivations, the technology itself – is broken. But Webb also provides a strategic course to right the ship.

HousingWire.com Moving Markets Forward

TMS | SPONSORED CONTENT

The “new school” in correspondent lending: The best price value equation Customers are worth more than an extra 2 bps

I

f you ask what matters most when selling loans off, the kneejerk answer is “best price.” Sure, sharpen the pencil, squeeze an extra 2 bps, and look like a hero because you opened up your warehouse lines. Here’s the bad news: That’s old school and affects the long-term growth of your company.

Price is important, and you want a competitive price, but that’s table stakes in today’s competitive environment. The new school

14 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

of thinking is a best price equation that includes future customer value: Homes(h) x Competitive Bid($) + (Service(s) x Reputation (r)) = Customers for Life. How the customer is treated post-sale affects your profitability and growth long term. Do you ever wonder why the average mortgage company lasts less than 10 years?

You’re probably thinking, they’re not our customer anymore.

Well, think again.

TMS | SPONSORED CONTENT

A recent TMS Correspondent Lending study found that customers rarely remember who their loan was sold to (even though they make a payment to the new servicer each month!). They attribute their customer service experience to the lender who originated the loan. A bad experience more often than not reflects back to the originator, and is 14 times more long-lasting than a positive experience. Positive experiences tend to be immediate, present tense and are attributed to the new servicer, unless the original lender is kept top of mind.

Think about it. You worked so hard to woo that customer, lock them in and get them to the closing table (courting is expensive.)

With a quick hand shake and a smile, you turn around and sell them off to some investor they’ve never heard of who may not deliver the same level of woo as you. They fell in love with you, they think of you first…and you dumped them for an extra 2 bps.

Yeah, this is a business of buying and selling loans. We get that.

But you invested a lot to win over those customers, and why have to win them over again in the future – which is unlikely to happen because you dumped them to someone who doesn’t really care.

There’s a new school of thinking that can keep the love alive.

That is, if you choose a correspondent investor (or, as we like to call it, CAREspondent investor) who takes care of your customer for you, and keeps them thinking about you. (This is new school!)

Studies show that the customer is going to refi or purchase again in the next three to four years. Why can’t that be with you? This takes best price equation to a whole new level: Customer Lifetime Value. So, you can be a hero not just for moving loans off your books, you’ll be heroic for making sure customers come back!

LET’S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK AT HOW TO THINK OF THE BEST PRICE VALUE EQUATION

h x $ + (s x r) = Customer For Life h = Home: Let’s get one thing straight, you’re not dumping a loan, you’re placing someone’s home with a correspondent investor who is going to take care of that customer for you. That home, or that customer, is going to realize their dream of homeownership.

And when they’re ready to remodel, refi or buy another home, you want to be top of mind for them. $ = Competitive Bid Price: 5-25 bps more per loan is great, but not at the expense of the other factors below. You want to pay a competitive rate so that you are making money, but it's short-sighted to think that quick $20 is better than $2,000 on a future refi, or even more for a future purchase. s = Superior Customer Service: It may not have been love at first sight, but you got them into the home and they love you for that.

“

There’s a new school of thinking that can keep the love alive. That is, if you choose a Correspondent investor (or as we like to call it CAREspondent Investor) who takes care of your customer for you, and keeps them thinking about you."

And it cost you an average of $3,000 to acquire that new customer.

Why let that burn out?

At investors like TMS, servicing technology allows highly trained agents to monitor borrower payment habits in real time and proactively reach out to them to make sure they can handle any life circumstance or crisis. TMS created its award-winning subservicing technology SIME, Servicing Intelligence Made Easy, because the company was a correspondent lender before it became an investor. If a customer’s new servicer doesn’t treat them with the same level of care, it will come back to haunt the lender.

The recent TMS survey discovered that 77% of customers who were sold off to a servicer attribute any bad service post-sale to the originator. On the flip side, approximately 70% of customers would be more loyal if they had good customer service and 65% would recommend the company to others. Partner with a correspondent investor who will take care of your customer so they will come back for more romance on the next loan. r = Reputation: Who says you can’t stay top of mind once you sell the loan? The new school way is to partner up with your investor on this customer and give them extra love. Correspondent investors like TMS offer you co-branded billing statements so your customer will be reminded of the romance for the next 360 months… or at least until they refi or purchase with you again. They know they love you, let’s make sure they remember your name when it’s time to refi or purchase another home.

Stop thinking about the best price equation as the investor with the most competitive bid. That’s the quickest way to let love die.

The new school way involves much more service and care for your customer, fueling their lifetime value. Be the hero for your company and your customers by capturing long-term growth and providing superior customer service.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 15

AUCTION.COM | SPONSORED CONTENT

Transforming the Auction.com platform Direct buyer-seller interaction is a game changer

W

hile innovating the default disposition industry over the last 11 years, we’ve always kept our eye on the next major tipping point: the seamless interaction between buyers and sellers. After more than a decade of hard work and dedication — which has resulted in a state-of-the-art infrastructure; proprietary analytics tools; historical transaction data; and deep, trusting partnerships — we are about to change the landscape again by revolutionizing the way buyers and sellers interact.

Over the last year, we’ve been rolling out a suite of tools called Auction Interact — our vision of the future for our buyers and sellers. Tool by tool, we are building a bridge to true transparency and arming buyers and sellers to conduct essential sales functions in real time.

“The traditional method of disposition holds sellers captive to a series of non-transparent intermediaries who may not be aligned with the seller’s ultimate goal,” said Ali Haralson, Auction.com’s chief business development officer. “We are building a solution 16 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

that gives control back to both our buyers and sellers and removes the friction that prevents real progress in this industry.”

Auction.com has achieved a level of technological advancement that offers transparency in real estate as never allowed before, empowering you with real-time decision-making, direct control, and the ability to manage your inventory to drive results.

And the future is here.

The next great leap forward for Auction.com — and our industry — will be revealed with the launch of the next tool: Bid Interact.

Today, our platform puts buyers and sellers closer together than ever before. But the Bid Interact tool will take it to a much higher level: direct negotiations between buyers and sellers in real time.

No go-between. No delay. Just maximized results for both parties.

This evolution has begun, and Auction.com’s latest tools are leading the transformation in the disposition industry.

THE GAME CHANGER: BID INTERACT Auction.com capped off the Five Star Conference in Dallas in

AUCTION.COM | SPONSORED CONTENT

“

As sellers were participating in the bidding in real time, they could react without delay, which is a true draw for buyers and sellers to interact in a way that is unquestionably revolutionary. So imagine being able to do this from wherever you had Internet access. It’s a game changer.” - Ali Haralson

September with a massive on-site Live Bid Interact event. Sellers from around the country gathered in a control center where they monitored live bidding to make real-time decisions on their assets as the online bidding came to a close. The energy was palpable.

The results were beyond excellent.

But this was only a snapshot of a transparent interaction strategy that’s over 11 years in the making.

That short, four-hour live event confirmed that our buyers and sellers could move $33 million in distressed assets by having direct control and the power of real-time decision making.

“What we saw in the Live Bid Interact event is the future of our industry,” said Haralson. “As sellers were participating in the bidding in real time, they could react without delay, which is a true draw for buyers and sellers to interact in a way that is unquestionably revolutionary. So imagine being able to do this from wherever you had Internet access. It’s a game changer.”

INFORMED DECISION-MAKING: PORTFOLIO INTERACT The Portfolio Interact tool is a business intelligence dashboard for sellers, which delivers unprecedented, asset-level detail; portfolio reporting; and smart analytics for more informed pricing control and decision-making. No need for multiple spreadsheets — it conveniently puts actionable data at your fingertips with numerous filters that narrow the data set to identify trends and uncover opportunities.

Recently, we added enhanced foreclosure data to the Portfolio Interact tool, so now our sellers using this free tool can get easy-access reporting on all of their foreclosure, REO and CWCOT assets.

The Pricing Optimization features let you review priority assets and validate pricing using actionable intelligence. You can edit the REO reserve or CWCOT contribution and quickly pinpoint assets with reserve prices exceeding market value, bids within range of reserve, and a last chance to sell.

LIVE BID CAPTURE: AUCTIONSYNC The AuctionSync platform has transformed live events by taking an offline foreclosure auction and digitizing the experience to deliver a fast, simple way to ingest, analyze and share never-before-captured bidding data.

Capturing this data electronically not only makes the registration process fast and easy for buyers, but it lets the Auction.com analytics team look at bidding behavior and bid increments to help sellers validate pricing assumptions.

We can collect feedback and use market data to better target buyers for marketing efforts — a win-win for both sellers and buyers. Collecting live event data was once elusive. Today, it is integral in the quest to bring buyers and sellers closer together.

DIGITIZED STATUS TRACKING: FORECLOSURE INTERACT The Foreclosure Interact tool is a new feature of the Auction.com app for buyers. It gives buyers real-time auction status updates, regardless of where they are, to help them meet their investing needs. As long as buyers have their phone, they can always be in the know about the status of foreclosure auctions.

Today, the app offers the ability to: • Receive real-time status updates : Buyers are informed when properties are cleared for sale or canceled in real time.

• Track properties from anywhere: Buyers know which properties are in-auction and actively accepting bids.

• Sort properties by venue: Buyers can filter all the properties up for auction at any specific venue.

By digitizing information, buyers can more easily monitor auction properties and receive time-saving updates. Auction.com has gone beyond the courthouse steps so bidders can access essential information on their mobile device.

But this is just the beginning. We are committed to evolving the app to meet the needs of our buyer base.

Efficient and transparent interactions — where buyers and sellers can work with each other to sell properties — will lead to a more robust and valuable exchange of information and negotiation. And this leads to more sold properties at a higher execution rate. And what’s more, the future of the Auction Interact technology not only holds tremendous promise for both buyers and sellers — communities win too, as neighborhood stabilization becomes the building block of revitalization and helps turn more distressed properties into homes.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 17

FIRSTCLOSE | SPONSORED CONTENT

Home equity opportunities and vendor management are critical for lender success The right technology partner is more important than ever provide some of the best opportunities for growth this year.

The FirstClose web app and LOS plugin solution is the market’s first and only home equity and refi tool that compiles everything that is required to close a loan (valuation, title, flood) on one easy-to-navigate platform.

It makes for an invaluable tool in this increasingly competitive lending environment. With instant reporting, a full suite of products and a streamlined process, FirstClose users have seen 40% reductions in turn-times and significant soft and hard cost savings.

With home equity lending ramping up, the FirstClose web app and LOS plugin makes it easy and profitable for lenders to take advantage of the trend without adding more personnel.

M

ortgage lenders are facing some difficult challenges this year. While the rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage moderated in the first quarter after the Federal Reserve elected not to raise rates, lenders are still fighting chronic low housing inventory and compressed margins.

Industry watchers see some hope for a slowdown in home price appreciation this year, which has been climbing at twice the rate of income growth. However, that’s still a silver lining on a situation that presents an affordability gap for many buyers.

In the midst of these significant economic headwinds, lenders are deciding where to use their resources, and top concerns include increasing production and decreasing turn-times. The prime driver for the rest of 2019 has to be efficiency, which makes choosing the right technology partner especially important.

Lenders using FirstClose are seeing efficiencies in two areas that will be critical for success in the next year: home equity fulfillment process and vendor management.

HOME EQUITY OPPORTUNITY Rising interest rates and rising home values give homeowners an incentive to stay in their homes longer. Homeowners now have $14.4 trillion in untapped equity, which they can use for home improvement, investment opportunities, emergencies and retirement. For lenders who are prepared, home equity lending will

18 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

VENDOR MANAGEMENT The importance of vendor management is typically defined in terms of security, with federal and state regulators casting a keen eye on the ways third-party vendors introduce risk into the lending process.

But done right, vendor management also presents an opportunity for lenders to find incredible efficiencies for real savings. The FirstClose solution leverages the company's long experience in the industry and wide network of integrated vendors to provide a consultative approach to vendor management, putting the lender in control.

By consolidating vendors and products on one platform, FirstClose makes it easy to identify and repair the holes where lender profits might be leaking out. FirstClose evaluates where vendors are underperforming and provides options that are a better fit.

This allows lenders to speed up turn times, reduce origination costs, and increase overall productivity. With the flexibility of the FirstClose platform, coupled with the FirstClose Master Service Agreement, lenders can change providers with a click of a button: no new vendor contract negotiations, no vetting, no minimums, no hassles.

“With streamlined products and processes, we help our clients gain more market share,” said Jorge Ponce, director of product management at FirstClose. “But we do more than just provide products — we provide data and analytics to help lenders make informed decisions with real-time vendor insight, which can change the face of their business.”

FirstClose’s vendor management expertise, combined with its best-in-class services, will make the most of lenders’ budgets in this tight environment.

QL® MORTGAGE SERVICES

STRONGER TOGETHER Stephen Collias QLMS Account Executive Angela Kakos Vice President, First Securities Mortgage QLMS Pinnacle Partner Bingham Farms, MI

Call (888) 762-5035 QLMortgageServices.com/StrongerTogether Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in all 50 states. NMLS #3030

UNIQUE SOLUTIONS

SPONSORED CONTENT

Breaking through the blockchain noise Last year was the year of the blockchain proof of concept. This year, we’re kicking it up a notch with real steps toward blockchain implementations.

For many, blockchain is still a grand idea. For the forward-thinking, it is already a reality in production level systems. Implementing blockchain is not risky or unconventional - it’s pragmatic.

While the blockchain noise is echoing around land titles, secondary markets and how blockchain can reshape the industry end-to-end, the quiet movers are COO, Factom the least expected but the most practical adopters.

Origination, servicing, compliance and audit all have the most to immediately gain from a properly architected blockchain solution, like Factom Harmony, given the pain points of long running transactions, increased regulatory and servicing compliance requirements and reviews and frequent audits.

Our Factom Harmony suite enables immediate blockchain capabilities for any of your applications.

How many have spent hours assembling files for audits or compiling reports for compliance? Or worse, paying outside parties to do so over and over? Given the excessive working hours needed for such tasks, every loan can suck away hours of productivity needed elsewhere.

Creating a blockIf blockchain can solve all these chain-based audit problems, then you could almost log is necessary to streamline file and say it is magic. Don’t be fooled, data preparation for however, blockchain is not a quick compliance reviews and audits. fix or a one stop shop solution.

The ability to quickly Blockchain will not do your work and definitively identify the information for you nor will it take away used to make critical compliance officers’ jobs or make decisions throughout the loan cycle is parauditors irrelevant.” amount to improving compliance and audit processes in the future and minimizing your organization’s costs associated with file assembly, and inaccurate or unsatisfactory findings.

The incorporation of blockchain in your existing solutions can save you time, significantly reduce errors, and preserve evidence of your decisions.

LAURIE PYLE

20 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

If blockchain can solve all these problems, then you could almost say it is magic. Don’t be fooled, however, blockchain is not a quick fix or a one-stop-shop solution. Blockchain will not do your work for you nor will it take away compliance officers’ jobs or make auditors irrelevant.

In the long term, if anything keeps blockchain technology from reaching its full adoption and potential, it’s that people are using it as a catch-all or one-stop solution. Blockchain is most practical for ensuring the historical verification of documents and data over time, serving as an authoritative record, not just a data set.

So who should implement this technology?

Any organization or application provider that compiles data or documents subject to compliance reviews and/or audits.

Create early value by implementing Factom Harmony APIs into your system. What makes Factom Harmony a game changer? It reduces the time and resource requirements to prepare for and perform reviews and audits.

Using Harmony, blockchain capabilities can be implemented easily and seamlessly into existing business applications via simple integrations. You don’t need a consortium to use blockchain to achieve your organizations’ objectives.

Consider Factom Harmony as any other existing software you may use, as a value add. When reviews or audits are conducted, your company will now be able to provide evidence of exactly what, why and how business process decisions and conclusions were made.

Committing this information to Factom Harmony can save you time, money and valuable resources that could be more efficiently spent elsewhere.

Find out more about Factom Harmony and the Factom blockchain at factom.com.

What You Need To Know About

IMN’s Single Family Rental Forum!

WHEN & WHERE?

WHO ATTENDS?

1,200+ Attendees

IMN’s 7th Annual Single Family Rental Forum (East) will take place May 29-31 at the NEW location of the Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, FL.

Includes a “who’s who” of SFR Owners/ Operators, ranging from the larger/ institutional groups to Smaller Mom & Pops/Flipper types

WHAT WILL I LEARN? TRACK A TRACK B TRACK C

165

38

Industry experts making up our esteemed speaker faculty

Sessions to pick and choose from

5

3

Small Group Meetings

Tracks of educational content to learn more about investing & get a pulse on the market

HOW WILL I MEET AND MAKE NEW CONTACTS?

8+ Hours of programmed networking opportunities including a networking lunch and cocktail reception

WILL I HAVE A GOOD TIME?

YES!

IMN will do its utmost to ensure all attendees have a good time while making the most of the educational and networking opportunities the conference has to offer…

Ability to network PRE and POST conference with all attendees via IMN’s online networking portal

Luncheon Roundtables Pre-register to interact with your peers as you discuss similar topics of interest in an informal setting

Nothing beats the Hollywood location of the conference at the luxurious Diplomat Hotel.

Situated on the beach and a short drive to the extensive nightlife Miami has to offer!

Both IMN and its sponsors offer networking cocktail receptions during the evening to unwind and enjoy yourself after a busy day

Stressed? IMN has you covered – our exhibit hall chair massages allow you to relieve tension during your conference day!

IMN will offer up a number of prize raffles throughout the 3 days – win money, the latest gadgets, gift cards etc!

A Busy Exhibit Hall with 80+ exhibitors showcasing their products is stationed next to the general session room for ease, so you can mingle with your peers, meet an exhibitor at their booth, grab a coffee, or simply walk around and meet new faces when you have some downtime between sessions and during networking breaks

HOW DO I REGISTER?

EASY!

Visit www.imn.org/SFREast or contact Todd Rosenberg at trosenberg@imn.org

Use Discount Code HW15 For a 15% Discount to Attend!

 THE 

A-LIST 10 STATES WITH THE LOWEST MORTGAGE RATES

#10

#1

4.79%

4.74%

South Dakota

California

#9

4.79% Virginia

#8

4.79% Kentucky

#

A drilldown of mortgage rates by state in February highlights how the cost of a mortgage varies by location. A new study

by LendingTree sought to analyze how rates differ by state, revealing the most and least expensive states to obtain a mortgage loan. The study revealed the average interest rate across all 50 states was 4.84%, with the lowest being 4.74% and the highest being New York at 4.96%.

Here are the 10 states with the lowest mortgage rates:

#2

4.75% New Jersey #3

4.76% Washington

#4

4.76% Massachusetts

#7

#6

#5

4.78%

4.77%

4.77%

Maryland

22 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

Colorado

Utah

Pamela Patenaude recently stepped down as deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She now looks forward to serving on boards of nonprofit affordable housing and community development organizations.

Patenaude is beloved by the housing industry, and has spent her career challenging conventional thinking in Washington to better the industry.

1. Last concert I attended was… Zac Brown Band 2. The book I can’t stop recommending is…

EVICTED by Matthew Desmond 3. After I am finished with my career I hope people remember… me as passionate and committed.

4. My last vacation was… skiing in Colorado with my husband, daughters and new son-in-law.

5. Relaxation means… watching the sunset from our home on Lake Winnipesaukee.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 23

Hot SIZZLE? Not FIZZLE? 1 1 WHY THE

WHY THE

MULTIFAMILY INVESTING



Roofstock announced a new program that will allow investors to buy a share in a single-family rental home and collect a return on that investment, without having to act as a landlord. Investors can purchase shares in fully managed rental homes and reap the benefits of property ownership while mitigating risk and eliminating the need to manage the property themselves.

According to Roofstock, the initial homes that are part of the fractional ownership program are located in the Atlanta and Indianapolis metropolitan areas.



2



3

RECESSION





2



3

ZILLOW Zillow is taking the housing sector into the future. The company’s three- to five-year revenue target is $22 billion, of which $2 billion will be from agent, lender, rental, new construction and other leads and services, and $20 billion will be from buying and selling homes.

To achieve this revenue target, it’ll buy 5,000 homes per month. Today, a seller asks Zillow to make them a purchase offer every five minutes. Zillow also plans for its newly acquired mortgage division to make 3,000 mortgage loans per month. The bottom line: ignore Zillow at your own risk.

MILLENNIAL TAKEOVER It’s long been projected that Millennials will dominate the housing market. Now, new data from realtor.com reveals that it's finally happening. Millennials are buying houses. In January 2017, Millennials surpassed Generation X as the group that was responsible for the most new mortgages. Since then, Millennials' share of the mortgage market has continued to rise.

By the end of 2018, Millennials represented 45% of all new mortgages, compared to 36% for Generation X, and 17% for Baby Boomers. What's new is that Millennials also finally surpassed older generations in the total dollar amount of those mortgages.

24 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

The sky will fall, on that most economists agree.

Where they do differ, is when exactly they expect the U.S. economy to suffer two straight quarters of negative economic activity and what factors may lead up to that. In the latest survey from the National Association for Business Economics, 281 members reported their economic predictions. About 75% of the NABE Policy Survey panelists expect an economic recession by the end of 2021. While only 10% of panelists expect a recession in 2019, 42% say a recession will happen in 2020, and 25% expect one in 2021.

EQUIFAX Equifax is expecting various forms of punishment from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission over the agency’s data breach that exposed the personal information of 148 million U.S. consumers to hackers. The company revealed the expected sanctions in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The CFPB and FTC have both notified the company that they expect to seek “injunctive relief damages” in regards to the data breach. Beyond that, the CFPB plans to seek “civil money penalties,” the company said.

MORTGAGE PREPAYMENTS January’s prepayment rate neared a two-decade low, according to the latest report from Black Knight. The prepayment rate in January fell to its lowest level since November 2000 – an 18-year low. This is down more than 10% from December 2018 and more than 25% from January 2018. Seasonal reductions in home sales outweighed any interest-rate-driven increase in refinance incentive. With January dropping even year over year, lenders may need to brace for a slower home buying season this year, especially if interest rates once again begin to rise.

VIEWPOINTS

By Steve Gaenzler

Automated valuations models: A modern assembly line How AI and machine learning changed AVMs In today’s housing industry, logistical efficiency and attractive price points sit at the top of priority lists for both homebuyers and sellers.

When it comes to a home’s price, all parties involved rely on an accurate home valuation. And credentialed professional valuation expert shoulder most of the burden to meet the demands for accuracy and efficiency. They are traditionally seen as the most credible and objective providers when it comes to property valuation in the home buying process. Home evaluations need to be as precise as possible and a home’s condition history needs to be up to date to generate the most accurate value.

However, in many cases, lenders can sometimes wait weeks, and even months, for valuation reports and the homebuying and selling process cannot be completed until the report is received.

Delays and interruptions in the homebuying and selling process often begin at the valuations stage, where a lack of valuation professionals and an overload of demand for property valuations have, for over a decade, led to long delays in getting a completed home valuation. Nothing is more frustrating once a homebuyer has settled on a dream home than having to wait for a valuation to be completed.

Simply put, it’s a bottleneck in the homebuying production line.

So, how can the mortgage industry combat this slow down and create a better experience, free of disruptions? Often times, we can look to the successes of the past to find inspiration for solutions of the future.

THE PAST AS INSPIRATION FOR THE FUTURE In the early 20th century, Henry Ford found motivation in the continuous-flow production methods of brewers and flour 26 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

mills, and was determined to “build a car for the great multitude.” Kindled by methods lacking production interruptions, by December 1913, Ford had installed the world’s first moving assembly line.

This new moving-chassis technology allowed several mechanics to work on one vehicle simultaneously as it moved down the assembly line, reducing production interruptions and the amount of time a team spent assembling a single vehicle, effectively reducing the time it took to build a Model-T from around 12 hours to just over two hours. The assembly line cut time and cost, and did so while improving the quality of his product.

These days the idea of an automated workflow may not seem revolutionary to most. But when it comes to home valuations, perfecting the modern valuation “assembly-line” could be the game-changer many of us have been looking for.

Automated Valuation Models are tools that use mathematical and statistical modeling techniques applied to large sets of data to establish a point in time estimate of the price of a real piece of property. As the housing industry continues to be transformed across all sectors, AVMs are more commonly being leveraged to assist mortgage professionals in removing human bias from appraisals and providing more timely and objective valuations.

In the residential world, AVMs have been used for underwriting, loan modifications, portfolio and valuation risk monitoring, home equity lines of credit, loss mitigation, marketing and pre-qualifications – at nearly every point in the ongo-

ing review and analysis of collateral risk.

Given their lower cost and ease of fulfillment, in addition to physical appraisals, originators, servicers and investors often leverage AVMs as part of their quality control process.

More and more, companies are investing in the application and use of AVM technology to substantially cut long delays and improve accuracy of data.

These technologies are dramatically changing the way valuations are generated and delivered, providing clearer, more precise details per home, showcasing facts over opinions and ensuring a consistent review regardless of who is analyzing the property. While AVMs don’t require an expert to interact in the value decision, AVM technology is also assisting appraisers and non-appraiser evaluators in unearthing additional risks and saving valuable time for everyone involved.

RICHER DATA AND EXPANDED COVERAGE In essence, AVM technologies have become the moving-chassis assembly line of the valuation process, leading to positive impacts on the overall homebuying process. The key is the combination of expanded processing power, newer and deeper sets of data and an expanded selection of statistical tools such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to empower the tools to grow more knowledgeable, ultimately providing faster and better information to users.

AVMs take advantage of hardware processing power to assist valuation professionals in their analysis, creating a result that considers and reviews hundreds of thousands, even millions, of data elements simultaneously. AVMs organize and evaluate more elements of risk and value

Steve Gaenzler is co-founder and managing principal, of Five Bridges Advisors, a Radian company. Gaenzler has more than 25-years of experience in the mortgage and capital markets. Prior to founding Five Bridges, Gaenzler spent his entire career within the U.S. capital markets divisions of financial institutions and GSEs.

than any appraiser or analyst could ever consider manually. And given the speed of computer processing today, this data can be used to deliver real time information to valuation professionals.

Recent improvements in the breadth and depth of data available for modeling have greatly enhanced the AVM’s value to the industry. As a modeled value, the data available for the model to consume has a direct and meaningful impact on both accuracy and coverage.

Today’s valuations are not just about the count of bedrooms and bathrooms or the square footage, but rather consider multiple environmental factors such as distance to mass transit, elevation and topography of lot, local demographics and outside influences of things like nearby rental or foreclosure properties.

In addition, the coverage of data now allows for automated values in areas and on properties previously not able to be modeled. While public record and tax assessment data is more widely digitized and more easily accessed online, recordation data is still typically released weeks or months after a transaction is completed.

The inclusion of transactional data from multiple listing services has allowed for values to be generated in rural areas or states that don’t disclose property transactions publicly. Moreover, MLS data is often updated daily or sooner. Using technologies like natural language processing to evaluate MLS listing information, including broker comments, AVM developers are finding new ways to capture as much information about a property that is available.

However, not all AVMs are built the same. Many lesser-equipped AVMs can only capture data weekly or monthly, while the best AVM tools are able to analyze the latest data in near real-time. Like the steel, rubber and leather of the Ford factory of the past, the breadth and depth of data available today are the ingredients that fuel that the AVM assembly.

AI AND MACHINE LEARNING: BETTER AND MORE INFORMED VALUES Remember the #10YearChallenge that

made waves on social media earlier this year? News feeds were filled with these photo-mashups — two photos, side-byside comparing the user’s appearance over a 10-year period.

Now apply that same comparison to AVMs. What would a 10-year challenge tell lenders about the value, or risk, of a property through the eyes of an AVM? AVMs weren’t nearly as powerful in the past as they are today. Ten years ago, the valuation process revolved more around traditional logistical statistics generating mathematical estimates. Data on properties and neighborhoods was limited, it was non-standard, difficult to aggregate and transform and lacked timeliness.

Modeling relied almost exclusively on publicly recorded data about sales transactions with a three-to-six month delay.

Digitized photos were almost non-existent.

While earlier conceptions of AVMs could churn data with a mathematical formula, without photos and modern AI, they couldn’t determine the interior or exterior condition of the property, or how the property has changed through construction or remodeling. Lenders would wonder: Is the home run down? Does it need repair? Was the kitchen updated? All of these details were a mystery to models and set limitations on the automated process. This major pitfall is all changing with new technology intelligence.

General AI, technologies like those used in products like Google Photos or various search engines, has already been commercialized to successfully identify differences when comparing images. But rather than comparing photos of cats and dogs, or humans, some AVMs are utilizing these types of technologies to compare past and present photos of a property or images of comparable properties to better understand the relationship of the different qualities in ultimate value estimations. These tools provide lenders the ability to forecast the property’s value, through past-present analysis or comparable property analysis, without even entering the property.

In addition to more data, two of the biggest changes in valuation technology in-

clude the ability to process larger amounts of data and the use of newer mathematical and statistical tools. A decade ago, images of kitchens or renovations, for example, were manually compared by the appraiser, leading to subjective adjustments to valuations. Today, instead of having to do their own research to find image comparisons, evaluators are using AVM tools and data, along with AI technology, to evaluate the property’s condition based on image classification and review, saving a great deal of time in the valuation process.

ACCELERATED IMPROVEMENTS Back in the 20th Century, Ford didn’t stop at the first generation of his assembly line. Rather, he continued to improve it, accelerating the pace of production, further improving his product quality, and recording fewer and fewer mechanical delays. By 1924, just 11 years after the conveyor belts on Ford’s assembly line began to roll, the 10-millionth Model T came off the Highland Park, Ill., assembly line.

Similar to Ford’s assembly line for autos, AVM technologies will continue to find new ways to incorporate additional features that will improve their accuracy, reduce their delivery time, expand their use cases and lower the cost of residential transactions. As AVMs continue to improve upon their use of cloud-based architecture, expand their use of ML and AI and as hardware becomes more powerful, lenders can expect the pace of the valuations fulfillment to accelerate. Rather than waiting weeks for a single property valuation, AVMs are now assisting appraisers and non-appraisers in mere seconds.

In addition, like all technology, the rate of improvement in AVMs will continue to accelerate as well. And unlike non-automated valuation products, the ability of AVMs to be tested independently for accuracy makes them well suited to weather the changing landscape of home valuation in the coming years.

Whether as a tool to assist the appraiser or a stand-alone valuation product, the homebuying process should be proud of the modern AVM. HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 27

VIEWPOINTS

By Mat Ishbia

Game over: Independent mortgage broker shops are obvious choice for LOs And it has never been easier to become a broker

A movement is happening in the mortgage origination business. Over a thousand loan officers have left the retail lending space to become independent mortgage brokers.

And thousands more will soon follow.

There are many reasons for this, but some of the overarching facts are that going through a broker is the best way for a borrower to get a mortgage and independent brokers are the best place for a loan originator to work.

Independent mortgage brokers aren’t just succeeding, they’re thriving. I believe

28 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

all LOs want to take great care of their clients. They can do that by offering great service and rates to all their borrowers while wowing their real estate and referral partners. They can do all of that by being independent – by being an independent mortgage broker instead of a captive retail LO. Independence is the key that makes this easier to accomplish.

For loan originators who are working for retail lenders, the time has never been better to join the wholesale channel – whether it’s following the other LOs who are leaving in droves to join broker shops or to independently start their own company.

BETTER RATES, BETTER OPTIONS Independent mortgage brokers have access to lower rates than retail loan officers because they can shop around on behalf of their borrowers. They have lower fees because the cost-structure of wholesale is cheaper. Mortgage brokers can pass those

Mat Ishbia is President and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage. An advocate for mortgage brokers, Ishbia has changed the lending platform, turning UWM into a $41 billion company and the No. 1 wholesale lender in the country.

savings on to consumers and still make the same amount of money, and potentially more. That’s why so many LOs are leaving retail to join the wholesale channel.

Then there’s the issue of options.

Whether you’re shopping for a house, an airline ticket or groceries, it’s always better to have options. Imagine what life would be like if you were limited to only one choice for everything. It’s the same thing when it comes to mortgages.

Loan originators on the retail side are captive to one set of programs, one set of rates and one set of turn times. They’re limited to the products, pricing and programs that they have in-house. On the other hand, brokers have access to numerous lenders, which ensures they have far more options when it comes to products, pricing, guidelines, and turn times, which in turn means better solutions for clients.

A CUSTOMER INSTEAD OF AN EMPLOYEE Being an independent mortgage broker means you have ultimate independence.

You get treated like a customer instead of an employee because wholesale lenders want to earn your business every day. The benefit is you can hold your lender accountable to great pricing, great turn times and great service. If not, you can choose to not use them on the next loan. In retail, you don’t have that ability. Retail loan originators are company first. Independent mortgage brokers are customers first.

If a mortgage broker disagrees with an underwriter on an income calculation or thinks an overlay is unfair, they have other lenders they can work with and still take care of the client. In retail, you have to fight, scratch and claw – and it still might be a dead deal. The accountability factor in wholesale is a big win for independent mortgage brokers.

THE BEST FIT FOR CONSUMERS In 2019, consumers are savvier – when they shop for a mortgage, they want someone who can explain the process, someone who offers a personalized human touch and someone who can get them the best

deal for their individual situation. Many LOs are local and do a fantastic job with this. But only mortgage brokers check all those boxes. They are personal mortgage shoppers, licensed experts and true advisors that can help guide borrowers through the biggest financial transaction of their lives.

Some people think if you go through a middleman, you’re going to get charged more. It’s actually the opposite in mortgages. If a borrower goes to a broker, they’re going to get a better deal than they would if they went directly to the lender. There’s a huge opportunity here for brokers to educate consumers and prove to them that they offer the best deal.

Independent mortgage brokers can provide the options, service and efficient process that consumers want when getting a mortgage. And at the end of the day, what is best for each consumer always wins out.

FLEXIBILITY THROUGH TECHNOLOGY Mortgage brokers have access to the technology of multiple lenders. Retail loan originators are restricted by technology because they’re told what they have to use.

Wholesale lenders are more nimble and so are the brokers who partner with them.

In an industry where change is inevitable, the flexibility to adapt is a huge advantage. Brokers have the upper hand when they work with wholesale lenders who have great technology because they reap all the benefits of an efficient process without having to build the tools themselves.

It’s important for loan originators to be able to adapt while continuing to deliver elite service to clients, especially as the industry shifts more toward an all-digital mortgage. The best way to accomplish that is through a fast and smooth process.

Independent mortgage brokers deliver the fastest, smoothest process.

CONFIDENCE TO MAKE THE SWITCH There’s uncertainty that comes with change – whether you’re joining a business or starting your own. Change is scary.

But for loan originators who become inde-

pendent mortgage brokers, there is a lot of support out there for those looking to switch, and there is power in knowing that so many others are joining the broker channel because it’s better.

Becoming an independent mortgage broker means having the opportunity to work for yourself and control your own destiny. You don’t have to worry about having unrealistic demands placed on you. This type of independence is something that doesn’t exist for loan originators in the retail world.

It hasn’t been this easy to join the broker channel in a long time and you’re truly not doing it alone. There are wholesale lenders, industry organizations and websites out there to support loan originators while making the switch and then make sure they succeed once they’re up and running. This is already happening. There’s a whole community of independent mortgage brokers who have made the move, rally around each other and want to help others join them.

That being said, not everyone has to start their own broker shop – there is also plenty of opportunity to join an existing shop, be a part of a team and figure out where you can provide the best service to clients, including real estate agent partners. People on the fence have to figure out what’s best for them. But for the hundreds of people who made the transition from retail to wholesale last year, it’s been a home run.

Broker market share is back up to 17%, the highest it’s been since 2010. I believe it will double in the next couple of years.

More and more consumers are educated that they can get a great deal through an independent mortgage broker who can shop around on their behalf and deliver them a smooth and easy experience.

At the same time, more LOs are realizing that they can offer their consumers better deals and they can serve their real estate agent partners better if they work at an independent broker shop. The combination of those things is making the broker channel really grow, and grow fast. The movement is just getting started.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 29

30 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

100 companies pushing the limits of possible HOUSINGWIRE’S TECH100 NOMINATIONS

continue to grow more competitive each year, and this year was no exception. From innovative startups to technology giants – this year’s winners continue to push the edge of innovation to move markets forward. An appraisal in hours, not days?

Professional photos at your fingertips? The future is here, and it’s because these companies continue to push the limits of possible. Here are the companies with the most impactful technology in the housing industry, the 2019 HousingWire Tech100 winners.

LEGEND Lending Reverse/HECM

Servicing

B

Investments

Multifamily

Real Estate

P Proprietary

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 31

Table of Contents Arch MI ARMCO Aces Risk Asuricy Technologies ATTOM Data Solutions Auction.com Baseline Reverse BeSmartee Black Knight Blend BuildFax Built Technologies Calyx Software Clear Capital Bungalo Homes Capsilon CertifID Clarifire Class Valuation Closing Corp CloudVirga Cogent QC Systems Cognizant Technology Compass Analytics ComplianceEase Contactually CoreLogic Covered OJO Labs Covius Lending, Servicing, Real Estate DocMagic Docutech

P U S H I N G T H E E D G E O F I N N O VAT I O N F E AT U R I N G T H E M O S T I N N O VAT I V E A N D I M P A C T F U L TECHNOLOGY IN THE HOUSING INDUSTRY

33

dv01 Ellie Mae eOriginal Ephesoft EXOS Technologies

34

Factom FICS Finicity First American FirstClose

35

Firserv Floify FormFree FundingShield Global DMS

36

Hippo Insurance Homebot Homesnap HouseCanary IDS

37 38

Land Gorilla LBA Ware LenderClose LenderPrice LendingHome LendingPad LendingQB LendWize LoanCare LoanLogics

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through the fusion of machine and human intelligence.

Matic autoThrough its AI conversational agent, OJO, the company mates lead conversations for agents and creates MAXEX data-driven, personalized experiences for home buyers. Since officially Maxwell launching in 2018, OJO has helped thousands of real estate agents connect with countless leads, resultingMonitorBase in positive, Moody’sthe Analytics warm referrals and successful transactions. By inverting current real estate model, OJO Labs is placing full-control back into the hands of the buyer and revolutionizing the way people search for and purchase a home. www.ojolabs.com

32 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

39

Mortech Mortgage Cadence MortgageHippo Move Mr. Cooper

40

Nexsys Technologies Notarize NotaryCam OJO Labs Optimal Blue

46 47

PeerStreet Plaid ProxyPics Qualia Radian

48

42

Remine ReverseVision RiskSpan RoofStock Roostify

49

43

SimpleNexus Simplifile Snapdocs SoftWorks AI Spruce

50

44

StreamLoan Tavant Technologies The Money Source Total Expert UWM

45

Valligent Technologies Veros Rease Estate Solutions WEST Whiteboard Mortgage CRM Wipro Gallagher

41

51 52

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Arch Mortgage Insurance WWW.ARCHMI.COM

ARMCO, Aces Risk Management WWW.ARMCO.US

With Arch MI’s RateStar Buydown tool, mortgage originators can customize each borrower’s mortgage insurance premium to an exact dollar amount.

Buydown ensures all available lender and seller credits are used, so no funds are left on the table. It also enables more loans to meet debt-to-income requirements with a lower MI premium payment. Arch MI also integrated its product with Amazon’s Alexa. This technology is enabling mortgage professionals to use the hands-free voice features of Amazon Alexa-enabled devices to retrieve Arch MI quotes, speak with the customer service team or contact an account manager. The tool puts loan officers in control by enabling them to create different combinations of upfront and monthly MI premium payments to meet each borrower’s budget and preferences.

WWW.ASURITY.COM

ARMCO’s flagship technology, ACES Audit Technology, is used to assure quality across the entire mortgage cycle. Companies that use ACES reported reduced review times, and documented efficiency gains of up to double previous production output with the same number of staff members. In 2018, the company rolled out several new solutions to address issues in loan files. One of its updates, Automated Document Manager, uses advanced robotic process automation technology to automatically identify, name and classify any and all documents within a loan file.

ARMCO’s DataSure product, which was launched in October 2018, replaced the error prone, time consuming task of manually validating loan data through the stare-and-compare method with an automated process.

ATTOM Data Solutions B WWW.ATTOMDATA.COM

ATTOM Data Solutions developed data-as-a-service, a private instance of a SQL server database on the Azure cloud and is provisioned for individual customer use. In the DaaS solution, the customer does not have to download and load data files, rather, the customer simply accesses the database directly in the cloud. DaaS also relieves the customer of the burden of managing the infrastructure required to host the data including security, disaster recovery and scalability. ATTOM DaaS manages the data and the platform on which members of the housing industry can build thier real estate solutions, allowing the customer to focus on their business.

Asurity Technologies

Asurity Technologies provides mortgage lenders mortgage and regulatory solutions, compliance management and analysis. Its offering, RiskExec, is a browser-based SaaS compliance analysis and reporting solution that automates HMDA, CRA, redlining and fair lending processes. AsurityDocs is a loan document software that generates guaranteed compliant loan packages for all residential mortgage program types that are guaranteed compliant with state and federal regulations. AsurityServices sets a new mortgage industry standard for economically efficient and compliant software and transaction support services. It provides outsourced closing functions including CD preparation, wire orders, funding and shipping, legal support and multi-state legal compliance.

Auction.com P WWW.AUCTION.COM

Auction.com currently is focused on the seamless interaction between buyers and sellers. As a result, the company created Auction Interact to revolutionize the way buyers and sellers interact with each other in the disposition sales process. This growing suite of tools has helped build true transparency between buyers and sellers. In fact, from June 2018 through November 2018, Auction Interact experienced a 590% increase in client usage. But it’s not finished - the company plans to continue rolling out the solution throughout 2019, helping even more sellers and buyers maximize their disposition sales.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 33

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Baseline Reverse WWW.BASELINEREVERSE.COM

Baseline’s web based solutions are helping to power the reverse mortgage industry. The company launched in 2016, and the industry warmly received the company. Baseline Reverse’s solutions are used by seven of the top 10 reverse lenders, hedge funds and Wall Street broker-dealers.

The company’s software gives users the ability to price loans quickly, accurately model HECM mortgage servicing rights values at loan level, hedge interest rate risk embedded in their pipeline, evaluate historical loan performance and back-test hunches to design the perfect performance assumption for use in pricing decisions.

Baseline is completely changing how reverse mortgage loans are priced.

Lenders maintain a centralized assumption set, which Baseline leverages to automatically generate daily rate sheets each morning.

BeSmartee WWW.BESMARTEE.COM

BeSmartee develops web-based lending platforms for lending institutions.

The company utilizes its extensive list of vendor integrations, big data sources, AI technology and process automation to help its clients streamline origination processes for their customers and loan officers, from initial contact into underwriting in minutes using any device. The company offers four different products to the mortgage lending industry: a retail/direct-to-consumer mortgage platform, a wholesale third party originator platform, a HELOC/HELOAN lending platform and a solar lending platform.

The company’s products are available off the shelf with configurations, or as an enterprise solution catering to customization needs and include a customer portal, a lender portal and a partner portal, while utilizing more than 165 core vendor integrations.

Blend OJO Labs Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.BLEND.COM

OJO Blend Labs’ is using mission technology is to empower to streamline people tothe make mortgage better deciprocess sions to create through a pleasant the fusion experience of machine for lenders and human andintelligence. borrowers. The Through companyits expanded AI conversational its industry agent, reachOJO, in 2018 the company with first-of-theirautomates kind partnerships lead conversations with home for agents builderand Lennar, creates to help data-driven, bring much personalized needed technology experiences to new home for home financing, buyers. and Since Fannie officially Mae. Key launching additions tointhe 2018, company’s OJO has digital helped lending thousands platform of real include estate Blend agents Intelligence, connect a predictive with countless engineleads, that leverages resultingartificial in positive, intelliwarm gence referrals and machine and successful learning totransactions. further streamline By inverting the mortgage the current application real estate process, model, and OJO Blend Labs Vision. is placing Blend full-control Vision is aback form of into computer the hands visioning of the that buyer plays and revolutionizing a vital role in combating the way people the large search amounts forofand paper purchase used toa complete home. a mortgage application, and www.ojolabs.com brings more actions to the digital space.

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Black Knight WWW.BLACKKNIGHTINC.COM

In 2018, Black Knight introduced its new technology, Servicing Digital.

The company says this platform is a fresh, innovative way to help servicers better connect with and retain their customers. A fully responsive mobile application and optimized webpage, Servicing Digital provides borrowers deep insights into their mortgage loan, home and neighborhood.

Servicing Digital bridges a critical gap in the servicing life cycle, allowing mortgage servicers to more fully interact with and retain their customers. Black Knight collaborated with several clients to gain input on what they believed should be available within this mobile solution. It also conducted consumer testing with a variety of user types and held several focus groups to gauge how effectively consumers could use the new servicing app.

BuildFax WWW.BUILDFAX.COM

BuildFax’s platform continues to expand as it grew at a double digit rates over the last five years. And the company is making its mark. Already, it is a partner for six of the largest insurance companies as well as some of the most prominent hedge funds in the U.S. – all of which it accomplishes while maintaining a 96% customer retention rate. In 2018, BuildFax staff grew at an adjusted rate of 30%. BuildFax is trusted by some of the largest financial institutions in the world to deliver business-critical property condition and history data. With a database encompassing more than 23 billion data points on commercial and residential structures, BuildFax delivers data on remodeling, solar installations, new construction and roof age.

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Built Technologies WWW.GETBUILT.COM

Built Technologies empowers mortgage lenders with the solutions needed to promote efficiency, transparency and a digital user experience within construction lending. Built’s platform revolutionizes the contruction lending space, and with new updates to its technology. It gives lenders a real-time picture of their entire portfolio while automating workflows around critical tasks to speed the flow of capital, freeing administrative teams to focus on growth.

Built’s technology streamlines the construction lending process so decisions that previously would have previoulsy taken days or even weeks can now take just minutes. This means faster processing for lenders so that draws are processed faster and projects are completed sooner.

Calyx Software WWW.CALYXSOFTWARE.COM

Calyx has been a recognized leader in the loan origination systems space for more than two decades. The company’s technology solves real-world problems. Calyx provides mortgage software solutions for banks, credit unions, mortgage bankers and brokers. One of these solutions, Zip, streamlines the mortgage origination process, allowing borrowers to conveniently begin the loan application process online. The dynamic Zip interview prompts borrowers with questions that apply to their unique situation and loan inquiry—improving not only the borrower experience, but also the quality of leads that originators receive. Since its launch in 2018, the point-of-sale system has been adopted by thousands of mortgage professionals across 45 states and boasts a 76% completion rate for borrower loan interviews.

Bungalo Homes WWW.BUNGALOHOMES.COM

Bungalo launched in September 2018, introducing quality homes with the transparent and seamless buying experience that today’s consumers crave. Bungalo purchases and meticulously renovates every home listed on the platform, which means buyers can rest assured that they are moving into a certified home that passes a more than 160-point inspection and includes a 30-day quality of craftsmanship guarantee.

The company’s proprietary technology suite empowers buyers and their agents to search exclusive listings, tour anytime with instant smartphone access, finance, make an offer and close completely online, guided by a team of experts.

Clear Capital WWW.CLEARCAPITAL.COM

Clear Capital’s ClearProp is a cloudbased research and due diligence tool that enables users to gain a sense of a place in seconds. Loan originators performing pre-funding due diligence can become geo-competent in seconds, instantly gain property, neighborhood, and market insights, and know if an additional valuation is needed. With one address, ClearProp delivers near-real-time property, neighborhood and market insights from MLS, public records and Clear Capital data in an interactive dashboard. It has more than 2.6 billion property records and processes more than 750,000 valuation transactions per month and its ClearProp platform is built on one of the largest, ethically-sourced MLS information databases. It enables users to easily integrate ClearProp into their workflow and take instant action on the data.

Capsilon WWW.CAPSILON.COM

Capsilon creates efficiency and reduces costs for companies by automating tasks and ensuring clean data for better, faster decisions. Calpsilon’s solution is the Capsilon IQ engine, which streamlines file and data intake. The automation software transformed the way companies do business, resulting in an end-to-end mortgage experience that saves lenders money and reduces risk. In fact, more than 160 mortgage lenders use Capsilon’s enterprise SaaS solutions, including three of the 10 largest U.S. residential mortgage companies. Notably, Capsilon touches 15% of all U.S. mortgages and, in 2017, $400 billion in mortgage loans went through its platform.

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CertifID WWW.CERTIFID.COM

There has been a rise in hackers targeting real estate transactions, using phishing schemes to gain access to wiring details and stealing those funds. CertifID provides real-time identity verification that allows people to safely send and confirm wiring instructions before funds are transferred. The company accomplishes this through an overlapping four-part process. The company uses digital verification based on billions of digital records and metadata associated at the device level. The company created a series of customized questions that only the authorized individual could answer. It also uses two-factor authentication that ensures the user is a valid one, and confirms and displays the institution routing information and allows the account holder to confirm their own bank credentials before funds are transferred.

WWW.CLASSVALUATION.COM

WWW.ECLARIFIRE.COM

The CLARIFIRE application empowers companies to take control of their business. The application uses intelligent business rules to automatically distribute work, critical information and documents to users for action.

One of the differentiating features is the robust underwriting engine that has all investor, GSE and government workouts, including disasters, coupled with workflow that standardizes and adds transparencies. The technology can also easily share data with existing technologies. These capabilities and others, inlcluding its AI platform, have driven Clarifire’s customers to reap the benefits of an average of a 25% lift in productivity, 50% to 75% decrease in cycle times, 80% elimination of manual tasks and a consistent approach to standardizing and automating as the efficiency curve of using CLARIFIRE increases.

ClosingCorp OJO Labs Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.CLOSING.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through flagship the fusion of machine and human intelligence.

ClosingCorp’s product, SmartFees, enables lenders to Through its AIfee conversational OJO, the company autopull rate and data from the agent, ClosingCorp Network to fulfill mates leadobligation conversations for agents andquotes createsand data-driven, their legal to deliver accurate estimates personalized experiences home buyers.

Since officially to their borrowers.

Manualfor data entry requirements, multilaunching in 2018, has helped thousands estate ple user inputs andOJO limited automation lead toofareal complex, agents connect with leads,process. resulting in positive, time-consuming and countless work-intensive SmartFees inwarm referrals and successfultransfers transactions.

By inverting the tegrates loan file information, tax, records data and current model,business OJO Labsrules is placing full-control back servicesreal feesestate and lender and requirements into into the hands of the buyer and revolutionizing the way people a single process.

SmartFees also comes with a complete audit search forthe andoriginal purchase a home. trail from quote given to a borrower to subsequent www.ojolabs.com documents that are revised due to changes in circumstance.

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Class Valuation

Clarifire

Recognized for solutions that help drive the valuation experience for lenders, Class Valuation is building a robust technology ecosystem that will drive innovation within the collateral risk space. Its technology is changing the way it collects, views and analyzes information, supporting the movement toward digitizing the industry.

From order intake and capturing payment, to creating proprietary technology, all aspects of Class Valuations’ operations workflow have been optimized. Its customized systems aid in the quality control process, allowing the company to achieve some of the fastest turn times in the industry. As Class Valuation will expand its proprietary technology, the company will continue to build intelligent systems and engines to drive compliance, performance and ultimately greater lender transparency and satisfaction.

Cloudvirga WWW.CLOUDVIRGA.COM

Cloudvirga is a digital mortgage platform that empowers loan officers to more efficiently structure deals as well as collaborate with customers. Enterprise POS, which is backed by the company’s proprietary intelligent mortgage engine technology, goes beyond delivering functional and intuitive loan applications – it also attacks the serious cost problems associated with producing a loan. By completing complicated back-office tasks up-front such as validating data, calculating fees, ordering services and certifying product guidelines – Cloudvirga helps underwriters receive accurate information the first time.

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Cogent QC Systems

Cognizant Technology Solutions B

WWW.COGENTQC.COM

Compass Analytics WWW.COMPASS-ANALYTICS.COM

WWW.COGNIZANT.COM

With the 2018 release of its cloud product, Cogent expands available options to include a software-as-aservice solution as well as on-premise deployment. Now, lenders and servicers can standardize on a single platform to automate almost any kind of loan-level audit – including all types of mortgage and consumer loan audits. The Cogent platform automates the entire quality control workflow for most standard loan audits, including pre-funding, post-closing and EPD. Standard audits can be extensively configured to suit different workflows. But crucially, Cogent users can also add new features and custom functionality upon request, enabling them to automate non-standard workflows. Some of these workflows include repurchase management, mortgage insurance correspondence, and rules-based decisioning.

Cognizant is using technology, including artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, blockchain and customer experience management, to help mortgage companies improve the customer experience and build long-lasting relationships. The company offers several technology solutions in this endeavor. Included among those is a robotic process automation solution that is specifically designed for the mortgage industry operations processes and seeks to improve the profitability and efficiency of mortgage banks. Additionally, Cognizant also offers conversational AI solutions that enhance the borrower experience; customer acquisition and retention through targeted marketing and content management; and automation solutions to improve servicing operations efficiency and profitability for mortgage servicers.

ComplianceEase WWW.COMPLIANCEEASE.COM

ComplianceAnalyzer with TRID Monitor is ComplianceEase’s flagship compliance management product. It provides comprehensive audit coverage based on license types, exemptions and preemptions covering all levels of federal, state and municipal consumer lending laws and regulations. In 2018, the company became the first, and only, compliance system to include home equity audit functionality. ComplianceAnalyzer now allows non-banks, banks and credit unions to audit home equity lines of credit for state licensing requirements in most states. Currently, the system covers more than 80 licensing types in the 42 states that account for more than 90% of home equity originations in the U.S.

Compass Analytics is a financial technology innovator focused on providing technically advanced pricing and valuation solutions to support consumers, loan officers and capital markets professionals. The company aims to revolutionize the way home loans are priced, originated and sold through the use of real-time technology. Compass’ platform, CompassPoint, is used by hundreds of industry professionals to hedge and value more than $350 billion in mortgage originations annually. In fact, more than 90% of the conventional and government MSR assets in the market today are valued using CompassPoint. The company has seen significant growth in 2018, with its latest product offering, CompassPPE, experiencing 1300% growth in product, pricing and eligibility searches in 2018.

Contactually WWW.CONTACTUALLY.COM

Contactually is a customer relationship management platform for real estate that helps real estate professionals manage, organize and prioritize their networks. The company helps agents know which connections to contact next and determines which relationships are weakening. This year, Contactually has done extensive work on its Chrome extension, giving users the ability to use Contactually inside their Gmail and have access to contact information, email tracking, and other features. This timesaving tool has already been adopted by nearly 1 in 3 eligible users, increasing their productivity.

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CoreLogic WWW.CORELOGIC.COM

CoreLogic is a global property information, analytics and data-enabled solutions provider, which leverages more than 4.5 billion records spanning more than 50 years. This robust collection of data allows the company to proactively identify holes in the mortgage origination process and develop solutions to help fill the gaps.

The company launched an automated income calculation and analysis tool, which streamlines the mortgage origination process by digitizing and automating mortgage underwriting.

FactCheck, which was introduced to the market in 2018, delivers consistent results in a fraction of the time, therefore decreasing lender costs and improving customer experience.

It streamlines the origination process by digitizing and automating one of the last subjective, manual processes in mortgage underwriting.

Covered WWW.ITSCOVERED.COM

Through innovative APIs and pointof-sale technology, Covered Insurance Solutions helps lenders bring their customers tailored insurance policy options in a matter of minutes. The company does this by combining the latest technology with a human touch, creating a digital yet personal experience. Businesses that use Covered’s technology close transactions faster, eliminate paperwork, improve efficiency, increase revenue and provide more value to their customers during each transaction. Covered helps borrowers compare nearly 20 options from the most reputable carriers, ensuring they have the best coverage. In 2018, Covered provided homeowners insurance estimates to over 100 million U.S. residential properties. This equates to 80% of all households in the country, representing $22.4 trillion in property value.

DocMagic OJO Labs Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.DOCMAGIC.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through the of fusion of machine and human intelligence.

DocMagic’s suite technology solutions connect entities in the Through its AI conversational OJO,data the company autodigital mortgage ecosystem toagent, exchange in real time.

From mates leadto conversations for agents and creates data-driven, borrowers originators, lenders, settlement providers, investors personalized for homepaperless buyers. Since officially and servicers –experiences DocMagic facilitates mortgage transaclaunching in 2018, OJO hasincludes helped eSign thousands of real technoloestate tions. DocMagic’s platform and eNotary agents connect with countless aleads, resulting in1positive, gy for all 50 states.

It generates MISMO Category SMARTDoc warm referrals successful transactions. inverting the eNotes, directs and connectivity with the MERS By eRegistry, provides current estate model, OJO Labs is placing full-control back short orreal long-term storage within DocMagic’s secure, certified into theand hands of the buyer and revolutionizing the wayaudit people eVault gives investor eDelivery with a detailed trail. search for and purchase a home.

DocMagic offers an entire solution to automate the lending prowww.ojolabs.com cess for lenders that want to quickly jump into the eClosing game.

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Covius WWW.COVIUS.COM

The new management team at Covius, formerly LenderLive, has pivoted away from lending and fulfillment and focused on investing in technology and tech-enabled solutions that meet the changing needs of the financial services industry. The 2018 acquisition of Require Holdings provides a good example of the company’s new direction. Require is a tech-forward group of companies that develops solutions in lien and title search, valuation and loan review spaces. Its Covius Technologies unit is a leader in low-code programming that is being used by leading government-sponsored enterprises, like Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. An example of some of Covius’ innovative solutions includes an end-to-end default management solution for a top five servicer that is reducing defects by more than 40%.

Docutech WWW.DOCUTECH.COM

Docutech’s Solex eClosing is an end-to-end eClosing solution for agents, lenders and borrowers that enables each mortgage transaction to be as digital as possible. Integrated with Docutech’s dynamic document engine ConformX, lenders can automatically generate digital, data-driven documents that adhere to rulesbased intelligence and calculations to meet specific loan criteria.

Once dynamic documents are successfully generated, Solex provides a streamlined process flow for electronic delivery, eSignature and the complete eClosing process. In 2018, Docutech’s Solex eVault and eClosing solutions gained approval from Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae for its eClosing, eVault and eNote capabilities.

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Ellie Mae

dv01

eOriginal

B WWW.DV01.CO

dv01’s all in one solution is changing the way mortgage market participants access and use loan data. Instead of multiple mediocre services offered by numerous providers, dv01 can offer one solution for the entire value chain. A user can track the evolution of the pool and run cashflow analytics with full waterfall and collateral model support. Uniquely, dv01 has also created the role of loan data agent to securitize deals. The reporting and analytics portal provides investors with the most recent available loan level data throughout the length of the deal, accessible through dv01’s web app. All parties involved including investors, originators, investment banks or lawyers can access the data. dv01 technology provides greater access to information – any institution can enter the market and invest without paying millions of dollars.

WWW.ELLIEMAE.COM

WWW.EORIGINAL.COM

Ellie Mae’s Encompass Digital Lending Platform enables lenders to deliver a true digital experience across the entire workflow for every channel supported so lenders can maximize the profit of every loan transaction and at the same time deliver a more efficient, more seamless experience for homebuyers. The company has grown to process about 40% of loans processed through its system. It also also has the largest partner network in the industry with thousands of credit providers and title companies, service providers and investors integrated into the Encompass Digital Lending Platform.

Ellie Mae’s technology is designed to help lenders and investors across their entire workflow from the initial point of thought from prospective customers all the way to point of loan delivery when the transaction is executed all from a single system of record.

Ephesoft WWW.EPHESOFT.COM

Manual classification of some loans is time-consuming and labor intensive. Ephesoft identifies, classifies and organizes loans faster and more accurately than any human. Customers report the ability to process at more than 20 times the speed of manual classification. No barcode separator sheets are needed for document identification, unlike other systems.

The key to manufacturing a zero-defect loan is often locked away in the data in the documents. Ephesoft’s mortgage data extraction can identify, extract and validate hundreds of key fields within a package in a fraction of the time and cost of manual data entry.

eOriginal delivers a fully digital mortgage solution that supports all eClosing strategies, meets regulatory requirements and is accepted by top lenders, GSEs and other mortgage stakeholders. It is pivotal to the adoption of digital mortgage for clients such as Fannie Mae, Quicken Loans and Wells Fargo, and partners like MERS. It provides solutions to the mortgage industry for the creation, execution and management of digital mortgages—supporting a broad range of digital closing strategies, including eNote-only closings and lender document closings. Its eClosings include the actual settlement and closing process and include the documents necessary to execute the mortgage, as well as supporting documentation. More than 75% of all electronic promissory notes are generated and managed on the eOriginal platform.

EXOS Technologies WWW.MEETEXOS.COM

EXOS Technologies, a digital platform that eliminates inefficiencies in the mortgage process, offers new enhancements like integration with wearable devices and a voice-enabled digital assistant. EXOS utilizes Google Home or Alexa devices to create an interactive and hands-free communication for the servicing of a loan. Through an audible command, users can make a mortgage payment, ask for details about their loan or get answers to frequently asked questions. This results in a reduction in the number of calls to servicers. Voice features allow appraisers to change their schedule, get directions, block off their calendar or check in or out of an appointment.

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Factom WWW.FACTOM.COM

Financial Industr y Computer Systems B

Finicity WWW.FINICITY.COM

WWW.FICS.COM

Factom is helping to bring blockchain to the real estate industry through its technology offering. The Factom Blockchain is a decentralized publication protocol for building record systems that are immutable and independently verifiable. The company offers a blockchain-as-a-service platform, which it calls Factom Harmony.

The platform integrates directly with existing software to provide a blockchain backend to these systems, ultimately saving the lender, servicer, loan originator or others time auditing, proving decisions with indisputable evidence and saving money in costly litigation. In November, the company rolled out Harmony Connect, which the company claims is the fastest way to add blockchain capabilities to an app without managing cryptocurrencies, wallets or network nodes.

Financial Industry Computer Systems offers in-house mortgage loan origination and residential and commercial mortgage servicing software for lenders, banks and credit unions. The company offers three main mortgage software systems-Loan Producer, Mortgage Servicer and Commercial Servicer. These offerings automate residential loan origination and residential and commercial servicing operations, respectively. The company also offers LPOnline, a borrower-facing web application, allows borrowers to apply for a mortgage, receive disclosures and view loan status updates online, and Xcluso, an online portal for loan originators, which allows loan officers to input information into a Uniform Residential Loan Application, pull credit, convert prospects into borrowers and order initial disclosures.

First American Mortgage Solutions OJO Labs Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.FIRSTAM.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through theMortgage fusion of machine human intelligence.

First American Solutionsand continues to invest in Through its AI conversational OJO, the companyof autotechnology, data optimizationagent, and the modernization our mates lead conversations for agents and creates data-driven, end-to-end solutions spanning the mortgage loan spectrum. personalized experiences for home is buyers.

Its key technology, Digital Gateway, a singleSince entryofficially point to launching in 2018,programming OJO has helped thousands of real access application interfaces across theestate mortagents connectenabling with countless leads, resulting in positive, gage lifecycle, lenders, LOS and POS providers to warm referrals and services successful transactions.

By inverting the consume data and when and how they need them, current estate model,ofOJO Labs isentry placing full-control back withoutreal the impediment multiple points, complicated into the handsorofpre-packaged the buyer and revolutionizing way people integrations solutions. Firstthe American exsearch purchase a home.integration time with lender plainedfor itsand technology collapses www.ojolabs.com platforms from weeks to hours.

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Finicity produces tecnology that is simplifying the mortgage process for borrowers and lenders. Through its digital verification solutions, the company allows lenders to gain insights quicker, make more accurate decisions and improve customer experience. Originating loans can be time consuming for borrowers and lenders. But now, Finicity has taken a more prominent leadership role in digitizing the mortgage process with its digital verification solutions for income and assets. The process is faster, more accurate and even more secure.

Using consumer-permissioned data, mortgage loan origination can now move from weeks to days and the experience for borrowers and lenders is radically improved. It’s solution has seen rapid adoption by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for asset and income validation.

FirstClose WWW.FIRSTCLOSE.COM

FirstClose is a provider of property borrower intelligence and settlement services specializing in delivering web app and LOS plugin. The technology allows lenders to get true efficiency without sacrificing the consumer experience by combining technology with an ability to mimic lenders underwriting guidelines to apply suitability logic. That combination takes the guesswork out of it and accelerating turn times to save lenders time and money. The platform leverages property and borrower data intelligence, dynamic vendor management selection and practical knowledge of home equity and refi lending to simplify workflow so lenders can lend confidently.

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Fiserv

Floify

FormFree

B WWW.FISERV.COM

WWW.FLOIFY.COM

LoanComplete, a technology produced by Fiserv, transforms data into automated exception-based processes to empower faster decision making and overall response times.

LoanComplete is a life-of-loan solution to automate and standardize audit reviews, improve loan quality and simplify compliance checks for originators. The solution provides a complete quality loan record audit and creates exception-based processing for origination and servicing operations minimizing FTE involvement. Over the past year, Fiserv benefited significantly from the growing adoption of LoanComplete including the expansion into one of the top five U.S. mortgage lenders and two of the top three largest lending U.S. credit unions. Its technology produces an 800% increase in servicing staff productivity.

WWW.FORMFREE.COM

Digital mortgage point-of-sale solution Floify combines the power of an intuitive communications and document management portal with dozens of automations and productivity integrations to provide a secure, flexible and affordable platform that streamlines the loan process between all mortgage stakeholders, from lenders to borrowers to real estate agents to referral partners and others. During 2018, Floify continued to evolve its technology, completely redesigning the digital 1003 into a modern, interview-style questionnaire and releasing the second version of their enterprise-grade Disclosure Desk offering.

The highly configurable platform further bolstered branding options by allowing users to add custom CSS and JavaScript to completely restyle the system to their specifications and branding.

FundingShield

FormFree is now entering its 11th year of operations. In the fall of 2018, FormFree announced the release of NextGen, a new platform that builds on the company’s award-winning AccountChek service. New features of NextGen include: A fully customizable API-enabled environment that enables a revolutionary asset retrieval experience for borrowers and loan teams; advanced income and employment analytics that combine borrower asset data with other data points to increase confidence in borrower ability-to-pay conclusions; PDF bank statements to satisfy FHA and non-QM loan documentation requirements; custom workflow designed to serve mortgage brokers and wholesale lenders, a segment of the mortgage market that has historically been underserved by digital mortgage technology.

Global DMS

B WWW.FUNDINGSHIELD.COM

WWW.GLOBALDMS.COM

FundingShield provides live data protecting for transactions to vet, verify and validate each counterparty to compliantly prevent wire fraud loss and misrepresentations. FundingShield systems run live data checks, create customized vetting and diligence requirements and can protect a transaction balance up to $5 million. Its database uses algorithms that pull from historical and live transaction analysis, public data, information provided by title insurance underwriters, licensing and bar associations, FBI and the Federal Reserve Bank to confirm that a legal entity and their bank information has met various requirements to be safely used in a real estate settlement.

eTrac Enterprise Platform is Global DMS’ flagship product that automates the residential appraisal process with no manual intervention. eTrac helps thousands of users ranging from lenders, banks, AMCs, servicers and appraisers compliantly order, track, review and deliver appraisals. Those using eTrac never have to worry about unfinished work, low-quality appraisals, errors, compliance issues or having to get things done using manual intervention or people. Due to that, it brings lowered costs to produce and process appraisals and underwrite accurate collateral. Global DMS maintains more than 150,000 unique users for its valuation software solutions.

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Hippo Insurance

Homebot

Homesnap

WWW.MYHIPPO.COM

WWW.HOMEBOT.AI

WWW.HOMESNAP.COM

Hippo is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to become a better insurance provider. The company has two signature offerings, one for home insurance and one for condominiums. Hippo uses a single system that makes securing insurance easier for the customer, agent and developer. The system includes everything from document generation and storage to quotes and underwriting, billing and servicing to reporting and agent commissions. And the system streamlines the management process, provides expansion capabilities and reduces costs. And the company announced that it recently hit $20 billion insured value and has raised $109 million in total funding so far.

Since the beginning of last year, the company increased its policy sales by 30% month-over-month and expanded into 11 new states.

Homebot at its core is a consumer empowerment tool which is designed to help homeowners and homebuyers build wealth through real estate investments. The technology provides hyper-personalized home finance information through monthly home digests and market reports. But is also helps real estate professionals stay organized and stay in contact with their base. For real estate agents and loan officers, Homebot provides an automated and personalized drip campaign to their database, allowing them to stay in touch with their past clients, effortlessly. It also has lead capturing capabilities and user analytics available within the dashboard to help them gain insights into what their clients may be thinking.

Homebot currently services more than 3,500 real estate agents and loan officers.

Homesnap provides several technology offerings including accurate real-time data to home searchers and a productivity tool for real estate agents. The company offers all this while following fair display guidelines and sending leads for free to the listing agent. The company provides consumers with the same real-time real estate information and software that agents use so that they can access accurate data and collaborate with their agent, while Homesnap’s agent app, Homesnap Pro, puts real-time multiple listing service data into products and tools for agents that make them more productive and effective in building their businesses and serving their clients. From 2014 to 2017 Homesnap had a 6,333% revenue growth which came as a result of the company’s expansion into 170 markets.

HouseCanary OJO Labs

International Document Services

Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.HOUSECANARY.COM

WWW.IDSDOC.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through the fusion machine and human intelligence.

HouseCanary’s web and of API products help real estate profesThrough its AI conversational OJO, thefundamental company autosionals answer the questions agent, that are most to mates lead conversations for agents and creates data-driven, their business and make decisions around those answers.

The personalized for home buyers.

Since officially newly releasedexperiences consumer-facing brand, ComeHome, interfaclaunching in 2018, OJO hashomeowners helped thousands of real estate es with Nextdoor to provide with detailed home agents connect with countless leads, resulting in positive, valuations and background data about their home’s value. warm referrals and successful By inverting the The ComeHome app’s currenttransactions. median absolute prediction current real estate model,ofOJO Labs is placing full-control back error is 3.1%, a measure valuation accuracy that compares into the hands thebest buyer the way people favorably withofthe inand therevolutionizing industry. HouseCanary uses search for and purchase a home. machine-based image recognition to identify and confirm www.ojolabs.com condition factors that can influence a home’s price.

In 2018, IDS made several updates to its flagship product, idsDoc, and announced new partnerships. IDS released a hybrid eClosing product which allows for a more seamless mortgage closing. It is also integrated with the IDS Good Faith Analysis, which can help lenders avoid tolerance cures and meet the CFPB’s Know Before You Owe mandate to improve the borrower experience for consumers. While the promissory note and any documents requiring notarization will still need to be wet-signed, though IDS plans to add eNotarization and remote notarization capabilities as those processes become legal in more states.

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Land Gorilla WWW.LANDGORILLA.COM

Land Gorilla pioneered a new way of managing construction loans by creating a cloud-based system that makes lending faster, safer and more efficient. The technology makes much needed improvement to the new home sector as it allows more lenders to participate as they reduce construction non-completion, monitor contractor performance, proactively manage potential portfolio risks and radically improve the borrower and builder experience. New software enhancements, such as e-signature, lien waiver technology and integrations with popular LOS solutions, continue to streamline processes and add value for lenders. These technologies are changing the way construction loans are managed and providing critical infrastructure necessary to address our national housing shortage by making new home sales more efficient.

LBA Ware

LenderClose

WWW.LBAWARE.COM

WWW.LENDERCLOSE.COM

LBA Ware’s f lagship soft ware, CompenSafe, is an automated incentive compensation calculation and sales performance management platform. It integrates with a number of loan origination systems and automatically calculates compensation for loan officers and other staff as soon as loans are closed. The platform provides users with a single view into production information, including dashboards that offer sales teams pipeline management tools for evaluating success, opportunities and areas for improvement; and branch-level reporting that provides management with insight into organizational performance and profitability. CompenSafe eliminates manual entry for payroll while providing branch managers actionable insights into LO and staff performance and sales teams the status of their compensation in real time.

Lender Price

LenderClose is a digital hub for loan officers at credit unions and community banks. The LenderClose platform is an aggregator of vendor and lending technology solutions, and is currently used by more than 1,700 lending team members across more than 130 credit unions and community banks.

LenderClose is a plug-and-play solution that utilized technology to ease the mortgage application, underwriting and approval process. By providing connections to mortgage industry vendors, LenderClose enables credit unions and community banks to provide a modern, digital borrower experience that rivals those delivered by the biggest banks and other fintech giants. And just since March 2018, LenderClose closed on its Series A funding round, which allowed the company to grow its workforce by a full 700%.

LendingHome P

WWW.LENDERPRICE.COM

Lender Price offers lenders a digital lending and collaboration platform that is completely configurable. Lender Price’s solution is built on an unstructured MISMO big data framework.

The company provides a full point-of-sale platform for the home equity market and also boasts a partnership with the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, giving brokers the ability to search thousands of loan programs and interact with prospects through one interface. Brokers are able to use both Lender Price’s Pricing Engine and Digital Lending platforms in a single platform, giving them the digital tools they need to fund their loans more cost effectively.

WWW.LENDINGHOME.COM

LendingHome continues to fine tune its tech platform. Now, when a borrower applies for a loan, the tech instantly pulls every home they’ve bought and sold and similar homes near the property under consideration. Automated technology looks at how much experience the borrower has. If he or she has more experience, they are less likely to default. As a result, the tech platform is able to predict whether a project will be financially successful, because LendingHome implemented tech-enabled credit models specific to this space. Access to big data and instant algorithms make accurate lending decisions within seconds.

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LendingPad WWW.LENDINGPAD.COM

LendingPad is a modern, scalable and cloud-based LOS/POS that offers end-to-end origination solutions for brokers, banks and lenders. Highly recognized for its simplicity in configuration, the system is built with an advanced distributed architecture, solving several major problems in the industry including in cloud performance, the ability for real-time collaboration and instant pricing and eligibility checks for originators. It also offers unique features such as same-file, multiuser edit capability and data push without refresh enhancing company collaboration and efficiency. LendingPad enhances team collaboration by allowing multiple users to work on the same file in real-time. In 2018, LendingPad’s user base increased by 500%, driven primarily by mid-segment mortgage bankers and brokers.

LendingQB WWW.LENDINGQB.COM

WWW.LENDWIZE.IO

LendingQB provides mortgage lenders with an end-to-end digital mortgage platform connected to over 300 digital mortgage products and vendors offering lenders the origination technology, lending products and automation. The platform is 100% cloudbased and software-free, requiring nothing more than a web browser and an internet connection to originate a mortgage loan from initial loan application through funding. But the most relevant and powerful technology feature of LendingQB is the OpenAPI framework that allows virtually any system to interact with LendingQB. LendingQB is ready to communicate seamlessly and allow the mortgage lending process to morph into a form that eliminates wasteful, repetitive and mundane tasks, bringing borrowers and lenders ever closer to a one touch mortgage lending process.

LoanCare OJO Labs Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.LOANCARESERVICING.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions throughmobile the fusion of machine and human intelligence.

MyLoanCare allows the customer to interact with their Through AI conversational OJO, theThe company mortgageits company with their agent, smartphone. overallautogoal mates lead conversations forhave agents and creates subservicing data-driven, for MyLoanCare mobile is to a full mortgage personalized experiences for home buyers. Since officially experience available in a mobile application.

LoanCare exlaunching in 2018, OJO has helped thousands estate perienced robust growth in 2018 with revenuesof upreal 29% over agents connect withmillion countless leads, resulting in positive, 2017 and over 1.17 loans, totaling over $237 billion warm referrals and successful transactions.educates By inverting the serviced.

MyLoanCare mobile consistently customcurrent real estate model,including OJO Labs is placing full-control back ers about their mortgage adding pop-up definitions into the handsterms, of the buyer and revolutionizing people on mortgage organizing data logically the for way navigation search fordisplaying and purchase a home. ease and data in a more user-friendly way with www.ojolabs.com visual representations and detailed payment breakdowns.

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LendWize

LendWize is a suite of secondary marketing and origination tools that include a relationship pricing engine, a digital point-of-sale platform and an intelligent condition management engine. This technology enables lenders to rapidly create, test and deploy investor and portfolio products – both QM and non-QM – with advanced pricing models in a compliant manner. Core technology that powers LendWize consists of automated decisions engine that uses explainable machine learning models and a next-generation rules engine. By automating all parts of loan-journey, the company’s engine provides agility to lenders to become truly digital while staying compliant. The platform supports a variety of product types, including building and originating conventional loans, non-QM, reverse, construction and renovation.

LoanLogics WWW.LOANLOGICS.COM

LoanLogics has solidified its reputation as a premier provider of regtech solutions by helping mortgage companies achieve data purity while streamlining loan production, increasing the number of loan reviews and helpng lenders reduce costs.

LoanLogics’ growth has been extraordinary. The platform revenues doubled over the last three years. The array of regtech solutions has grown considerably as well. LoanLogics recently updated its LoanHD platform to make it easy for lenders to run automated checks to validate data prior to loan delivery through Fannie Mae’s EarlyCheck application on loans sold to Fannie Mae.

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Matic WWW.MATIC.COM

Matic is a digital homeowner’s insurance marketplace that helps lenders and servicers integrate the homeonwers insurance into the mortgage process. Through its technology offering, Matic is now disrupting the $95 billion homeowners insurance industry. It does this by providing insurance at the point of sale—when borrowers apply for a mortgage. This helps lenders close loans faster, reduce origination costs and improve the experience by simplifying the process. Licensed in all 50 states, the company has quickly become a leader in mortgage lender and servicer distribution of homeowners insurance.

Matic reduces time it takes to get a policy from an average of two to three days to about two to three minutes and ensures compliance by meeting RESPA, UDAAP and vendor oversight requirements.

MAXEX

Maxwell

WWW.MAXEX.COM

WWW.HIMAXWELL.COM

MAXEX is a financial services technology company that owns and operates the MAXEX digital trading platform, which enables the buying and selling of residential mortgages. Through the platform, qualified financial institutions can sign a single contract and do business with multiple buyers and sellers anonymously, with MAXEX serving as a single counterparty as well a provider of standardized documents and delivery. MAXEX launched in June 2016 with sponsorship from JPMorgan Chase and is currently the fifth largest seller of jumbo loans sold to others in the market. MAXEX provides secondary market settlement with objective loan reviews, life-ofloan surveillance and a dispute resolution process to protect both buyers and sellers. More than $2.6 billion in mortgages have been traded on the platform since 2016.

MonitorBase

Maxwell’s award-winning digital mortgage point-of-sale solution was created on the principle that mortgage companies will win by betting on the augmentation of human ability, not by replacing it with faceless technology.

In fact, the power of human relationship is core to how Maxwell builds its software. That’s why more than 150 lending institutions across the U.S. have partnered with the company to provide the ultimate borrower experience. In 2018, Maxwell released its new technology, ApplyID API, which enables lenders and user networks to pre-populate loan application data and develop new customer intelligence capabilities, irrespective of a POS or LOS. This new experience enables users of all sizes to drastically streamline the lengthy loan application process, enabling lenders to close loans more than 45% faster.

Moody’s Analytics B

WWW.MONITORBASE.COM

MonitorBase uses real time behavioral data to alert its users when anyone in their database – customer, prospect or turndown – is back in the market. Its system prompts originators to call them, sends originators a credit report, sends the client an email and a letter prompting them to call their originator.

It can inform users when those in their database: apply for a loan with a competitor, have improved their credit, listed their home for sale or show pre-shopping behavior. Using the technology, users can set what behaviors they want to monitor, and MonitorBase will automatically send out the emails and letters.

WWW.MOODYSANALYTICS.COM

Moody’s Analytics grew its capabilities in 2018 when it acquired Reis, a commercial real estate data provider, for approximately $278 million. Reis provides analysis and forecasts for hundreds of metropolitan markets and thousands of submarkets in areas like multifamily, affordable housing, office, retail, student housing and senior housing. The company also offers a number of solutions including: Case-Shiller Index Forecasts that present a prediction of national and residential house prices; The Commercial Mortgage Metrics, which allows users to assess credit risk on income-producing and under construction commercial real estate.

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Mortech WWW.MORTECH.COM

Mortech, a Zillow Group business, provides the mortgage business with a variety of tools and services, including all-in-one pricing, rate notification, prospect management tools, custom rate sheets, loan product eligibility and guideline services and customer retention solutions. The company’s product and pricing engine provides lenders with instant pricing from multiple investors, and in the last year, the company expanded its offerings. In 2018, Mortech rolled out a new mortgage customer retention predictive listing analytics solution called Mortech Protection. The offering uses property data on Zillow’s websites and mobile apps to identify the likelihood that addresses within a lender’s database will be listed for sale within 90 days, and are therefore at risk of falling out of a lender’s mortgage portfolio.

Mortgage Cadence WWW.MORTGAGECADENCE.COM

WWW.MORTGAGEHIPPO.COM

The Mortgage Cadence Platform helps lenders reduce costs, simplify their operation and modernize their processes. The Mortgage Cadence Platform incorporates more than 1,200 hours of built-in custom configuration, which significantly reduces per loan labor costs. It eliminates outdated processes that slow down the lending process and reduces the costs of duplication of work by both people and technology, creating a cost effective, more efficient process for lenders. The Mortgage Cadence Platform single system of record, from origination through post-close, in one technology stack, supports data integrity and eases the compliance burden in today’s regulatory environment. Its single system approach even includes imaging, document creation and closing collaboration throughout the mortgage origination cycle.

Move OJO Labs Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.REALTOR.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through the fusion of machine and human intelligence.

Move’s primary website, realtor.com, is integrating its indusThrough its AI conversational agent, OJO, the company try insights into a digital ecosystem to make the homeautobuymates lead conversations for buyers agents and ing process simpler for both and creates agents.data-driven, The compapersonalized experiences forand home buyers. officially ny leverages AI, technology software toSince improves lead launching in 2018, OJO hasbrand helped thousands real estate response rates and boosts exposure.

Forofconsumers, agents connect with countless leads, resulting in positive, the company has developed web products and mobile apps warm referrals and successful transactions.

By inverting that enhance the consumer experience and position agentsthe for current estate model, include OJO LabsStreet is placing full-control back success.real These products Peek, an augmented into thefeature hands of the buyer and revolutionizing thean way people reality for Android-driven devices, and iMessage search for and a home. extension that purchase allows buyers and agents to share photos and www.ojolabs.com listing information.

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MortgageHippo

I nteg rat ion s, c u stom i z abi l it y, stability and security all make MortgageHippo’s platform state of the art technology. The company simplifies the mortgage process for borrowers, by offering them the ability to easily import and fill out key areas of the loan application. The digital lending platform enables loan officers to create pre-approval letters, assign new tasks to their borrowers and run credit and AUS through the platform, ensuring borrowers are ready to submit their file to underwriting. This customizable white-label solution reduces fraudulent loans by up to 80% and is a SaaS offering hosted in the Amazon cloud. The solution offers users the ability to scale up or down to any load and the ability to duplicate their data in such a way that there is virtually never any downtime in the system.

Mr. Cooper P WWW.MRCOOPER.COM

Mr. Cooper’s Digital Loan Tracker was designed to make the home loan experience more informative and easier to understand. This technology offers consumers several enhanced features. While digital mortgage technology may already be in the market, Digital Loan Tracker is unique in that dashboards are personalized for each lendee based on the exact loan the customer is acquiring and provides complete transparency throughout the process. As consumers move to a mobile mindset, Mr. Cooper also allows documents to be uniquely uploaded via a mobile camera allowing customers without scanners to easily and quickly submit documents for consideration.

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Nexsys Technologies WWW.NEXSYSTECH.COM

Fintech company Nexsys Technologies is focused on creating and delivering innovative solutions for smarter lending processes. The company is developing technologies to ensure eClosing becomes a viable reality for the consumer. eClosing keeps customer experience front-of-mind, as a digital close is more efficient, secure and offers ultimate flexibility for all parties.

Last year, Nexsys developed a new eClosing platform, which includes remote online notarization called Clear Sign to streamline the closing experience. Thus far, it has been approved

by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and is a preferred platform for one of the nation’s largest independent title agents.

The company is also continuing to utilize its flagship product Clear Path, which allows lenders to make smarter business decisions regarding vendor and transaction management.

Notarize

NotaryCam

WWW.NOTARIZE.COM

WWW.NOTARYCAM.COM

When a borrower is signing a closing disclosure in front of the notary using Notarize, and has a question, right from the Notarize app they can call their loan officer on file without jumping out of the meeting with the notary. Or, maybe there’s a question on monthly payments or the rate that was agreed on. Regardless of the situation, those contacts are easily accessible, and can be reached no matter where they are. Real estate agents are on the go, driving to meet clients and show homes. They don’t have time to be tethered to email or be physically with their client during parts of the closing. Notarize not only makes these key contacts reachable on-demand, but also sends each key stakeholder an email as soon as the closing is complete. Within seconds, real estate agents, title agents and lenders know as soon as a deal is done.

OJO Labs WWW.OJOLABS.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through the fusion of machine and human intelligence.

Through its AI conversational agent, OJO, the company automates lead conversations for agents and creates data-driven, personalized experiences for home buyers. Since officially launching in 2018, OJO has helped thousands of real estate agents connect with countless leads, resulting in positive, warm referrals and successful transactions. By inverting the current real estate model, OJO Labs is placing full-control back into the hands of the buyer and revolutionizing the way people search for and purchase a home.

As the first provider of real estate remote online notarization, NotaryCam delivers technology that enables real estate professionals to conduct seamless, transparent, secure and completely digital document notarizations and real estate closings from anywhere in the world – no closing table required. With the addition of the eClose360 Enterprise Portal in 2018, it’s easier than ever for mortgage lenders, brokers and settlement companies to upload documents and join an eClosing ceremony. A streamlined dashboard allows companies to manage, open and completed transactions in one place. Companies can customize status updates and use built-in reporting to track their performance. The platform also records the entire transaction, providing a verifiable proof that the transaction was executed compliantly.

Optimal Blue WWW.OPTIMALBLUE.COM

Optimal Blue connects a network of originators and investors, facilitating a set of secondary market interactions. The company’s unified technology platform includes a broad array of solutions to improve accuracy, efficiency, workflow and execution throughout the entire secondary marketing function. According to the company, one of every three mortgages nationwide and more than $750 billion of transactions are processed each year across the Optimal Blue platform. The growing technology company offers a variety of solutions, such as a product and pricing engine, hedge advisory, compliance and risk solutions and consumer engagement.

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PeerStreet WWW.PEERSTREET.COM

PeerStreet has three core technology platforms, one for investors, another for lenders and a third for underwriting loans – all under one operating system. Through its technology for investors, PeerStreet’s system allows them to invest in real estate debt on an intuitive, easy-to-use platform.

Investors can choose individual properties and view detailed investment metrics. Its technology for lenders not only connects them to the global capital markets through its platform, but it also offers a comprehensive suite of tools and technology to help them compete more effectively.

Finally, PeerStreet’s third technology platform removes the hassle out of processing loans, from managing loan tapes, monitoring loans as they move through the diligence process, and providing constant support via PeerStreet’s real estate analysts.

Plaid WWW.PLAID.COM

WWW.PROXYPICS.COM

In 2018, Plaid leveraged its technology to address the challenges of the paper-based mortgage with the launch of its first-ever mortgage-focused product, Assets. Assets links directly to bank accounts and provides a consolidated report of real-time account balances, historical transactions and account holder identity information.

This eliminates the need for an applicant to fill out paperwork and is more accurate and current than self-reported information. Additionally, Assets was developed in direct partnership with one of the leading mortgage lenders, Fannie Mae. This means Plaid is authorized to supply asset verification reports to Fannie Mae as part of their Day 1 Certainty initiative. As of 2018, 25% of people in the U.S. with bank accounts have used Plaid. Notable users of Assets include Blend, Ellie Mae, Money Lion and Upstart.

Qualia OJO Labs Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.QUALIA.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through theestate fusionclosing of machine and human intelligence.

Qualia is a real platform that allows real esThrough its AI conversational OJO, company autotate professionals to connectagent, and run a the streamlined, conmates agents andQualia’s creates data-driven, sistentlead andconversations simple closingfor experience. title, escrow personalized experiences foron home buyers.

Since officially and closing platform is built a modern technology stack launching in 2018, OJO has with helped thousands of realclosing estate that streamlines workflows features like eSign, agents connect withmanager; countlessprovides leads, resulting in business positive, Scheduler and task advanced warm referrals and successful inverting and operational reporting; andtransactions. introduces a By robust, fullythe incurrent estate model, Labs is placing full-control back tegratedreal accounting suiteOJO to all title and escrow companies into hands of the buyer and revolutionizing theits way people on athe secure platform.

According to the company, software search for to and purchase a home. 10% of all U.S. real estate was used close approximately www.ojolabs.com transactions in the last year.

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ProxyPics

ProxyPics is a photo delivering service where users can request a photo of a specific location for other users to complete, for a small fee. Think of it as Uber for photos. The real-estate industry and lending process experience long delays because appraisers, real estate agents, and inspectors drive countless miles for a real-time photo of a property. ProxyPics crowd sources users already in the area to take the photo of the property and deliver within minutes. The company has a user base across the U.S. with close to 13,000 downloads. Urban markets have a completion rate of about 80% within the first six hours the job has been posted. ProxyPics can have these delivered throughout the day. What’s more, as the company’s user base continues to grow, the acceptance rate goes higher as the wait time lowers.

Radian WWW.INFO.RADIAN.BIZ/PYRAMIDPLATFORM.HTML

Radian’s Pyramid Platform is a secure online portal that uses task-driven workflows to automate the acquisition and management of loans, REOs, rentals, loss mitigation and short sales. Pyramid Platform’s user base has increased 56% over the last two years, while assets under management increased 207% over that same time period. Using their combined expertise, Pyramid Platform’s builders sought to solve a variety of pain points by utilizing easy customization, task-driven workflows, robust reporting and full integration with advanced valuation products from Radian’s subsidiary Red Bell Real Estate.

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Remine WWW.REMINE.COM

Remine provides a search for active and off-market properties in your market, including actionable insights such as move scores, property values, mortgage info, home equity, ownership time and contact information.

Its technology platform, CMA 360, is the first CMA on the market to analyze both MLS and off-MLS data, providing users with a true 360-degree perspective. The search portal has a point and click map, which visualizes big data on real estate in a simple way. Client Engage provides agents with the ability to invite their clients directly into Remine and collaborate with modern work flows. Remine currently boasts nearly 825,000 agents with access.

“Remine is the fastest growing MLS platform in history. They’re obsessed with driving new value to the industry,” MRIS Investors CEO David Charron said.

ReverseVision WWW.REVERSEVISION.COM

Technology provider ReverseVision’s f lagship origination system, RV Exchange, is utilized by all of the Top 10 HECM lenders. The solution processes more reverse loans than all other solutions combined. The company provides sales tools, lending technology components with APIs, industry thought leadership and serves as a primary source of education for bankers offering reverse mortgages. After last October’s changes to the HECM program by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, ReverseVision released advanced proprietary product support in response to an uptick in lender interest in proprietary reverse products. And its Generational Lending Scenario Builder lets loan originators perform real-time comparisons of how HECMs perform against other loan products over the life of the loan.

Roofstock WWW.ROOFSTOCK.COM

Roofstock’s data-driven platform allows users to evaluate, purchase and own residential investment properties from anywhere in the world. To encourage transparency in the investment class, Roofstock created three engines, which crunch data from multiple, qualified sources and provide thorough information for investors to make educated, confident investments in properties. The engines, which are integrated into the Roofstock marketplace and user experience, integrate machine learning, predictive analytics, deep learning, statistical models and image processing. Roofstock saw an approximately 50% increase in overall revenue from 2017 to 2018.

RiskSpan WWW.RISKSPAN.COM

RiskSpan a provider of innovative technology solutions and services to the residential mortgage, capital markets, banking and insurance industries. In 2016, a division of RiskSpan named SmartLink Lab formed to bring business efficiencies to the lending and structured finance markets.

SmartLink Lab develops innovative business solutions using blockchain technology, smart contracts, machine learning and automation tools. The Lab brings securitization business expertise, including a comprehensive understanding of the many parties involved, required disclosures and the complexities inherent in deal modeling. It was formed to bring business efficiencies to the lending and structured finance markets. In 2018, its platform revenue grew by 21%, while its annual recurring revenue was up by 30%.

Roostify WWW.ROOSTIFY.COM

Through Roofstify, borrowers can easily navigate their mortgage application with a clean, customizable interface, clear directions on what information they need and the ability to import their data from trusted sources with the click of a button to deliver a pristine, actionable loan application. This adds up to a less stressful application experience. For lenders, it means more complete, higher-integrity applications, with less manual input than many loan origination software solutions.

With completed applications and related documentation automatically available in their LOS system, managing their clients’ loan transactions has never been easier.

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SimpleNexus WWW.SIMPLENEXUS.COM

Dig ital mortgage solution SimpleNexus enables loan officers to access their loan pipeline, order credit, view appraisals and send pre-approval letters from their mobile device. The company’s tools help lenders reduce costs, drive loan officer efficiency, improve productivity and provide transparency to borrowers and real estate partners during the loan process. The company’s mobile originator tools give loan officers the opportunity to take action on a loan anytime, anywhere. Lenders can use the platform to access to their entire loan pipeline, order credit, run pricing, view appraisals and send pre-approval letters from their mobile device – all while syncing in real-time with their LOS. SimpleNexus’ official integration with Ellie Mae provides the industry’s fastest real-time Encompass data transfer speed.

Simplifile WWW.SIMPLIFILE.COM

WWW.SNAPDOCS.COM

Simplifile’s technology platform gives U.S. counties the ability to securely review, stamp, record and return documents electronically, thereby reducing the amount of time it takes to process documents and saving office resources. To date, 1,874 jurisdictions participate in Simplifile’s eRecording network, accounting for more than 50% of all U.S. recording jurisdictions. In addition to eRecording, Simplifile also went beyond the closing table and developed collaboration and post closing tools to facilitate a more seamless solution experience of eClosing and beyond for real estate agents, lenders and borrowers. Using Simplifile Collaboration, lenders and settlement agents can securely share, receive, track, validate and communicate on documents and fees, reducing errors and creating a more effiecient, cost-effective and seamless process.

SoftWorks AI OJO Labs Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.SOFTWORKSAI.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through fusion ofTrapeze machine human Automation, intelligence.

SoftWorks AI’sthe program, forand Mortgage Through its AI conversational agent,labor OJO, the autoallows lenders to reduce manual by company automatically mates lead conversations agents and creates data-driven, classifying and extractingfor loan packets.

The technology enpersonalized experiences for home buyers.

Since officially ables firms to cut loan processing time from two hours to five launching in 2018, OJO has helped thousands of real estate minutes with 99% accuracy.

Using artificial intelligence and agents connect with countless resulting in positive, machine learning, Trapeze can leads, recognize, classify and split warm referrals and successful transactions.

By inverting more than 450 mortgage-based documents. More than 85%the of current realno estate model, OJOmanual Labs is placing full-control back documents longer require validation.

The program into theusers hands the buyer and revolutionizing thewith wayas people allows toof approve or deny loan applications little search foreffort and possible, purchasethereby a home.helping financial institutions time and www.ojolabs.com acquire more profitable loans in an efficient manner.

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Snapdocs

In this day and age, borrowers expect simple digital experiences. For this reason, Snapdocs built a flexible product, created to account for lender signing preferences and work with the existing process. Powered by machine learning technology, Snapdocs is the only platform designed to manage all closings, creating a consistent and unified experience for all participants involved in the mortgage closing process. Lenders can configure Snapdocs based on their workflows, document preferences and investor requirements. The automation suite is designed to scale, enabling lenders to grow their volume. Currently, Snapdocs processes over half a million transactions per year, equating to around 5% of all residential real estate transactions. In October 2018, First American announced that Snapdocs would power their eclosing solution.

Spruce B WWW.SPRUCE.CO

Spruce is a technology-driven real estate services company that provides title and closing services to enable real estate and mortgage transactions across the U.S. The company uses a proprietary software platform that leverages intelligent automation and gives the company the ability to adapt to changes quickly. The company can deliver the entire title and closing process – from Loan Estimate-ready quotes to scheduling and funding – via a modern REST API. Spruce has also automated the escrow process to the point where funding is at the touch of a button, meaning borrowers, real estate agents and other parties get their money quicker and more securely.

P U S H I N G T H E E D G E O F I N N O VAT I O N F E AT U R I N G T H E M O S T I N N O VAT I V E A N D I M P A C T F U L TECHNOLOGY IN THE HOUSING INDUSTRY

StreamLoan WWW.STREAMLOAN.IO

StreamLoan provides technology solutions at the top of the origination funnel, connecting real estate agents, borrowers and loan officers to convert leads into loans faster. It accomplishes this all with its mobile-first technology, automating the underwriting process. This then leads to more closed loans. StreamLoan is a B2B, softwareas-a-service and mobile smart digital workflow platform. StreamLoan licenses to mortgage lenders, real estate brokerages and home builders to create a single end-to-end digital journey for borrowers. Its technology platform digitizes an intelligent workflow starting with CRM and lead capture and routing for mortgage lenders.

And over the past year, the company experienced tremendous growth with more than 300% year-over-year increase in mortgage lenders and associated revenue.

Tavant Technologies

P

WWW.TAVANT.COM

WWW.THEMONEYSOURCE.COM

Tavant VELOX is an artificial intelligence-powered digital lending platform with intelligent automation, fulfilment efficiency improvement and overall digital simplification. Tavant’s products are full life cycle digital lending solutions and drive collaboration among all key participants in the real estate acquisition and lending process. FinXperience is the flagship platform in the Tavant VELOX suite of products. The FinXperience platform provides a full digital loan process from lead management, electronic disclosures, detailed loan status, conditions management, document upload and comprehensive alerts/ notifications across the lending value chain. Those using FinXperience saw a 60% growth in consumer engagement on the portal, with over 70% submitting their loans through the point of sale platform.

Total Expert

The Money Source

While The Money Source launched SIME, servicing intelligence made easy, nearly two years ago, the launch was only the beginning of a giant revolution that is disrupting the servicing industry. The technology set a new standard in servicing, and it became the first-ever servicer to harness the power of blockchain. With the company’s app, members can manage their account information, including alerts, follow transactions, decide to go paperless, check taxes, and insurance and escrow information.

Additionally, customers can easily opt-in to pay down more on their mortgage. The app also includes a feature that allows the borrower to easily upload and download documents for their loan directly from their mobile phone, introducing a new type of relationship between a homeowner and their servicer.

United Wholesale Mortgage P

WWW.TOTALEXPERT.COM

Total Expert’s marketing platform, Marketing Operation System, enables lenders to go beyond traditional CRM systems to deliver automated and personalized customer journeys and improve the customer experience. The platform’s open API allows lenders to leverage data from corporate applications, lead capture services and consumer lending applications. Total Expert’s MOS is built on a compliance framework designed specifically for the regulations of the mortgage industry and centralizes multi-channel marketing, giving lenders and loan officers the ability to go to market quicker —and track and report on all marketing activities.

WWW.UWM.COM

In 2018, United Wholesale Mortgage launched its proprietary technology UClose 2.0, a revolutionary tool that gives mortgage brokers complete control over the closing process and enables on-the-spot closings. This tool not only allows mortgage brokers to close loans faster and more efficiently but also gives them the ability to complete the closing process without waiting in a queue for a closer. As of December 2018, UClose 2.0 is being used on 68% of UWM’s daily closings. In that same time, UClose 2.0 also helped shave almost a full day off the amount of time it takes UWM to take a loan from submission to clear-to-close status.

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P U S H I N G T H E E D G E O F I N N O VAT I O N F E AT U R I N G T H E M O S T I N N O VAT I V E A N D I M P A C T F U L TECHNOLOGY IN THE HOUSING INDUSTRY

Valligent Technologies

Ve r o s Re al E s t ate Solutions

WWW.VALLIGENT.COM

WEST WWW.POWEREDBYWEST.COM

WWW.VEROS.COM

Valligent Residential Appraisal Report is a full interior inspection appraisal that is fully regulatory compliant and is completed in just one hour, rather than days. Instead of filling out an appraisal form field by field as most appraisers do, information is automatically acquired from a variety of data sources, then validated and imported into the standard appraisal report format. Some of the sources the information is derived from includes multiple public record sources, local MLS, virtual inspection and a variety of market analytic tools presented to the appraiser. This makes for an extremely efficient review and appraiser knowledge enhancement. The VRAR virtual inspection is then completed whenever the borrower is ready and results are presented in an accurate, compliant and completed appraisal within hours.

Veros Real Estate Solutions delivers powerful systems and solutions that control risk and increase profits throughout the mortgage lifecycle for lenders. The company offers a several solutions including VeroPRECISION, an AVM suitability engine, which gives lenders the ability to run analysis that can determine if an AVM or traditional evaluation method is the best choice for a property. VeroSELECT is a valuation management platform with offerings from more than 20 providers. VeroDATAFI is a proprietary GSE-certified uniform closing dataset solution. VeroFORECAST provides quarterly projections of property value trends up to two years into the future. The company’s newest product, VeroPACE, is designed to simplify the multiple-AVM requirement for lenders specializing in PACE loans in California.

Whiteboard Mortgage CRM OJO Labs Lending, Servicing, Real Estate WWW.WHITEBOARDCRM.COM

OJO Labs’ mission is to empower people to make better decisions through fusion ofPlaybook, machine aand human of intelligence.

Powered by thethe Mortgage collection more than Through its AI conversational agent, the company auto100 campaigns and workflows, thisOJO, company’s CRM helps mates lead conversations for agents creates data-driven, loan officers grow their business by and creating better relationpersonalized experiences forin home buyers. Since officially ships with clients.

Included the Mortgage Playbook are launching in 2018, OJO has helped thousands of real estate mortgage and loan campaigns, client-centric campaigns, reagents connect with countless leads, resultingand in positive, ferral partner campaigns, marketing campaigns all of the warm referrals transactions. inverting the pre-built formsand andsuccessful reports needed.

Some ofBy the company’s current real estate model, Labs is placing full-control back clients report seeing their OJO loans-closed numbers grow by more into hands of the buyer and revolutionizing the way people thanthe 800% within the first year of using Whiteboard Mortgage search for and purchase home. substantial benefits in both CRM. Whiteboard clients areported www.ojolabs.com time-saved and organizational streamlining.

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WestVM is a single, web-based vendor management portal giving lenders the ability to order and receive as many as six different real estate services at a time with the touch of a button.

These services include title insurance, appraisals and AVMs, 4506-T forms and income verifications, flood certifications and notary services.

WestVM can be used as a standalone solution or integrated into a lender’s loan origination system. The solution also provides custom vendor reporting and vendor performance, while all data and documents are stored securely in a centralized location.

WestVM provides real-time pricing for appraisals, title insurance policies and other services that is fed directly into the lender’s LOS. WestVM is integrated with more than 50 different vendors and several of the largest LOS providers.

Wipro Gallagher Solutions WWW.WIPRO.COM/GALLAGHER

Wipro Gallagher Solutions’ NetOxygen provides automation, smart configuration and access to digital tools. NetOxygen’s Business Suite delivers a lending platform for correspondent lenders that streamlines the entire loan purchase process. It provides sellers access to pricing, reporting, interfaces and imaging, thereby reducing cycle time for review and purchase.

During the past year, the company made key product enhancements to the LOS, resulting in significant productivity growth for its users. In 2018, NetOxygen reduced closing times by 40%, decreased origination costs by 33% and saw between 8% and 15% annual growth in loan origination volume.

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WEATHERING the

STORM

How the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development advocates for underserved communities By: Alcynna Lloyd

HOUSINGWIRE â?ą APRIL 2019 55

Floodwaters surged in. No big deal – the island had seen its share of hurricanes before. But this time, something was different.

The flood waters didn’t stop.

T hey submerged houses, knocked out power, and still, they didn’t stop – consuming everything in their path.

And that was only the beginning. Even surviving the storm was no guarantee that you would survive the storm.

T h e U. S . D e p a r t m e n t o f Ho u s i ng a n d Ur b a n Development is a government agency tasked with the unique responsibility of ensuring that Americans have a chance at achieving the dream of 56 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

homeownership.

In order to do so, HUD often works toward strengthening the housing market by supporting the economy and protecting the needs and wants of homeowners. This ensures that homes are not only affordable but serve as a platform for improving homeowners’ quality of life.

However, HUD’s objectives are sometimes distributed by factors ranging from politics, socio-economic disparities and even natural disasters.

When American homeowners fall victim to any of these elements, HUD is not only there to offer a helping hand, but often serves as the tool that leads to recovery. This was especially so for the island of Puerto Rico.

In 2017, a wake of natural disasters struck, reducing infrastructure to ruble, claiming the lives of thousands and deeply weakening local economies across the globe. And while many markets struggled to recover from these environmental headwinds, Puerto

Rico’s journey was especially challenging.

In t he late evening of September 18, 2017, the island of more than three million people faced the violent winds and waves of one of the most catastrophic storms in Puerto Rican history. When all was said and done, Hurricane Maria indiscriminately killed more than three thousand people, decimated 80% of the island’s homes and uprooted virtually every powerline.

The damage of the Category

5 storm was so immense that aid was not only sought after, but widely recognized as a necessity. While several countries and organizations in the international community immediately allocated funds towards Puerto Rico’s recovery, the United States’ initial response was lethargic. This was especially surprising as the Caribbean island has been a United States territory since the late nineteen-hundreds.

The negligence of the United States federal government further worsened a humanitarian crisis that left survivors in desperate need of food, water, electricity and shelter. For the weeks following the storm, President Donald Trump denied the abundancy of devastation, even claiming the reported death toll was much too high. This rhetoric was partly responsible for the slowdown in federal aid, which resulted in both national and international outrage.

While United States recovery efforts seemed amiss, several leaders in the federal government advocated on the behalf of Puerto Rico. One leader specifically, HUD Deput y Secretar y Pamela Hughes Patenaude, the second-in-command at the department, went to bat for the struggling nation.

Patenaude originally joined the agency in 1982 as an intern, eventually leaving to pursue a degree in criminal justice. Fortunately, she returned after being given the opportunity to work in HUD’s

Inspector General’s Office. This is when Patenaude realized her true passion lay in housing reform. The rest was history.

In 2017, Patenaude ascended to the position of Deputy Secretary, making affordable and safe housing her mission.

As Deputy Secretary of HUD, it was Patenaude’s responsibility to bring hope to Puerto

Florida, which were also the victims of large natural disasters. Instead, Patenaude reminded the President that Congress had appropriated the money for the island.

In fact, by July 2018, HUD Secretary Ben Carson announced t he depar t ment approved a $1.5 billion disaster recovery plan aimed

“Today, we turn an important corner in our long-term effort to rebuild hard-hit communities in Puerto Rico. This is just the beginning – billions in federal disaster recovery funding will soon be put to work and help our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico rebuild their homes and their lives.”

-Secretary Ben Carson

Rico’s 117,000 FHA-backed homeowners. A feat that was both large and challenging.

However, despite these concerns, Patenaude worked diligently to secure funds for the nation.

On the quest to housing recover y, Patenaude was met with resistance from the Trump administration, as it was reported that the president wanted Puerto Rico’s funds to be directed toward Texas and

at helping Puerto Rican citizens recover from Hurricane Irma and Maria. HUD’s plan focused primarily on the restoration of damaged and destroyed homes, businesses and infrastructure.

“Today, we turn an important corner in our long-term effort to rebuild hard-hit communities in Puerto Rico,” HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in a statement. “This is just the beginning – billions in federal

disaster recovery funding will soon be put to work and help our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico rebuild their homes and their lives.”

A year prior to this announcement, President Trump signed the Additional Supplemental Appropriations for Disaster Relief Requirements Act, which appropriated $7.4 billion in CDBG-DR funding for major disasters declared in 2017.

This was followed by the $1.5 billion grant in February 2018, which was raised to “address the serious unmet needs on the island,” and a $18.5 billion grant in April of that year, to further support recovery in Puerto Rico. These funds, paired with Patenaude’s disaster recovery plan, were set to drastically improve Puerto Rico’s rehabilitative standing.

In a podcast interview with HousingWire Editor-in-Chief Jacob Gaffney, Patenaude explained how career experience prepared her to lead recovery efforts at HUD. “I was fortunately serving in a position that was very involved in disaster recovery, I was the assistant secretary for community planning and development when Hurricane Katrina, Wilma and R ita struck,” Patenaude said. “At the time those were the most devastating disasters HUD had ever been faced with, and certainly the amount of housing stock that was damaged at the time was catastrophic.”

Luckily, Patenaude was HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 57

working in a policy making position during these storms, which better positioned her for taking office as HUD’s deputy secretary in 2017.

“Last September, both hurricane Irma and Harvey hit, and two days after my swearing in we were faced with Hurricane Maria,” Patenaude said. “The devastation that I witnessed… it is hard to even comprehend what people have to go through.”

And witness it she did.

Patenaude did not simply send funds to the island from her office in the U.S. In fact, the deputy secretary visited the island several times. Photos on social media even show her inside the homes of some of the disaster victims as she sought to understand the full scope of the disaster.

“We often talk about vulnerable populations; these people have been hit by a natural disaster and are often starting all over again. HUD plays an enormous role in disaster recovery, we are focused on long term, but we play a huge support role behind FEMA and the immediate after math behind a disaster.”

One of these roles included making sure money appropriated from Congress ensured Puerto Ricans rebuilt homes that stood a chance against future natural disasters.

“Congress appropriated a lot of money for resiliency and mitigation, that way when we rebuild both infrastructure and brick and mortar houses, 58 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

It has been my honor to serve President Trump and Secretary Carson and I am deeply grateful to both for this opportunity. Thank you to my HUD family and fellow ‘housers’ for helping Americans access decent, safe and affordable housing.”

- Deputy Secretary Pamela Hughes Patenaude Seecond-in-command at

HUD

they are done in a way that will be able to sustain hurricanes and natural disasters in the future,” Patenaude said. “We’ve come a long way from Katrina, we have learned a lot from the mistakes we have made.”

And Patenaude’s career has come a long way, that is why so many were surprised when news of her departure from the agency made headlines in December 2017.

“It has been my honor to serve President Trump and Secretary Carson and I am deeply grateful to both for this opportunity,” her resignation letter stated. “Thank you to my HUD family and fellow ‘housers’ for helping Americans access decent, safe and affordable housing.”

In an email to HousingWire, Carson thanked Patenaude for her years of service, for advancing HUD’s mission during her tenure.

“On behalf of a grateful agency, and the families and com-

munities we serve, I want to thank her for her tremendous contributions to advancing HUD’s mission,” Carson said.

“She led HUD’s largest disaster recovery response after unprecedented storms and fires damaged communities across the country. She is a true public servant, and I wish her well as she returns to private life in New Hampshire.”

Although, Patenaude’s presence with the agency will be missed, her legacy lives on in the communities she has helped, and the peers she has inspired. One of those peers includes Anna Maria Farias who, like Patenaude, has a strong interest in providing struggling Americans safe and affordable housing.

Farias also sat down with HousingWire’s editor-in-chief to discuss her role at HUD, and the circumstances that inspired her to take action.

“I grew up in the housing projects, I am one of those

children that was helped by fair housing,” Farias said.

“My mom was a cleaning lady earning between $12 and $20 a week, working six days a week and working a lot afternoon and Sundays to make ends meet. I am a child of a single parent and I made it. My mom said go to school or you are going to be doing what I am doing. So, I was very blessed and became valedictorian, and that was my ticket out of the housing projects. But I never forgot where I came from.”

And Farias did not forget, as one fateful call not only changed the trajectory of her career, but brought her back to where it all began.

One day in 1991, Farias’ mother called to tell her about the shifting dynamics of her hometown, a city that was now being overrun by poverty, drugs and violence. Farias decided the best way to combat these issues was facing them head on, and by the end of the year she had resettled in the community, this time as one of the first executive directors in the country to live in fair housing.

“I did the one thing I said I would never do, and that’s go back home to a small town,” Farias said. “And I did, and I ran the housing authority of where I grew up, but I also became one of the first executive directors in the country that agreed to live in the housing projects.”

While HUD may often face difficulties as it struggles to

fulfil its mission – from lack of funds to even pushback from the administrations it serves under, Americans can rest assured that there are those on the inside such as Patenaude, Farias and many others, who are fighting for safe, affordable housing.

Some, like Patenaude, will eventually move on, but their legacy will not. We can only hope that that legacy is picked up by those left behind, as the torch is passed from one leader to the next. The next time disaster strikes, such as the hurricanes Katrina, Harvey, Maria or so many others, there will be someone new making the calls and fighting for the disaster aid.

These next leaders will have the opportunity, like Patenaude, to fight for those who need it most, for those that don’t have a voice. And when that time comes the legacy of past leaders will live on.

As Patenaude’s actions are remembered, it will encourage the next generation of leaders to take a stand.

And Patenaude has made it clear she believes HUD is in good hands.

“Working with Secretary Carson has been an extraordinary experience,” she said.

“I’ve worked with four HUD secretaries, and they’ve all been great, but with Secretary Carson there’s something special.”

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 59

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A little disruption can go a long way By: Diane Tomb HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 61

In 2012, a few short years after the financial crisis turned the American housing economy upside down, the legendary Warren Buffett told CNBC, “If I had a way of buying a couple hundred thousand single-family homes and if I had a way of managing them.. , I would load up on them.”

Buffett’s opinion represented the mainstream view at the time. The multifamily industry had undergone widespread institutionalization during the 1980s and 1990s, but single-family homes represented a much more daunting investment and property management challenge: unlike apartments, it’s impossible to fit hundreds of houses in a single building, making maintenance, leasing, resident turnover and the like at best difficult, at worst prohibitively expensive.

But something else had also changed since the 1980s: new technology had disrupted every aspect of American life.

Cloud computing altered every corner of corporate America and superpowered businesses’ ability to analyze and serve their customers. Smartphones put the internet in the pocket of millions of Americans. Social media networks changed the way we interact with each other and learn about the world.

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“Technology…made significant advancements over the prior five to 10 years to permit the substantial flow of information over the internet and the development of app-based consumer technology,” American Homes 4 Rent CEO Dave Singelyn said about technology’s impact on single-family rental’s growth.

“We recognized this consumer technology would enable us to streamline our operations in ways that would benefit both our residents and our company.”

Technology did not make single-family rentals themselves possible. On the contrary, the sector has been an ever-present part of the American housing economy, historically dominated by small investors who kept just a few additional properties as investments. Even today, less than 2% of all single-family rental homes are institutionally owned.

But many in the single-family rental industry like to say that while single-family

“Most of today’s challenges are really future opportunities. Over the past five years, the processes by which this industry has historically been managed have significantly changed.”

Dave Singelyn CEO American Homes 4 Rent

rentals are part of the housing sector, it’s really a technology industry, and nothing could be more true: Total investment in real estate technology has exploded, from $33 million in 2010 to more than $5 billion in 2017, and six real estate companies were named to Forbes’ 2019 Fintech 50.

From owners of just one or two homes to large firms with hundreds or thousands of properties, disruptive technological innovations have shaped the growth of the industry and improved the renter experience for countless American families.

Unlocking the SFR business model Just two decades ago, the core challenge of single-family rental — how to acquire and manage enough homes to turn a profit — was essentially unsolvable.

Take property management, for example. There is perhaps nothing more important to an owner-operator of a rental property than ensuring a positive renter experience. Without it, occupancy rates fall and the company must undergo the much more expensive and laborious process of finding a new resident.

In an apartment building, a single property manager or staff can manage a single

building with hundreds of units, or even a few buildings in the same neighborhood. It’s nearly impossible to do the same for a collection of homes spread out across an entire metropolitan area.

For single-family rental, necessity became the mother of invention. Today’s most innovative single-family rental owner-operators have redefined the system from top to bottom, establishing what is essentially a mobile maintenance shop, deploying a fleet of vans across an entire market using a digital inventory management system and route optimization software. From the moment a maintenance request — which can now be made online thanks to new platforms and the omnipresence of internet-connected devices — comes in, it is slotted seamlessly into this network.

On the acquisitions side, independent investment platforms, like Roofstock, have significantly lowered the barrier to entry for small and large investors alike. Mom-and-pop investors remain the vast majority of the single-family rental industry, and many of these technological advances, from greater access to data to modern property management solutions, have benefitted them as much as anyone. In a sign of SFR’s close ties to the

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 63

tech sector, Roofstock, which is headquartered in Silicon Valley, recently hired a former Tesla executive to serve in a senior operations role.

What’s more, investors now have a wealth of data at their fingertips when evaluating a home for purchase: whether other homes in similarly situated neighborhoods have historically increased in value; how long residents in that neighborhood typically stay in their homes; the desirability of the local schools and parks, and countless other pieces of information that shape the home-buying calculus. Rather than poring through public records or having to decide based on instinct, today’s investor can look at a home listing and, with the snap of a finger, determine whether it is likely to be a financially viable rental property. And when they make the decision to buy, today’s owner-operators can make an offer within hours of a home hitting the multiple listing service.

Disrupting the renter experience – for the better From showing to move-out, every part of the experience of renting a single-family home has been reshaped by the innovations of the past two decades. Even better, many of these disruptive changes are “win-win” improvements that make managing the property more financially viable while also offering a best-in-class experience to the renter.

Self-showing lockboxes make it so that a property manager no longer has to be present for a prospective renter to evaluate a home. This frees up the property manager to work on higher-value tasks, while rather than taking a scripted tour, the prospective renter can take their time and look closely at the parts of the home that interest them the most. The renter can then apply to live in the home, pay a security deposit and sign their lease, all using their smartphone.

“Last year, like many of our SFR peers, Progress Residential implemented self-showing technology, allowing prospective residents to view a home without having to be accompanied by a leasing associate,” said Dana Hamilton, Pretium Partners head of real estate.

“Today, Progress is building out a suite of tools to improve that self-showing experience, integrating video, QR codes and voice recognition technology in order to deliver customers the information they need where and when they need it most.”

Once the renter has moved in, smart home technology like Amazon’s Alexa or Nest thermostats have revolutionized how Americans interact with their homes, and many of today’s SFR owner-operators offer these and others to their residents. And rather than having to chase down a far-flung landlord, online maintenance requests make it simple for residents to get any issues fixed in a timely fashion.

In yet another “win-win,” increased connectedness and the Internet of Things allow property managers to solve problems before the resident even knows about them. Using connected devices like water leak sensors 64 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

or open door sensors, owner-operators can deploy their staff proactively, increasing efficiency and the satisfaction of a resident who is not inconvenienced by an issue with the home.

“At the end of the day, I firmly believe there is an intersection between serving our residents and meeting our business goals – both can be done,” Tricon American Homes President Kevin Baldridge said. “Doing good is good for business and I’d love our industry to be known for that.”

Finally, during worst-case scenarios like natural disasters, it is invaluable for owner-operators to be able to tap their technology networks to mobilize their staff and vendors in response and reliably contact their residents.

In the face of 2017’s unprecedented hurricane season, which hit states like Texas and Florida where single-family rental has a significant presence, the industry came together to support each other and their residents.

“During the aftermath of Harvey and Irma, all of the large operators were able to use their multi-regional resources and relationships with national vendors to very quickly respond to the damage left behind by the massive storms,” Baldridge said.

“In addition to the swift response, we decided early on to accommodate our impacted residents by giving them the option to move to other unaffected homes, hotels or let them out of lease if they desired,” he said. “Late fees were waived, and we worked with residents on lease payment timing.”

Changing housing for a changing world Lastly, the ways in which technology shapes the world around us — the way we work, live and play — have fundamentally altered American society, with massive implications for many of today’s pressing questions of housing affordability.

Telework, which is increasingly prevalent thanks to widespread internet access and video conferencing technology, may enable more Americans to relocate to less tight housing markets while retaining their desirable job. Home-sharing platforms like Airbnb and VRBO are shifting perceptions of rentership and rental income.

Technology companies like Microsoft have pledged resources toward housing affordability, in recognition of the fact that the tech sector is inextricably linked with these challenges.

Critics have argued that not every problem is one of technology, and they’re right about that. The fundamental challenge of housing affordability in the U.S. is one of too little supply and too much demand, and only policy changes to allow more building can bring costs down in a sustainable way.

But by embracing the latest innovations, from homebuilding to the renter experience, we can put many of the country’s — and the world’s — smartest minds to work building a housing economy that works for all Americans.

SFR’s tech-driven future Even as technology has already dramatically revolutionized single-family rental, disruptive new technologies are coming on line every day that continue to improve the experience for both the renter and the owner-operator of the home.

What’s most exciting about the current era of SFR, then, is how much more is left to be disrupted. Perhaps one day a prospective resident will be able to tour their dream rental home using a virtual reality headset, or artificial intelligence will enable property managers to predict and fix maintenance problems before they even happen.

“I am most excited to see how technology can continue to help the SFR sector mature, both for institutional and individual investors. The advent of cloud and mobile computing, as well as the emergence of AI and machine learning, provide potential to improve service, drive down costs, and increase accessibility to the sector for investors of all shapes and sizes,” Roofstock CEO Gary Beasley said. “I fundamentally believe in the attractiveness of U.S. housing as an investment, and over the next four years am confident we will see more investors getting exposure to SFR, whether through REITs, private funds, direct ownership or fractionalized interests.”

Another exciting recent trend in SFR is build-to-rent.

With housing prices having risen significantly from their post-crisis lows, many owner-operators today are partnering with home builders to develop new rental housing from the ground up, diversifying the industry and providing the market with desperately needed units of new supply. And even this new segment of the industry is being reshaped by technology, as innovations from drones to 3D printers change homebuilding, and easy accessibility of data allows owner-operators to decide where they can build rental homes to best meet rising demand. With less than 2% of the $3.1 trillion single-family rental asset class institutionally-owned, compared to 55% of multifamily, there’s plenty of room to innovate and grow.

“Most of today’s challenges are really future opportunities,” Singelyn said. “Over the past five years, the processes by which this industry has historically been managed have significantly changed. As a result, our customer service to prospective and current residents has not only improved but also created efficiency for landlords. While much has changed and improved over the past five years, much more needs to be done to continue these improvements and enhance the consistency of our execution.”

The way Americans work, live and play is changing, and the rental housing industry will change with it. But the skepticism of SFR’s early days has given way to widespread perceptions of a healthy and growing asset class, with the tech-driven property management model at the forefront. If SFR has proven anything over the past few years, it’s that a little disruption can go a long way.

6 innovative real estate companies Forbes fintech 50 celebrates the most innovative financial technology companies, and in 2019, several real estate companies made that list. Another four lenders made the list including Affirm, Kabbage, Nova Credit and Tala.

This list shows that many real estate companies are moving forward and pushing the edge of innovation in an industry that is not known to innovate. But that is beginning to change. And in fact, some of these companies also made it on HousingWire’s own 2019 Tech100 list. Turn to page 30 to read more about that.

Many in the single-family rental industry like to say that while single-family rentals are part of the housing sector, it’s really a technology industry, and nothing could be more true: Total investment in real estate technology has exploded, from $33 million in 2010 to more than $5 billion in 2017, and six real estate companies were named to Forbes’ 2019 Fintech 50.

Check out the six companies that were named to Forbes 2019 Fintech 50: 1. BLEND Funding: $160 million Location: San Francisco, California

2. CADRE Funding: $133 million Location: New York, New York

3. FUNDRISE Funding: $59 million Location: Washington, D.C.

4. LENDINGHOME Funding: $166 million Location: San Francisco, California

5. OPENDOOR Funding: $1 billion Location: San Francisco, California

6. ROOFSTOCK Funding: $75 million Location: Oakland, California

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SFR SOLUTIONS As the single-family market continues to flourish, new investors are jumping in to take advantage of the opportunity while existing investors are expanding their portfolios.

As the market evolves, both lenders and investors need products and services that are flexible and forward-looking. In this section, we highlight three companies delivering smart innovations in the SFR space.

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Amherst Residential

Green River Capital

Lima One Capital

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SFR Solutions AMHERST RESIDENTIAL

Amherst Residential Austin, Texas (512) 342-3000

amherst.com

FAST FACTS g A mherst Residential was established in

2012 in Austin, Texas g O ne of the largest owner/operators of

single-family rental homes, with more than 21,000 rental properties nationally currently under management Drew Flahive President Drew Flahive is President of Amherst Residential, leading the initiative to design and implement debt and equity financing strategies for its rapidly growing single-family rental business. Flahive is based at the firm’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, and works closely with the Main Street Renewal team as a member of the Main Street Renewal Senior Management Committee.

Flahive is also a senior member of the Vaca Morada team working to strengthen and scale the single-family rental platform.

Chris Avallone Co-Head of Institutional Single-Family Residential Christopher Avallone is Co-Head of Institutional Single-Family Residential at Amherst Residential and is responsible for executing all aspects of Amherst Residential’s single-family rental strategy in the U.S. Avallone is also Amherst Residential’s Head of Capital Management and is responsible for the execution of all equity and debt financing for Amherst Residential, its joint ventures and its funds. Avallone is based at the firm’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, and sits on the firm’s Management Committee and Finance Committee.

Joe Negri Co-Head of Institutional SingleFamily Residential Joe Negri is a Managing Director and Co-Head of Institutional Single-Family Residential at Amherst Residential. Negri joined Amherst Residential in 2012 as a member of its founding team, where he helped launch and manage the single-family residential investment infrastructure and led an in-depth review of potential investment markets for the firm. During his first few years at Amherst Residential, Negri underwrote and transacted on more than $3 billion of single-family real estate, and was instrumental in the design and growth of the property management operating platform, Main Street Renewal. More recently, Negri spearheaded the design and implementation of Amherst Residential’s Asset Management division, which oversees daily investments, leasing and capital expenditure activities for the platform.

68 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

T

he demand for safe, affordable, good-quality housing continues to rise in the U.S., but the bulk of today’s existing housing stock is outdated or, in some cases, toxic due to lead paint and poor conditions. As Millennials enter the housing market in greater numbers, many potential homebuyers don’t have sufficient capital for a down payment or good enough credit to obtain mortgage financing, and are often unable to renovate properties that are outdated or of sub-standard quality.

In response to these economic and financial challenges for prospective homebuyers, a new class of housing has emerged in the market to provide adequate homes for median-income families. Amherst Residential, an early pioneer in the single-family rental space, has developed innovative products and services to help solve these issues and enable investment into portfolios of U.S. single-family rental homes.

For those not interested in owning a home, Amherst Residential offers a portfolio of high-quality, affordable rental homes across the U.S. “We renovate these properties to a high standard and make them more affordable for individuals and families across the U.S.,” said Joe Negri, co-head of Institutional Single-Family Residential at Amherst Residential.

“Amherst Residential offers a variety of investment structures and partnerships in which we will purchase, renovate and lease or manage the properties for investors globally,” said Drew Flahive, president of Amherst Residential.

“The portfolios can be tailored to suit the risk-appetite of our investors and if they prefer to own the homes directly, we can arrange structures whereby Main Street Renewal, a subsidiary of Amherst Residential, provides property management services,” Flahive said.

In 2018, Amherst Residential launched Bungalo, its direct-to-consumer technology platform, to provide consumers with a streamlined way to buy a turnkey renovated home online. The platform allows individuals to search, tour and apply for homes that have been thoroughly inspected and renovated by designers, all through a user-friendly web interface.

Amherst Residential combines institutional-quality infrastructure with the agility of a startup. Underpinned by more than 20 years of property and real estate market data, as well as proprietary technology and analytics, Amherst Residential is uniquely positioned to identify and capitalize on valuable market opportunities, allowing the company to purchase properties with high home price appreciation potential.

Amherst Residential maintains a singular focus on real estate, allowing for a highly specialized approach to identifying new opportunities and the continuous evolution of its business model as the landscape further shifts and develops.

“We are continuing to grow our suite of products and services to offer institutional investors, retail investors and owner-occupants of real estate an easier, more efficient way to buy, sell, rent or invest in properties in the U.S.,” said Chris Avallone, co-head of Institutional Single-Family Residential at Amherst Residential.

COMPANY MISSION:

To connect investors with U.S. real estate market opportunities. As a recognized leader in the field of mortgage analytics and trading, we remain committed to using our capital, experience and proprietary technical resources to generate attractive risk adjusted returns for our clients, partners and employees, while preserving capital and maximizing market opportunities.

SFR Solutions GREEN RIVER CAPITAL, A RADIAN COMPANY

F

rom draw management to securitizations, the single-family rental market has grown in size and diversity since the financial crisis a decade ago. Green River Capital, founded in 2003, has grown and adapted along with it, becoming a trusted partner in the market by innovating and integrating a full suite of services to support new clients just entering the SFR space, as well as fulfilling the needs of experienced institutional investors.

Green River Capital (GRC) provides a range of services including a centralized, single point of contact for facilitating the valuation, diligence and underwriting services needed to support SFR securitizations, multi-borrower transactions and warehouse facilities. The company’s ability to shift focus from one business unit strategy to another is especially critical as the market continues to shift.

“Due to the availability of additional financing and liquidity, the market is shifting toward a fix-and-flip strategy, providing further opportunity for Green River Capital to offer advisory and diligence services,” said Richard Lundbeck, vice president of SFR. “With an emphasis on proper valuation and diligence for the fix-and-flip market, our company is uniquely qualified to meet these demands with its suite of real estate data and analytics products and diligence expertise.”

Founded in 2003, Green River Capital developed a client base of national and regional banks, mortgage lenders, servicers, investors, regulators and the GSEs (government sponsored enterprises) — managing more than 200,000 REO assets.

Upon its acquisition in 2012 by Clayton Holdings, Green River Capital created a division to service the needs of institutional investors and lenders of SFR properties.

In 2013, Green River Capital leveraged its core competency to provide a full suite of services or individual components for participants in the single-family rental space and acted as the diligence agent to perform all valuations for the very first SFR Securitization. In 2014, Clayton Holdings was acquired by Radian, a leading provider of mortgage insurance and related products and services.

“Coupled with Radian’s financial strength and customer relationships, along with data and analytics through our sister company, Red Bell Real Estate, Green River Capital is the leading provider of collateral review and validation services in the single-family rental market,” said Tim Reilly, executive vice president of Mortgage Services Operations.

With a consultative culture, Green River Capital offers valuable insight into lender diligence requirements, offering customized diligence and valuation products tailored to a lender’s specific loan guidelines and securitization requirements.

As the integration of artificial intelligence and big data continue to drive efficiencies and increase quality in the marketplace, Green River Capital will continue to leverage the latest technology as part of its mission to support its customer’s success in today’s rapidly evolving and connected world.

“We are committed to delivering innovative products and services that are informed by data and analytics and powered by technology, positioning us at the forefront of change for the SFR market,” said Michael Dziuba, senior vice president of Enterprise Sales.

COMPANY MISSION:

Green River Capital is dedicated to providing best-in-class services, quality results, reliable solutions, and is committed to excellence. Founded in 2003, GRC has managed over 200,000 REO assets. In 2013, GRC acted as the diligence agent to perform all valuations for the very first SFR Securitization. Since then, GRC has executed every deal in this space.

Green River Capital Midvale, Utah (801) 456-3231

greenrivercap.com

FAST FACTS g Founded in 2003, and acquired in 2014

by Radian g Based in Salt Lake City, Utah g Rated MOR RS1 as a residential compo-

nent servicer by Morningstar Tim Reilly Executive Vice President, Mortgage Services Operations Tim Reilly’s 25-year career includes executive positions in default and asset management with Bank United, Deutsche Bank Securities, Impac Companies, ABN-AMRO, and Fairbanks Capital Corp.

He is active in industry associations, including the Mortgage Bankers Association, and has served on advisory boards for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and United States Foreclosure Network Attorneys. Reilly holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin with continued executive education in finance from Stanford University and Six Sigma training provided

by GE Capital.

Michael Dziuba Senior Vice President, Enterprise Sales Michael Dziuba manages Radian’s Mortgage and Real Estate Services Sales team. Dziuba has been with Radian for 18 years in various capacities, including SVP Capital Markets Sales, National Field Sales Manager, and SVP National Business Development Sales. Prior to joining Radian, Dziuba held positions at GE Capital, M&T Bank, Smith Barney and First Boston. He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Northeastern University and an MBA in Management from the Stern School of Business at NYU.

Ri c h a r d L u n d b e c k Vi ce President, Single Family Rental Operations Richard Lundbeck joined Green River Capital in November of 2014 to lead the component services business operations, focusing on single-borrower single-family rental debt facility and securitization products and services. Since joining the company, he has successfully streamlined many parts of the operation, increasing efficiencies through his hands-on leadership of the team. Lundbeck has been key in cultivating and maintaining client relationships. Lundbeck also oversees the additions of new business lines within the department, such as “fix-and-flip” lending, as the traditional single-borrower SFR has begun to evolve.

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SFR Solutions AMHERST RESIDENTIAL

Greenville, South Carolina (800) 390.4212

limaone.com

FAST FACTS g F ounded in 2012 in Greenville, South

Carolina g Lending in 42 states with FixNFlip, long-

term rental and multifamily apartment loans g Consistently one of the top three inde-

pendent national lenders in the real estate investor space g C elebrated over $1 billion in originations

in 2018 Jeff Tennyson Chief Executive Officer Jeff Tennyson joined Lima One Capital as CEO in January 2018. Tennyson brings more than 30 years of financial services leadership, operating and executive experience to the company and has held C-level executive roles in both single-family rental and residential mortgage lenders.

Tennyson is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a BBA degree from Harding University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Tennyson was honored in HousingWire’s 2016 class of Vanguards.

John Thompson Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer While serving our country for over 20 years in the United States Marine Corps, John Thompson was decorated for “valor” and “heroic achievement” leading over 300 combat missions in Fallujah and Ramadi, Iraq. Upon retiring from active duty, he co-founded Lima One Capital. As chief operating officer, Thompson oversees Lima One Capital’s daily operations. Lima One has been ranked consistently as South Carolina’s Most Ethical Company, Fastest Growing Company, and Best Places to Work.

Trez Moore Managing Director of Capital Markets Trez Moore is responsible for positioning Lima One Capital for strong long-term growth through a strategic capital market strategy, oversight of the company’s mortgage-backed securitization activity and ensuring ongoing liquidity for the company’s mortgage lending. Moore has over 40 years of experience in capital markets, origination, and risk in both residential and commercial real estate. He has in-depth knowledge of the primary and secondary mortgage markets, including credit risk and portfolio management, finance, servicing and securitization.

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L

ima One Capital was founded by two Marine infantry veterans who entered the real estate investment space after serving together on active duty in Ramadi, Iraq. As active real estate investors, they were looking for a better, more flexible and innovative way to acquire funding for their projects. Lima One’s innovative mortgage loans allow investors to acquire, renovate, construct and sell FixNFlip properties (aka residential transition loans “RTL”), acquire or refinance rental properties to hold for long-term investment income (“SFR”), and acquire, renovate and stabilize multifamily apartment properties.

“Our loans provide real estate investors a more cost-effective way to acquire their properties and provide a higher return on their investment. In addition, our loans transform America’s neighborhoods and allow families a better quality of life. Our borrowers acquire properties needing meaningful improvement as well as rental properties that assist families in living in a better quality neighborhood,” said Jeff Tennyson, chief executive officer at Lima One. The SFR market continues to grow into a vibrant real estate investment industry.

In addition, the emergence of an active securitization market and institutional buyers continue to allow lenders to provide competitive interest rates, which creates a better return for all investors on their real estate projects.

“The SFR and RTL markets have matured considerably in the past few years and is a recognized lending/ investment class in its own right,” said Trez Moore, managing director of capital markets at Lima One Capital. “The ‘institutionalization’ of SFR has allowed considerably more liquidity and lower rates for sponsors. We are quite bullish on the prospects of SFR in today’s environment.”

The company expanded significantly over the course of 2018, celebrating over $1 billion of lending. Lima One will continue to invest heavily in technology throughout 2019, allowing for more efficiencies in their closing process, as well as reducing loan costs to deliver an enhanced return for real estate investors.

Leveraging technology and automation, Lima One enhances the customer experience by managing the construction process and servicing the loan in-house. It’s their people that make the difference – they recognize that clients want to speak to a knowledgeable real estate professional who will assist in a timely, consistent manner to quickly close loans. They built Lima One by listening to and delivering results for their clients.

“Once you lead over 300 combat missions, you gain a new appreciation for the value of teamwork and core values. These founding principles transcend into our focus on hiring the right people to create a culture that encourages problem solving through results-driven planning,” said John Thompson, co-founder and chief operating officer of Lima One. “We’ve built a collaborative and communicative culture to create a level of innovation and client service that help make our clients’ projects better.”

“As we enter 2019 with plans to continue our national expansion, we’re excited to share the Lima One difference with real estate investors across the United States,” Tennyson said. “We believe this will not only positively impact their investment return, but continue to add an increasing professionalism to private money lending.”

COMPANY MISSION:

Founded by Marines, Lima One Capital is a specialty finance company that originates and finances first mortgage business purpose loans to real estate investors for non-owner-occupied investment properties nationwide. Our mission is to be the nation’s premier lender for real estate investors.

June 13-14, 2019 | Charlotte, NC

A summit to bring marketers of all experiences into the same space to build relationships, identify best practices, and gain the necessary knowledge to execute a successful marketing strategy.

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C O M PA N Y S P O T L I G H T:

SWBC | SPONSORED CONTENT

SWBC delivers scalable, flexible LPI programs AutoPilot client portal offers direct access to a whole suite of products

T

he last few years have seen a spate of natural disasters, from historic flooding to out-of-control wildfires, making it more important than ever for financial institutions to partner with the right provider of lender-placed insurance to protect their assets. Servicers and investors need an insurance partner that will not only provide a range of products, but leverage technology to make the whole process efficient and transparent for the financial institution and the homeowner.

SWBC, an international financial services company founded in 1976, delivers streamlined lender-placed protection programs that satisfy regulators, servicers and homeowners.

SWBC is a flexible partner for financial institutions of any size, with scalable mortgage protection services that allow clients to pick the programs that fit them best.

Financial institutions have a range of options to choose from, including web-based self-service, perfect for smaller portfolios; MortgageFlex, which lets clients control customer contact but leverages SWBC technology; and full outsourcing.

Not only is SWBC adaptable to the many business needs of investors, but the company is able to work with multiple carriers on behalf of servicers, ensuring that the best possible insurance plan is in place to protect the servicers’ collateral.

“SWBC is not simply an insurance tracking vendor, and as such we have products that fit the many needs of the institutions we work with, including auto loan insurance tracking, collections, payment solutions, mortgage originations, and more,” said Janet Loriot, executive vice president, Financial Institution Group-Operations for SWBC. “We are made up of 16 different divisions and many more products to address the many needs of our clients.”

COMPLIANCE AND REGULATIONS Meeting regulatory guidelines from numerous governing bodies, including the CFPB, the GSEs, the FDIC, the NFIP, and individual states, is one of the most important aspects of any LPI partner, and top of mind for financial institutions.

SWBC has built a robust legal and compliance team that stays ahead of the changing compliance landscape by monitoring for new and updated requirements through a number of industry boards, GSE discussions, industry-specific conferences, a wide range of contacts with servicers, and more.

“Our team is constantly reviewing the state of the industry— not only with recently implemented legislation, but also legislation and audit topics that are being discussed,” said Mark 72 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

Hein, chief executive officer of SWBC’s Financial Institution Group.

More than 300 financial institutions rely on SWBC’s 30 years of experience in providing LPI services, which includes 20 years offering full outsourcing services. SWBC’s expertise allows it to keep informed and ahead of changing compliance requirements while still being flexible to the business needs of the investors that servicers are doing business with.

“Many times different investors have a different appetite for risk, and SWBC prides itself in being able to accommodate those differing needs,” Loriot said.

The company’s track record in the industry and reputation for excellence are some of the reasons that one of its owners, Charlie Amato, was appointed to the board of the Federal Reserve of Dallas representing the San Antonio area in 2016.

INSPIRED TECHNOLOGY SWBC has long been a pioneer in developing innovations to serve financial institutions, and recently has made significant investments in infrastructure and technology to provide bestin-class solutions designed for an industry that is constantly evolving.

SWBC’s AutoPilot client portal is an intuitive, mobile-responsive web platform that delivers transparency for both servicers and their customers.

Using AutoPilot, financial institutions can successfully manage their insurance services with easy, on-demand access to their portfolios, records and performance reports from third-party partners.

The portal not only provides a high-level view of their business, but enables staff to efficiently perform day-to-day tasks and operations. With AutoPilot, servicers can review borrower insurance status and updates, research loan-level details, pull call recordings, and order policies, letters, and quotes — all in a single cloud-based platform.

In addition, if the financial institution leverages SWBC’s Payments program, staff can originate and track card-based and ACH loan payments and access data from all SWBC services.

These capabilities solve some of the most pressing pain points for servicers and investors, streamlining their workflow in a way that leaves a clear trail for auditors.

“The AutoPilot portal is the lender’s one stop for all their needs, not only for our lender-placed insurance product, but

C O M PA N Y S P O T L I G H T:

SWBC EXECUTIVES

for any product that we are currently providing services for the lender,” Hein said.

SW BC’s innovat ion benef its customers as well. At IMCOVERED.com, customers can use the intuitive platform to view the status of their insurance, monitor claims, look at the history of any letters that were sent to them, and upload their insurance information — from any connected device.

Customers can even take a picture of their policy for upload or make a payment. And if they have questions, they can interact with SWBC’s AI bot, Emily, to get answers.

“As a society, we continue to move in a direction where immediate answers to questions are expected, and self-service is the fastest way to provide that information,” said Hein. “For

SWBC | SPONSORED CONTENT

clients, providing them a solution like AutoPilot portal solves that need.”

With SWBC’s AutoPilot, financial institutions hit the organizational sweet spot where they can manage regulatory concerns, solve operational challenges, and provide incredible service to their customers, all in the same place. The client portal is just the latest in a long line of innovative products and services, which speaks to the company’s overall culture.

“At the heart of SWBC, you’ll find our core values: integrity, service, trust, commitment, accountability, excellence, and teamwork. As an organization, we live this every day, whether it’s servicing our customers or recognizing and working with our teammates,” Hein said.

Charlie Amato Chairman and Co-founder

Gary Dudley President and Co-founder

Mark Hein CEO, The Financial Institution Group

Janet Loriot EVP, The Financial Institution Group

Charlie Amato is the chairman and cofounder of SWBC. With more than 40 years of experience in all aspects of insurance operations, underwriting, and product development, Amato is known in the business community for his innovative, relationship building approach. Amato is a board member for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, San Antonio branch. He is also a regent for the Texas State University System. He serves as vice chairman for the Texas Business Leadership Council, board member for Lone Star Capital Bank, and national director for Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity. Amato is an investor in the San Antonio Spurs and a board member for the Silver and Black Give Back. In addition, Amato serves on the board of the CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Gar y Dudley co-founded SWBC in 1976 where he ser ves as its president. For more than four decades, Dudley has been instrumental in developing SWBC’s business model and dedication to customer ser vice. He ser ves on the President’s Council and College of Business Administration Advisory Board at Sam Houston State University. Dudley is also on the Board of Directors for Silver and Black Give Back, in addition to being an investor in the San Antonio Spurs. He is a board member for The Greater San Antonio Chamber of Commerce and the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation. He is also co-founder for HCV Coalition for The Cure.

Ma r k H e i n j o i n e d SWB C i n 2004 and serves as CEO of The Financial Institution Group. This division is responsible for SWBC’s array of clients in the credit union, bank, mortgage servicer, and auto dealer markets. With more than 1,300 clients and $250 million in revenues, Hein is responsible for establishing the vision and strategic objectives and driving long-term, profitable growth. Prior to SWBC, Hein had experience as an executive team member for Design Business Sy s tem s an d AEG ON, USA / Creditor Resources. He alsoserved as President for three reinsurance companies.

Janet Loriot joined SWBC in 2015.

She is executive vice president of The Financial Institution Group and manages the overall o p e r a t i o n s o f o u r l e n d e rplaced insurance business. She is responsible for mor t ga ge and auto operations including customer ser vice, mail, data capture, exception processing, and claims. Prior to joining SWBC, Loriot was a senior vice president of Senior Group Operations for Bank of America Home Loans for nine years. Before that, she worked for Key Bank as Vice President of Call Center and Voice Applications. She has more than 25 years of experience in the financial services industry.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 73

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RentWire

Fannie and Freddie take over AN INSIDE LOOK AT THE GSES’ RECORD-BREAKING YEAR IN MULTIFAMILY

BY BEN LANE BY just about any measure, last year was a record-breaking one for both of the government-sponsored enterprises’ multifamily business, as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continued expanding their support for multifamily real estate throughout 2018.

Each of the GSEs’ grew its multifamily portfolio in every quarter of 2018 and each increased the number of units that it was responsible for financing by a significant margin over 2017.

And it looks like things won’t be changing any time soon.

Speaking before a Senate panel earlier this year, Mark Calabria, the Trump administration’s nominee to lead the Federal Housing Finance Agency, said that he doesn’t anticipate rocking the boat much, if at all, on the multifamily side of the business when he takes over.

“Multifamily performed well during the crisis,” Calabria said in response to a question about the history of the GSEs’ multifamily business. “I don’t think we need the same kinds of changes on the multifamily side that we need on the single-family side.”

That sentiment may not come as much of a surprise to close observers.

When Calabria was first rumored to be the Trump administration’s choice to lead the FHFA, analysts at Keefe, Bruyette, &

Woods suggested that Calabria’s impact on the GSEs’ multifamily business would likely be limited, even citing Jared Kushner’s influence in the administration and his family’s real estate business as reasons that the Trump administration may not want to mess with what’s working in multifamily.

That will probably come as welcome news to the multifamily market, considering the GSEs’ growing place in the market.

Both GSEs reported earlier this year that their multifamily business grew significantly in 2018. Freddie Mac grew its multifamily portfolio $33 billion in 2018, while Fannie Mae grew its portfolio by nearly $30 billion over the course of the year.

Freddie Mac also hit all-time highs in both multifamily security issuance and total multifamily production last year.

According to the GSE, its multifamily production was $78 billion in 2018, beating its previous record of $73.2 billion, set in 2017.

“New business activity was a record $78 billion for the full-year 2018, an increase of approximately 7% from the full-year 2017, while outstanding purchase commitments increased 29% to nearly $19 billion, primarily reflecting continued strong demand for multifamily loan products and continued competitive pricing HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 75

“

We’re extremely proud of our efforts to meet our affordability mission and our continued leadership of the multifamily industry in both purchase volume and securitization.”

- Debby Jenkins

76 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

efforts,” the GSE said.

Of that total, $77.5 billion was loan purchase and guarantee volume, while $500 million came in the form of Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity investments. Freddie Mac returned to the LIHTC financing market last year after not taking part in the program for 10 years.

“We’re extremely proud of our efforts to meet our affordability mission and our continued leadership of the multifamily industry in both purchase volume and securitization,” said Debby Jenkins, Freddie Mac executive vice president and head of multifamily.

“In the last decade, we have fundamentally transformed into a company that thrives on innovation. We’re working to harness that innovation every day—to create and enhance offerings to meet customer’s diverse needs, to lower our cost of capital and protect taxpayers with innovative securities, and to lead the multifamily industry into its next great chapter,” Jenkins continued.

“Without question, our team at Freddie Mac multifamily and our network of sellers and servicers are the driving force behind our successes and we thank everyone for their dedication to this business and industry,” Jenkins added.

The GSE’s multifamily portfolio also continued to increase, continuing a trend stretching back several quarters.

According to the GSE, its multifamily guarantee portfolio increased 17% in 2018 over 2017 to $237 billion.

More than a year ago, Freddie Mac’s multifamily guarantee portfolio was $184 billion. Since then, it has risen to $203 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017, to $213 billion in the first quarter of 2018, to $220 billion in the second quarter, then to $226 billion in the third quarter, and finally to $237 billion at the end of the year.

Along the same lines, Freddie has grown its support of the multifamily industry in other tangible ways in the last few years.

For example, the GSE has increasingly financed more multifamily rental units over the last five years.

In 2014, Freddie Mac financed approximately 413,000 units.

That figure rose to 650,000 in 2015, then to 739,000 units in 2016, then to 820,000 units in 2017, and finally to 866,000 last year.

It was much of the same for Fannie Mae, which has the larger multifamily portfolio of the GSEs. According to Fannie Mae, its multifamily portfolio topped $300 billion during the 4th quarter, finishing up the year at $305.9 billion. That’s up nearly $30 billion over the course of the year.

At the end of 2017, Fannie Mae’s multifamily portfolio was $277.3 billion.

Fannie Mae may have made more money in 2018 and its multifamily portfolio may be larger than Freddie Mac’s, but Freddie Mac has it beat when it comes to financing units last year.

And while Freddie Mac financed 866,000 units last year, Fannie Mae supported 777,000 units of multifamily housing in 2018, but its business still grew in 2018.

RentWire

In 2016, Fannie financed 724,000 units. That figure grew to 770,000 units in 2017, and it grew again by 7,000 units in 2018.

And as Calabria implied, there’s little sign that things will change moving forward.

Both of the GSEs recently re-entered the Low Income Housing Tax Credit market, which presents both with additional opportunities to support affordable housing.

Fannie Mae also recently announced that it is doubling its small loan limit for multifamily mortgages as part of its effort to ensure increased affordable housing supply.

Earlier this year, the GSE increased its small loan limit to $6 million, doubling the previous limit of $3 million or less nationwide and increasing the limit for certain high-cost areas by $1 million.

“Increasing the loan limit for our small mortgage loan program will provide more capital and liquidity to the small loan marketplace and help address the significant affordable workforce housing supply issues facing our country today,” said Michael Winters, Fannie Mae vice president of multifamily customer engagement. “Our commitment to providing sustainable financing solutions that enhance affordability, security and convenience of financing smaller properties plays an important role in securing a key source of housing for working families.”

Freddie also plans to continue expanding its place in the multifamily market, as well as reshape how the market functions, to a certain degree.

“We’re proud of our successes in 2018, but we do not measure them by numbers alone,” Jenkins said about the GSE’s plans for this year. “As we look forward, we’re going to continue working to address the persistent affordability challenges facing countless renters.”

“In fact, far too many Americans are struggling to find suitable housing at a reasonable price, and we are continuing our work toward innovations that can help,” Jenkins added. “We’re also striving to improve the customer experience through our digital transformation initiative. This multiyear effort will leverage new technologies to redefine the commercial loan experience so that it is more transparent and efficient.”

Put it all together and we’re likely looking at 2019 being yet another record-breaking year for the GSEs.

Freddie Mac: Grew multifamily portfolio $33 billion in 2018 to $237 billion Multifamily production was $78 billion in 2018 (an all-time high) up from $73.2 billion in 2017. This is an increase of 7%.

Of that, $77.5 billion was loan purchase and guarantee volume, $500 million was from Low-Income Housing Tax Credit equity investments

Financed 866,000 units in 2018

Fannie Mae: Grew multifamily portfolio $30 billion in 2018 to $277.3 billion Multifamily production was $65.4 billion in 2018 More than 90% of the multifamily units financed were affordable to families earning at or below 120% of the area median income

Financed 777,000 units in 2018 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 77

78 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

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Letters to the editor: Mortgage chaos at TIAA? BROKERS CALL OUT CHASE AND LOANDEPOT

BY JACOB GAFFNEY IN February, HousingWire covered the acquisition of TIAA retail operations by U.S. Bank.

As part of that deal, TIAA Bank said it is moving to get out of retail mortgage lending and will shift its focus to digital mortgages. The journey so far has not gone smoothly for loan officers.

One the day HousingWire covered the announcement, TIAA closed its operations center in Jacksonville, Florida, as well as two other branches, laying off nearly 200 staff members in the process.

Loan officers report being caught off guard by the announcement.

• One reader wrote in: Obviously communicating with its employees was not at the top of TIAA corporate’s to-do list on Thursday 2/21/19. TIAA must have really been bleeding money in the mortgage division to close it after only 18 months and not give any notice to the departments it was closing. At this point in time it does not sound like the employees or middle management know where the loans-in-process are going to end up.

The loan officers who had their loans being processed in the Jacksonville mortgage operations center definitely were not informed that the operations center was being closed today by TIAA,

did not know where to find their loans or who to speak with in regards to the status of their loans. These loan officers were at a loss about what to tell their clients or if they would even be paid on these loans.

After receiving this email, we reached out to TIAA for comment.

Elizabeth Anderson, the TIAA director of public relations, assured loan officers they were doing all they could to honor these deals.

“The strategic realignment of our residential home lending business will have no impact on the review and processing of existing mortgage applications,” Anderson said. “To ensure a seamless transition, we have resources in place to assist all clients through their home loan experience.”

Let’s hope for the best.

In other LendingLife news: loanDepot announced its new digital mortgage, which it says can identify significant time and cost-savings for borrowers in seven minutes.

The lender claims its digital mortgage, mello smartloan, can close a loan in just eight days. loanDepot combined its proprietary mello loan origination technology with expanded intelligent data sources to create its end-to-end digital mortgage. And it’s eightdays-to-close claim is down significantly from the market’s avHOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 79

“...The homebuyers and sellers are stressed not so much due to the process, but due to compressing their lives into a ridiculous window of time...”

erage of 43 days, according to the latest Origination Report from Ellie Mae. “We designed the mello smartloan to mirror the digital experience that today’s consumer wants,” loanDepot Founder and CEO Anthony Hsieh said. “The mello smartloan leapfrogs decades of traditional industry reliance on paper documentation and physical files.”

“Our unmatched technology accelerates beyond current frontend data validation techniques to eliminate homebuyers’ biggest stressors: voluminous documentation requirements and extended loan processing and cycle times,” Hsieh said. “The mello smartloan eliminates the paperwork and the guesswork while delivering a great product at a great value.”

Also, Chase Home Lending now claims it can close on a borrower’s mortgage in as little as three weeks and it’s putting its money where its mouth is to back up that claim.

Chase announced recently that it is rolling out a program called Closing Guarantee for its existing customers. Through the program, the bank promises to close a mortgage in 21 days. And it 80 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

“

The strategic realignment of our residential home lending business will have no impact on the review and processing of existing mortgage applications. To ensure a seamless transition, we have resources in place to assist all clients through their home loan experience.”

-Elizabeth Anderson, TIAA director of public relations

“...Just my opinion but seems a majority are trying to create the best mortgage for the “best buyer...” is putting its money where its mouth is – the bank promises that if it doesn’t close on the loan in the timeframe, it will pay the borrower $1,000.

“We’re here to help our customers get into their new homes as fast as possible,” said Sean Grzebin, Chase Home Lending head of mortgage originations. “Our Closing Guarantee underscores our dedication to our customers and what matters to them. We want to reward our loyal Chase customers looking to buy a new home – with competitive rates, a chance to earn ultimate rewards points, discounts and now the edge on speed.”

The program is available to Chase customers who have a checking account, credit card or car loan with the bank. Customers must also be using Chase as their mortgage lender.

The 21-day closing guarantee window begins when the prospective borrower completes their mortgage application with Chase.

Loan officers were quick to email in their response to the loanDepot and Chase news.

• One broker called BS on the quick closing time promises: More marketing schtick! I’ve been originating loans for over 33 years. In that time I’ve moved four times. With two dogs, a teenager, a working spouse and a very busy life, I can’t imagine why anyone would want to even think about moving in 21 days, much less eight! Every originator and Realtor knows when human beings are in the process of buying a home and moving they go from a rational level headed existence to an emotional roller coaster. We leave the tea-cup ride at Disney and head directly to Space Mountain. Now we want to suggest they do so and bring all their belongings with them? I tell Realtors all the time: Schedule a 45-day close and be prepared for the smoothest transaction, great results, happy clients and future referrals. I can close in two weeks now. It’s a carnival show every time. The homebuyers and sellers are stressed not so much do to the process, but due to compressing their lives into a ridiculous window of time. Hell, it takes me a couple of days to find my car keys sometimes, you want me to move my family in eight??

Thanks but uh, no.

• Another agreed: In 1992, I closed $7 million a month in North Texas. I had billboards along the toll road in Dallas that read: loan app to closing-10 days.

And we did this with full paper processing. So to see the crap they come out with today is a joke.

Why can’t they get it done in 10 days. Management thought they were smart by having a processor process 50 files at a time to save the salary of adding another processor. I had 20 files per processor and a dedicated copy person for the processors to use. Title companies delivered title work to me in three to five days, surveys were ordered up front, my appraiser delivered our appraisals within five days, my wholesaler would underwrite file and omit at the same time. Approval within seven days, docs drawn and funds ordered and to title company by day nine.

• A third questions the extent of the usefulness of the products: Virtual VS real world seems to be all the buzz for sure.

I think it’s a combination of everything. If I back into our current turntimes from the closing date we are at eight days as well. Now enter third party vendors. How does loanDepot control VA appraisal turntimes? Oh, that’s right they can’t!

I have no doubt that efficiencies with the blend of digital infrastructure has helped or industry tremendously, but I think it will depend significantly on a small parameter of buyers E.g. W2 high FICO VS self employed with 10 rentals.

Again, Chase is focusing on the small pocket of buyers and products it services well, not government loans.

Just my opinion but seems a majority are trying to create the best mortgage for the “best buyer.” As for organizations like ours, there are more buyers that don’t fit that model than there are those that do.

• And here’s a fourth opinion on the news from a loan officer who calls these claims “misleading marketing” by large banks and large lenders: 1. The marketing of saving thousands without full disclosure, or an APR. The costs you will pay and how long it will take to start saving money after your expenses. Rates are at historical lows??

2. The marketing of a no closing cost mortgage. This is one of the biggest misleading ads. They don’t say your interest rate is inflated and higher than the rate you qualify for. The higher rate pays for closing costs. Plus they don’t specify what closing costs are and what pre-pays are. The consumers are misled assuming they don’t have to pay for anything.

4. Large banks that offer better rates and costs if they move their portfolio to their bank and or open certain accounts. If you’re offering loans for mortgages, it should be the same for all applicants who qualify for the same type of loan.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 81

ReverseReview

82 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

DID YOU KNOW Jessica Guerin sends Reverse Review updates twice a week by email?

Go to HousingWire.com to sign up and stay informed!

ReverseReview

Experts say home equity is key to solving country’s looming retirement crisis HOMEOWNERS HAVE RECORD AMOUNTS OF EQUITY, BUT MOST ARE RELUCTANT TO TOUCH IT

BY JESSICA GUERIN

AS Baby Boomers continue to retire en masse without sufficient savings to support their later years, it’s become glaringly apparent that the country is on the brink of a retirement crisis.

Pensions have dwindled, Social Security is insufficient, health care costs are rising and people are living longer than ever before, carrying little resources with them into retirement.

But many older Americans do have one major source of wealth at their disposal: their house. And for some, utilizing their home equity could be the answer to their late-in-life money problems.

RECORD AMOUNTS OF EQUITY In fact, the number of equity-rich properties in the U.S. has climbed to a record high.

A recent report by ATTOM Data Solutions revealed that more than 14.5 million American properties were rich with equity in

the fourth quarter of 2018. ATTOM defines equity-rich properties as those with secured loans that are 50% or less of the property’s estimated market value.

According to ATTOM’s analysis, the fourth quarter’s total rose by more than 834,000 year over year, marking the highest level since ATTOM began tracking data in 2013.

IMPORTANT PUBLIC POLICY All of this equity has some experts looking at ways older homeowners can utilize this tremendous source of wealth to support a comfortable retirement.

It has led some to insist that reverse mortgages – which allow older homeowners to access their home equity and remain in their homes – are an important public policy that must be preserved for future generations.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 83

ReverseReview Tapping home equity is essential to solving the country’s retirement crisis, said Alicia Munnell, Boston College Center for Retirement Research director.

“It’s very clear that for most middle-income people, their house is their largest asset,” Munnell said. “In the past, they really haven’t touched this asset in retirement, but we are in an environment where Social Security is providing lower replacement rates, and 401(k) plans have modest balances, and the time will come when the only way people will be able to maintain their standard of

living will be to tap their home equity.”

The Urban Institute’s Laurie Goodman agreed that reverse mortgages could help millions of Americans achieve a more comfortable retirement.

Goodman pointed out that nearly 37% of senior homeowners are worried about their finances retirement, while many of them are sitting on a mountain of housing wealth – more than $3 trillion.

“Tapping into home equity is a possible solution to the financial

A recent report by ATTOM Data Solutions revealed that more than 14.5 million American properties were rich with equity in the fourth quarter of 2018. The quarter’s total rose more than 834,000 year over year, marking the highest level since ATTOM began tracking data in 2013.

“

The bottom line is that there is enormous untapped housing wealth for this age group [elderly homeowners] and a significant untapped market for the housing finance industry.”

84 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

ReverseReview

“It’s very clear that for most middle-income people, their house is their largest asset.” strain facing some elderly homeowners,” Goodman said. “The bottom line is that there is enormous untapped housing wealth for this age group and a significant untapped market for the housing finance industry.”

SOLVING THE RETIREMENT INCOME PUZZLE What many people don’t know is that reverse mortgages are not just for those who are strapped for cash.

When used strategically in retirement, reverse mortgages can be a smart financial planning tool, and here’s why: When a homeowner over the age of 62 refinances their traditional mortgage into a reverse mortgage, they can make their mortgage payments optional.

For those who are on the brink of retirement and staring down the barrel of a limited, fixed income, this could make all the difference.

Retirement income experts demonstrate that it’s all about the ability to weather volatility in the stock market, making the most of your available assets so that you can enjoy a long and comfortable retirement, said Shelley Giordano, Funding Longevity Task Force chair.

“The idea is that when your stock portfolio is doing well, you can go ahead and make the monthly payments on your reverse mortgage, and if your portfolio doesn’t have positive returns, stop making those payments,” Giordano explained. “The advantage is that it allows the borrower to have some control over his cash flow.”

Another added bonus?

When a borrower makes payments on a reverse mortgage – whether it’s the full payment or just the interest payment – they are contributing to the growth of a line of credit, which is available to draw upon at any time should an emergency arise.

This could be a gamechanger for the increasing number of older Americans who are carrying mortgage debt into retirement.

Researchers at the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College revealed that older households are more likely to hold a mortgage, and that they have larger mortgage balances, than in previous decades. The number of homeowners 65 and older with a mortgage grew 39% in the last 15 years, their study uncovered.

The situation has led the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to state that this increase in mortgage debt among older homeowners is “threatening the retirement security of millions of older Americans.”

Giordano said it makes sense for many middle-class Americans to leverage their housing wealth with a HECM to support their

retirement.

“If you have a regular mortgage, you still have to make those payments come hell or high water, and that can be a problem,” she said. “Fewer fixed expenses in retirement means a greater ability to withstand volatility. It just makes sense.”

A WIDESPREAD RELUCTANCE Still, despite record amounts of equity and proven strategies putting it to use, Americans are reluctant to tap this resource.

Goodman pointed out the massive market potential.

An Urban Institute study that revealed there are 920,580 U.S. households headed by someone over 65 that have an annual income at or below $20,000 and a liquid net worth at or below $50,000, but they also have at least $100,000 in home equity.

“These folks should be looking at using their home equity to help them manage their finances,” Goodman said. “All together, these less than 1 million households have $208 billion in home equity they could be using.”

But they’re not.

Goodman said reverse mortgages have a number of impediments preventing them from mainstream use, including consumer misconceptions and the loan’s high cost and complexity. But these issues aren’t the only problems. Goodman said there’s a collective reluctance among older homeowners to utilize home equity.

“Even if all the structural impediments were removed, behavioral and attitudinal barriers would keep many senior homeowners from tapping their housing wealth,” she said.

Munnell agreed.

“It always seemed like a program with a lot of promise… I thought it would one day be routine,” she said. “But as you know, it’s not. The concept is simple, but the execution is not. It’s just been a very difficult path to get people to adopt reverse mortgages as part of their retirement planning.”

Goodman said that even though reverse mortgages have not gained widespread acceptance, they could help both low- and high-income homeowners achieve a more financially secure retirement.

“For low-income retirees or those who are financially burdened but own substantial housing wealth, tapping home equity could obviate the need to cut spending on essentials, such as food, health and medicine,” she said. “High-income households could leverage equity to modify their homes to improve in-home safety and mobility.”

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 85

CFPB Watch

86 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

CFPB Watch

Rep. Maxine Waters vows to fully empower CFPB employees ADDRESSED SUFFERING MORALE AT AGENCY

BY KELSEY RAMÍREZ

HOUSE Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters recently sent a letter to employees of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, promising to fully empower them to protect consumers.

In the letter, Waters said the CFPB had faced challenges over the past two years, and expressed her concern that morale is suffering at the agency. She said the CFPB should be a place employees can be proud of their work and confident of the value they provide in protecting consumers.

“I am writing to reassure you of the importance and value of your work, and to let you know, in no uncertain terms, that the anti-consumer actions mandated by Trump appointees will not be tolerated,” Waters said in the letter. “I will work hard to ensure that you will once again be fully empowered to perform your duties on behalf of America’s consumers.”

Waters also emphasized the ongoing importance of the bureau by addressing its foundations and what its employees do every day.

“The Consumer Bureau is a key part of financial reform,” she wrote. “After the financial crisis and the subprime meltdown a

decade ago, Congress recognized that Americans needed a new watchdog that could swiftly and effectively crack down on unscrupulous financial practices and products, and created the Consumer Bureau as a key part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.” “Since the creation of the Consumer Bureau, you have helped people around the country with their mortgages, credit cards, student loans, and other financial products and services; punished financial institutions that have harmed consumers; put money back in the pockets of consumers; and implemented consumer protections to help individuals and families take control of their economic lives,” Waters continued.

She encouraged the bureau’s employees to take heart in the knowledge that millions of Americans have benefitted from their efforts.

And Waters said that the CFPB has many “friends and allies in Congress” that will stand up for them.

“I have been concerned that actions taken, and changes made

by Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney were contrary to both the spirit and plain letter of the law and

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 87

CFPB Watch Mulvaney vs.

Dems • In February 2018, Mulvaney’s CFPB pulled back from its investigation of the data breach at Equifax, which exposed the personal information of 148 million U.S. consumers to hackers.

• After being appointed to the position during the week after Thanksgiving in 2017, Mulvaney drew criticism in April 2018 as he had yet to initiate any enforcement actions.

• Mulvaney is known for having once called the federal agency a “sick, sad joke.”

• During the CFPB’s 2018 Semi-Annual Report, Mulvaney confirmed that he still didn’t believe the bureau should exist.

• When Democrats sent him letters or called on him for answers, Mulvaney didn’t respond, saying if they wanted answers they should reduce the independence of the bureau. appear to be designed to frustrate the Consumer Bureau’s mission,” she wrote.

After Democrats regained power in the House of Representatives, the housing industry began calls to open and investigation on former CFPB Acting Director Mick Mulvaney. Democrats quickly geared up for an onslaught of investigations into President Donald Trump’s administration.

And according to Politico, Democrats do, in fact, plan to look into the soft regulatory environment ushered in by Mulvaney.

Under his term, consumer protections eroded, the Democrats claim.

Previously, Waters pledged that if she is selected to lead the committee, she will place a greater emphasis on affordable housing and focus on holding Trump accountable through investigations.

And despite CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger taking over the bureau, some consumer groups still called on the House Financial 88 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

Services Committee and its new chairwoman to investigate Mulvaney.

“You can’t protect consumers without looking at and investigating the CFPB under Mick Mulvaney,” said Karl Frisch, Allied Progress executive director. “We certainly need to know what motivated decisions that are now in place — it doesn’t matter who’s in charge at that point.”

After taking the office, Mulvaney received criticism from Democrats, consumer groups and even some members of the housing industry for its lack of oversight. For example, back in February 2018, Mulvaney’s CFPB pulled back from its investigation of the data breach at Equifax, which exposed the personal information of 148 million U.S. consumers to hackers.

This move is now being reversed under Kraninger, as reports recently surfaced that Equifax is expecting various forms of punishment from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission. The company revealed the expected sanctions in a recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

However, other actions show that Mulvaney might have been working against his bureau.

For example, after being appointed to the position during the week after Thanksgiving in 2017, the CFPB drew criticism in April 2018 as it had yet to initiate any enforcement actions.

Mulvaney is known for having once called the federal agency a “sick, sad joke,” and during the CFPB’s 2018 Semi-Annual Report, Mulvaney confirmed that he still didn’t believe the bureau should exist.

But when Democrats sent him letters or called on him for answers, Mulvaney didn’t respond, saying if they wanted answers they should reduce the independence of the bureau.

And Waters assured CFPB employees these actions did not go

“

You can’t protect consumers without looking at and investigating the CFPB under Mick Mulvaney. We certainly need to know what motivated decisions that are now in place — it doesn’t matter who’s in charge at that point.” - Karl Frisch

CFPB Watch

unnoticed.

“Let me assure you that actions to weaken the Consumer Bureau from within as Director Mulvaney attempted to do will not go unchecked or unnoticed,” Waters wrote in her letter. “As Chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, I will fight against any and all efforts to weaken the Consumer Bureau and make sure that your important work to protect consumers, as Congress intended, can continue.”

She announced she will be conducting careful oversight of the agencies under her committee’s jurisdiction, which includes the CFPB, and encouraged employees who are witnesses to waste, fraud, abuse or gross mismanagement to step forward. She even reminded the bureau of Whistleblower laws, and the committee’s expectations that the CFPB comply.

From the letter: The Whistleblower Protection Act (“WPA”) provides broad protections to federal employees disclosing to Congress a violation of law, rule, or regulation; gross mismanagement; fraud; or an abuse of

authority.[2] The Committee expects that the Consumer Bureau will comply with the WPA and any other applicable whistleblower laws in response to any Consumer Bureau employee that elects to exercise their right to report instances of waste, fraud, abuse or mismanagement to Congress. In addition to the whistleblower protections granted in the WPA, Congress has passed criminal prohibitions against threatening or tampering with witnesses testifying before congressional proceedings.[3] The Committee will not tolerate any intimidation of or retaliation against potential witnesses by anyone at any federal agency.

Waters ended her letter by reminding CFPB employees that their work is important to the country they serve, and reminding them of their mission.

“Again, the Consumer Bureau is of critical importance for American families across the country,” Waters wrote. “Your work is of critical importance. I am committed to working every day to make sure that the Consumer Bureau and you, its hardworking staff, can work toward its mission of protecting consumers.”

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 89

Kudos GIVING BACK

• COOK & JAMES DELIVERS WINTER GEAR TO ATLANTA MISSION Real estate attorney firm Cook & James collected and delivered dozens of coats, sweaters and blankets to the Atlanta Day Shelter at the Atlanta Mission during some of the coldest days this winter.

But it wasn’t just a local drive.

Cook & James remote employees also did their own drives, and collected and delivered coats in cities in which they live, including Pittsburgh, Denver and Huntsville/Decatur, Alabama.

The initiative was borne from the firm’s collection of charitable ideas in its “Acts of Kindness Jar.” Each month, the firm draws one submitted idea to fulfill.

The company explained this jar is its way of proving that, in our divided world, you don’t always have to agree, but you can always show kindness.

“Our ‘Acts of Kindness Jar’ is one small way we can affect change,” said Heather James, Cook & James

co-founding attorney. “You don’t have to agree with someone to show kindness and especially today, I see so much unkindness in our world and our differences are driving us apart. I believe we can reverse that tide, learn from and even celebrate each other’s differences…if we just practice kindness.”

SANTA CLARA COUNTY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION DELIVERS 2,100 TEDDY BEARS TO NEEDY CHILDREN The Santa Clara County Federal Credit Union delivered 2,100 stuffed bears to cheer up children in need through its Teddy Bears on Patrol holiday program.

For more than 20 years, County Federal has teamed up with local law enforcement, schools and nonprofits to bring joy to children suffering from illness or trauma.

“The holiday season is a time of caring and sharing. Giving needy children their own teddy bear to love and comfort is our way of showing we care about our kids,” said Rebecca Reynolds Lytle, County Federal president and CEO. “This has been a highly successful program over the years and our law enforcement and medical professional partners get just as much joy out of this tradition as we do.

There’s nothing that brings more joy and comfort to a child in need than a teddy bear.”

AWARDS • FIFTH THIRD BANK INCLUDED IN 2019 BLOOMBERG GENDER-EQUALITY INDEX Fifth Third Bank is one of 230 companies included in the 2019 Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index, which highlights companies notable for transparency in gender reporting and that display a commitment to advancing women’s equality.

The index, which doubled in size from 2018, includes firms from 10 sectors that have a combined market capitalization of $9 trillion and employ more than 15 million people, of which 7 million are women.

Initiatives that focus on gender equality elevate both society and business, said Jule Kucera, Fifth Third chief diversity and corporate social responsibility officer.

“We are intentional about creating an inclusive environment where men and women have equitable opportunity to

belong, to contribute and to advance,” Kucera said.

Bloomberg offers public companies the opportunity to disclose information on how they promote gender equality in four main areas – company statistics, policies, community engagement and products and services. Companies that score above a globally established threshold are included in the GEI. “We applaud Fifth Third and the other 229 firms tracked by the index for their actions to measure gender equality through the Bloomberg GEI framework,” Bloomberg Chairman Peter Grauer said. “Fifth Third’s GEI inclusion is a strong indicator to its employees, investors and industry peers alike that it is leading by example to advance ongoing efforts for a truly inclusive workplace.”

LAUNCHES • NALHFA LAUNCHES THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING PODCAST The National Association of Local Housing Finance Agencies launched an affordable housing 90 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2018

podcast. There is a shortage of more than 7.2 million affordable rental homes for low-income families, and NALHFA intends to use its podcast to explore the reasons behind the affordability

problem and offer solutions as to how the industry can work together to tackle the issue.

In the first episode of the series, which airs on the third Wednesday of every month, NALHFA Policy Di-

rector Heather Voorman discusses the New Markets Tax Credit Program with Norman McLoughlin of McLoughlin & Associates, who formerly served as NALHFA president.

..,

KEEP UP WITH THE PULSE OF THE HOUSING ECONOMY HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE. PRINT AND DIGITAL.

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SPONSORED CONTENT

Krish Swaminathan Global Head of Mortgage Solutions and Client Relations

Neil Armstrong Head of Global Business Development

Sutherland combines artificial intelligence and human effort with Robotic Process Automation The company’s suite of automation tools drives efficiency and significantly improves employee productivity

Q: How is Sutherland using RPA and other automation tools to help mortgage companies?

A: Krish: Sutherland provides a connection point between artificial intelligence and human effort with three key solutions that can be deployed separately or work in tandem to generate a smarter loan process: robotic process automation (RPA), data analytics, and customer journey mapping.

A:Neil: With our suite of automation tools, including SmartXtract, SmartOCR, SmartRPA and SmartMortgageAPP, you can be at the beginning or at a mature stage of your road map and we can find opportunities to drive costs down or enhance your customer experience.

One example is machine learning, which is a part of AI that specifically allows for a process to develop over time and learn what a document is and what to look for going forward. The machine learns what the required information is and how to find it.

Q: How do mortgage companies benefit by implementing RPA? A: Neil: There are many benefits to mortgage companies using AI — it’s not just about cost reduction, though that’s the most common benefit clients are seeking. AI can also improve the customer experience, help client retention, reduce cycle time and reduce errors in the process.

Mortgage companies should expect a quick return on their investment in RPA because it enhances productivity and improves the value chain without IT disruptions. We encourage companies to measure the productivity per employee before RPA is implemented and then again after the learning stage. It is a remarkable difference.

Q: What does the implementation process look like for SmartMortgageAPP and SmartMortgageRPA? A: Krish: Sutherland adopts RAPID (Robotic Automation Process Identification) to help build a framework to discover, develop 92 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ MONTH 2018

and deploy. Before we deploy RPA or the APP or any automation tools we sit down with our clients, ask several questions and guide them through the best solutions.

Our first targets are usually processes with big ROI where the client can see immediate payback, with low security requirements and minimum-to-no system integrations required. We then identify a second and third set of target processes and identify processes that will not be included in the automation initiatives.

Q: How do these automation products increase efficiency and compliance?

A: Krish: They allow companies to connect with borrowers where it’s most important. Giving repetitive tasks to robots frees up human staff to connect with borrowers at critical touchpoints.

Automation also allows companies to easily scale up or down to meet changing workload needs. Since every robot can do the work of between three and 20 people, scaling becomes much easier than hiring, training and potentially laying off staff.

Sutherland conducted a time-in-motion study with a leading mortgage company and expedited processes by over 20%.

By its very nature, RPA provides detailed audit trails and more transparency. But even more important, the number of errors made in formerly manual functions can be astoundingly small.

For example, a robot working at a pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco, filled 350,000 doses of medication without making a single error. Imagine the difference RPA accuracy could make at mortgage companies, which would be able to limit overlapping checks to uncover errors.

A: Neil: I would say the year-over-year learning aspects of the robots and the reduction of errors. I am a big proponent of going through each process and finding ways to increase productivity.

RPA provides employees with a valuable “assistant” working beside them to increase productivity and reduce turn times.

SPONSORED CONTENT

Margaret Crowley, VP of Marketing and Customer Experience

Jay Hughes, EVP of Sales and Business Development

New risk-based pricing engine MiQ allows for a more dynamic apporach to customized rates MGIC delivers quick, mobile-responsive solution that integrates into existing processes

Q: Risk-based pricing has been gaining momentum in the mortgage insurance industry for a few years. Why did MGIC decide to launch its own risk-based pricing engine now?

A: Jay: Many lenders have embraced risk-based pricing models because they allow for a more dynamic approach to delivering customized rates for each unique loan scenario. Our focus is on our customers and their experience. We continually ask how we can provide the best value and the best service.

MiQ was developed after listening to our customers talk about friction in their process and the need for work efficiency. While they are certainly looking for competitive MI rates, they’re also looking for a pricing engine that’s easy to use and seamlessly integrates into their existing processes.

Q: How did MGIC’s emphasis on ease-of-use impact the development of MiQ? A: Margaret: It was imperative that we deliver MiQ in a way that meant no disruption to our customers’ processes. MiQ is integrated with most major loan origination systems. Customers can also get quotes directly through the MiQ interface, which was designed to be simple, quick and painless.

At every point during MiQ development, we focused on improving the customer experience. And we’ll continue to tweak and improve MiQ based on feedback from our customers.

Whether acquired through a loan origination system or the MiQ interface, MiQ rate quotes will be honored for 90 days, as long as none of the loan characteristics have changed.

Q: Tell us more about the MiQ interface itself.

A: Margaret: Customers who use the MiQ interface directly can fill in as few as four fields to compare multiple premium plans and get a quote. That’s because we analyzed loan characteristics to determine the most common scenarios, then designed MiQ to populate most fields with default values.

In fact, we populate more fields with default values than other risk-based pricing engines, so MiQ requires fewer pieces of information to return a quote. While they can be easily changed, these defaults make it simple for customers to get in, get a quote, and get on with their day.

In addition, we designed MiQ to be mobile-responsive for a consistent user experience across all devices. Customers can use MiQ from their phones with full access to every feature.

“MiQ was developed after listening to our customers talk about friction in their process and the need for work efficiency.”

Q: How did MGIC’s history and longevity in the industry inform your approach to risk-based pricing?

A: Jay: Technology has changed dramatically during the history of MGIC. Max Karl founded MGIC and today’s private mortgage insurance industry more than 60 years ago by looking for a better way to help people afford homes with less than 20% down.

That ethos remains with us – we’re always looking for a better way. So when it came time for MGIC to provide risk-based pricing, we started with that mindset: How can we make this process better for our customers?

While MiQ may be new, what hasn’t changed is our commitment to customer service, which has always set us apart. Our customers want and deserve the convenience of quick, competitive pricing through an engine like MiQ – but they also know we’ll always pick up the phone when they call.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ MONTH 2018 93

SPONSORED CONTENT

Michael Greenbaum COO, Safeguard

Servicers must adjust operation policies to meet HUD conveyance deadlines and avoid delays Q&A with Michael Greenbaum on the role HUD plays for conveyance deadlines

Q: What are the best strategies for meeting conveyance deadlines?

A: Reconveyances are one of the biggest challenges mortgage servicers face. Coupled with constant changes in leadership, guidelines, HUD vendors, and the interpretations of regulations, servicers face some significant hurdles with FHA loans.

While these revisions to regulatory requirements keep the servicing and property preservation industry on their toes, the resistance and/or inability to efficiently make changes within 94 HOUSINGWIRE â?ą MONTH 2018

the organization tend to halt progress and affect the timely conveyance of properties to FHA. Servicing rules within organizations can stall the conveyance of files in an effort to obtain written approval of expenses to avoid out-of-pocket costs. This is true in waiting for the insurance company to issue a check, as well as waiting for MCM approval of over allowable requests. While some files deserve prudent review and follow up for large expenses, many files can

efficiently move through the process with the establishment of standard cost-benefit analysis.

Safeguard has worked with several clients to establish standard cost forms that account for unpaid principle balance, cost of repairs for conveyance condition, pending insurance funds, possibility of HUD reimbursement, and expenditures-to-date.

Utilization of a standard template can empower front line staff to make decisions faster and avoid bottlenecks of management reviews required within the servicing shop.

The 60-day-to-sale program would help mortgage servicers and their property preservation partners meet conveyance deadlines more regularly. The concept is completing a convey maintenance inspection 60 days prior to the sale of the property. This ensures that all work is completed in a timely manner, and any issues are remediated prior to sale. Bids can be approved more timely, and pre-sale hazard repairs are not held for post-sale.

Mortgage servicers might also consider giving their property preservation providers delegated authority to place properties ICC. This means allowing them to have the money up-front to get a property ICC and bid to HUD later to decrease risk. At the first post-sale order they will have authority to complete all of the work that is needed.

Q: What is one important policy that needs to be defined with the P&P vendor?

A: Removing personal property following the foreclosure sale is one area where costs can rise and conveyances can experience delays, and procedures already exist to manage this issue. A majority of states do not prohibit servicers from self-help to remove abandoned property following foreclosure sale. Despite this, the majority of servicers do not utilize the FHA allowable to remove and store these items following foreclosure sale.

With the release of HUD ML 2010-18, servicers were required prior to HUD conveyance to remove all debris and personals, and place properties into broom-swept condition. This was a significant change from prior conveyance requirements and sparked debate between HUD and servicers with regard to shifting liability and risk of an increase in litigation from borrowers citing missing personal property.

HUD reacted quickly with the release of a frequently asked questions (FAQ) providing servicers with a $300 allowable for reimbursement to store abandoned personals in lieu of disposal.

The FAQ provided guidance to follow local laws with regard to the removal, disposal and/or storage of abandoned personals.

This guidance afforded servicers the ability to pursue self-help and remove the items in effort to convey the property to HUD quicker. Despite the accommodation from HUD, the allowable and guidance is not common practice even today, seven years after the new requirement for broom-swept condition.

Alternatively, servicers seek guidance from counsel as to whether or not to pursue an eviction of personal property on a case-by-case basis. This delays conveyance and leaves the

property subject to new damages, complaints from neighbors, and potential code violations.

The absence of a clear, consistently executed matrix regarding the removal, disposal or storage of abandoned personal property leads to unnecessary bids submitted to HUD, ambiguity in the definition of possession, and confusion surrounding the calculation of the convey due date.

Establishing a personal property matrix and providing guidance to your property preservation vendor to execute is a prerequisite for timely conveyance. Likewise, a well-researched, defined policy serves as a defense if legal complaints ensue.

Q: How do you coordinate all players involved?

A: With guidance from FHA prohibiting reimbursement of property preservation and inspection costs incurred after the convey due date, the inability to adopt and revise procedures that bog down the convey process will undoubtedly cost servicers millions of dollars in non-reimbursable expenses. Partnering with your property preservation vendor and adopting best practices communicated by FHA staff and their MCM vendor is crucial in reducing or eliminating out-of-pocket expenses.

To reduce the costs of servicing FHA loans and conveying timely, policies regarding personal property removal, repairing of insurable damages, and waiting for bid approval from the MCM are in need of re-examination. Servicers need to adjust their operating policies to complement the expectations of HUD to avoid conveyance delays.

Additionally, pre-foreclosure sale FHA loans have historically taken a back seat to the management of post-sale assets within servicers’ shops. Servicers could realize significant cost savings from taking another look at prioritization of pre-sale assets – specifically in the areas of personal property, insurable repairs, servicing rules and insurance claim settlements.

Q: What are the effects of the CWCOT program?

A: Servicers should re-evaluate the timeframes of when to begin management of post-foreclosure sale files. With the expansion of the (Claims Without Conveyance of Title) CWCOT program allowing servicers to bid market value at the scheduled sale, appraisals are requested well in advance of the scheduled sale and properties reviewed for inclusion in the CWCOT program.

This is the time to review the file for outstanding impediments to conveyance condition and status of over-allowable requests, in addition to hazard insurance recovery or repairs.

The single largest driver of denied over-allowable requests from HUD is missed due diligence timeframes causing the property to be overdue for conveyance. Decisioning the property conditions and denied over-allowable requests 60 days prior to scheduled foreclosure sale and providing authorization to your property preservation vendor will result in 20 or more days shaved off the timeframe to place in conveyance condition and greatly reduce out-of-pocket costs associated with missing the due date for conveyance.

HOUSINGWIRE â?ą MONTH 2018 95

Knowledge

Center

96 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

Knowledge Center

W H I T E PA PE R: TM S | SP ONSOR E D CON T E N T

Did you sell off yourself along with your loans?

MILLIONS OF CUSTOMERS WERE ABRUPTLY SOLD OFF TO A CORRESPONDENT INVESTOR THAT WAS NOT EXACTLY THE GOLD STANDARD OF CARE AND SERVICE, AND THEY’RE NOT HAPPY LET’S think about what the original lender has done with one stroke of a pen in choosing that correspondent investor.

Pretend for a moment that you’re that original lender. How much did it cost to create the lead? Track the lead? Mine the lead?

Close the loan? It’s a big money and time investment on your part.

Then it’s all about keeping the communication going, building a relationship, and building trust. You put a lot into that, and there are costs associated with those things, too.

Then one day you decide the time is right to sell the loan, and the search begins for a correspondent investor who will pay you top dollar, which could be anywhere from 1-5 bps ($20-$100). Sounds good to you, right? But what factors haven’t you considered as part of deciding who to go with? Those can play a big role in how your customer sees you.

Suddenly, they’re doing business with someone they don’t know. And for how long? Will they be sold off to someone else?

They liked you, they thought you liked them, and now you’ve severed the relationship.

You’ve turned them over to a company that may or may not give them the stellar level of care and service you provided. And if they don’t, you better duck when that boomerang comes flying back because it’s going to reflect negatively on you, and your company.

And, you don’t want that when reputation is so important.

At this point, with your reputation having taken a big hit, any hope of doing business with them again when they purchase a new home is dashed. You invested all this time and money in a customer, a would-be repeat customer, and cashed it all in for an extra $20. Add to that, what it would cost to try and woo them back (if that were at all possible), and we’re talking about investing even more time and money.

What does it cost to get the door slammed in your face?

Dissatisfied customers are not just walking out on businesses, they are slamming the door. Faced with poor customer service, more than half (51%) of respondents indicated they’d never use the offending company again.

What we’re saying is who you choose as a correspondent investor really matters. Because this is about more than commodities. When you think about it, you’re not actually selling loans, you’re selling homes. Where living, breathing people live. You’re handing off the place where memories are made, birthdays are celebrated, friendships are born. It’s too easy to think about this transaction as one that’s strictly about paper, not people.

To read the entire white paper, visit the Knowledge Center at knowledge.housingwire.com.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 97

Knowledge

Center

98 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

W H I T E PA PE R: Fir st Close | SP ONSOR E D CON T E N T

Knowledge Center

The next mortgage innovation: Software that can think 4 WAYS THAT LENDERS ARE LEVERAGING FIRSTCLOSE TECHNOLOGY TO GET BETTER DATA AND FASTER TURN TIMES

THE tech disruption of the mortgage industry continues to accelerate, and in a shrinking market with rising interest rates, the fate of companies is largely being decided by their ability to make things easier, faster and better for their borrowers. In this arms race, offering a superior customer experience is critical, but so is efficiency, so companies are turning to digital solutions to maximize employee productivity and save human interaction for when it matters most. It’s a delicate balancing act, and one that requires truly innovative technology FirstClose, a mortgage software provider, automates and enhances the loan underwriting process to give a true competitive advantage to lenders.

FirstClose is first and foremost a tech company, but it employs a unique approach to solving some of the most vexing problems facing the mortgage industry. The FirstClose web app and LOS plugin not only serves as a middleware application for real estate service providers, it is also a direct seller and reseller of settlement services. In addition, the relationships that FirstClose has developed with a large number of third-party vendors gives it the insight to provide strategic vendor management.

The company’s expertise is both wide and deep and it uses that

expertise to help lenders excel in this very challenging landscape by delivering better data and faster turn times.

A DIFFICULT MORTGAGE ENVIORNMENT Despite overall economic growth of 3.5% in 2018, the mortgage industry is struggling to find its footing in the current housing market. Unemployment is at a historical low of 3.7%, but wage growth has stagnated, and interest rates are going up. In this environment, homeowners are staying in their homes longer, deepening the scarcity of homes for sale and shrinking origination volume.

Rick Sharga, executive vice president of Carrington Mortgage Holdings, laid out the stark reality for many in the lending community at a meeting of the National Association of Real EstateEditors in June.

“We are starting to see some consolidation — some of the smaller lenders are simply going outof business,” Sharga said.

To read the entire white paper, visit the Knowledge Center at knowledge.housingwire.com.

HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 99

HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ APRIL 2019

INDEX

WEATHERING THE STORM How HUD advocates for underserved communities.

P.54

SFR SOLUTIONS Amherst Holdings, Green River Capital, Lima One Capital HOUSINGWIRE MAGAZINE ❱ APRIL 2019

P.66

TECH 100

Top companies pushing innovation pg.30

COMPANIES A Airbnb...........................................................64 Allied Progress.........................................88 Amazon..................................13, 33, 46, 64 Amherst Holdings......................................1 Arch MI...................................................32-33 ARMCO Aces Risk.....................................32 ATTOM Data Solutions.32-33, 83-84 Auction.com............................16-17, 32-33 B

ComplianceEase...............................32, 37

Floify....................................................... 32, 41

LendWize.............................................32, 44

Consumer Bankers Association........12

FormFree.............................................. 32, 41

Lima One Capital.................1, 66, 68, 70

Consumer Financial .Protection

Freddie Mac.... 10, 38, 40, 47, 69, 75-77

LoanCare.............................................32, 44

Bureau................................................. 24, 85,

Funding Longevity Task Force.........85

loanDepot............................................79-81

87-88

Fundingshield...............................10, 32, 41

LoanLogics..........................................32, 44

Contactually........................................32, 37

Fundrise.......................................................65

M

Cook & James...........................................90

G

CoreLogic.............................................32, 38 Covered...................................10, 32, 38, 79 Covius....................................................32, 38 D Dixon Hughes..............................................5

Baseline Reverse.............................32, 34 BeSmartee.........................................32, 34 Black Knight.......................24, 32, 34, 102 Blend.........................10, 32, 34, 48, 65, 81 Boston College Center for Retirement Research........................................84

DocMagic...................................... 10, 32, 38 Docutech.............................................32, 38 Dun & Bradstreet Corporation..........10 dv01........................................................32, 39 E

Matic......................................................32, 45

Global DMS.......................................... 32, 41

MAXEX..................................................32, 45

Google..............................................13, 27, 39

Maxwell................................................32, 45

Green Dot.....................................................12

MetLife..........................................................10

Green River Capital.................... 1, 66, 69

MGIC.............................................................. 93

H

MonitorBase......................................32, 45 Mortech................................................32, 46

Hartford Financial Services Group 10 Hippo Insurance...............................32, 42 Homebot.............................................32, 42 Homes 4 Rent...................................62-63

BuildFax................................................32, 34

Ellevest..........................................................12

HouseCanary.....................................32, 42

BuildZoom..................................................10

Ellie Mae.......................32, 39, 48, 50, 80

I

Built Technologies........................... 32, 35

eOriginal...............................................32, 39

Bungalo Homes............................... 32, 35

Ephesoft..............................................32, 39

C

IDS...........................................................32, 42

Mortgage Cadence.........................32, 46 MortgageHippo................................32, 46 move......7, 17, 29, 31-32, 40, 46, 48-49, 59, 64, 73, 81, 88, 95 Mr. Cooper..........................................32, 46 N National Association of Appraisers 10

Equifax................................................. 24, 88

K

National Association of Local Hous-

ERA Franchise Systems �������������������������5

Kabbage...............................................12, 65

ing Finance Agencies............................90

EXOS Technologies........................32, 39

Keefe, Bruyette, & Woods �����������������75

Nexsys Technologies......................32, 47

F

L

CertifID..................................................32, 36

Facebook......................................................13

Land Gorilla........................................32, 43

Chase Home Lending....................80-81

Factom..........................................20, 32, 40

Landmark Network................................10

Clarifire..................................................32, 36

Fannie Mae.........................................10, 34,

Large Bank Supervision.......................10

. udget Office of Management and B

Class Valuation.......................... 10, 32, 36

38-40, 44, 47-48, 69, 75-77

LBA Ware.............................................32, 43

87

Clear Capital....................................... 32, 35

Federal Housing Finance Agency...75

Lender Processing Services ���������������10

OJO Labs...............................................32, 47

ClosingCorp................................................36

Federal Trade Commission....... 24, 88

LenderClose.......................................32, 43

OnPoint Analytics...................................10

CloudVirga..........................................32, 36

Fifth Third Bank......................................90

lenderprice..........................................32, 43

Opendoor...................................................65

Coalition of Arizona Appraisers

Financial Industry Computer Sys-

LendingHome............................32, 43, 65

Optimal Blue.......................................32, 47

Cogent QC Systems.........................32, 37

tems......................................................32, 40

LendingPad........................................32, 44

P

Cognizant Technology...................32, 37

Finicity.................................................. 32, 40

LendingPad........................................32, 44

Commonwealth Land Title Insur-

First American....................10, 32, 40, 50

LendingQB..........................................32, 44

ance.................................................................10

FirstClose..............................18, 32, 40, 99

LendingTree............................................... 22

Compass Analytics..........................32, 37

Fiserv.............................................................. 41

Lendit..............................................................12

Cadre.............................................................65 Calyx Software................................. 32, 35 Capsilon................................................ 32, 35

100 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019

10

Notarize.................................................32, 47 NotaryCam..........................................32, 47 O

Pavaso..........................................................10 PeerStreet...........................................32, 48 Plaid.......................................................32, 48 Progress Residential.............................64

INDEX ProxyPics.............................................32, 48

TitleVest Agency......................................10

Q

TMS...................................................14-15, 97

Qualia....................................................32, 48 Quicken Loans..................................... 5, 39 R Radian....................................27, 32, 48, 69 re.................................................................5, 10, 14-15, 20, 28-29, 49, 64, 70, 76-77, 81, 85, 93, 97 realtor.com..........................................24, 46 Remine..................................................32, 49 Renters Warehouse................................10

Total Expert......................................... 32, 51 Tricon American Homes.....................64 Trulia..............................................................10 U U.S. Bank......................................................79 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development......23, 49, 55-56 Urban Institute.................................84-85 UWM................................................29, 32, 51 V

ReverseVision....................................32, 49

Valligent Technologies................. 32, 52

RiskSpan..............................................32, 49

Veros Real Estate Solutions ������������ 52

Roofstock..................... 24, 32, 49, 63-65

VRBO.............................................................64

Roostify................................................32, 49 S

C

Kushner, Jared...........................................75

Calabria, Mark...........................................75

L

Carson, Ben.................................................57

Loriot, Janet.........................................72-73

Crowley, Margaret.................................. 93

Lundbeck, Richard.................................69

D

M

Dingeman, John.......................................10

Mayopoulos, Timothy...........................10

Dudley, Gary...............................................73

Moore, Trez................................................ 70

Dziuba, Michael.......................................69

Morgan, Morris..........................................10

F

Mulvaney, Mick..................................87-88

Farias, Anna Farias.................................58

Munnell, Alicia..........................................84

Figueroa, Jessica......................................10

N

Flahive, Drew............................................68

Negri, Joe.....................................................68

Ford, Henry................................................26 Freeman, Mickey......................................10

P

Frisch, Karl..................................................88

Ponce, Jorge............................................... 18

W

Frohwein, Rob............................................12

Powell, Justin...............................................5

WEST.......................................... 5, 12, 32, 52

G

R

Gates, Melinda...........................................13

Reilly, Tim....................................................69

Giordano, Shelley...................................85

Reynolds, Rebecca................................90

Goodman, Laurie....................................84

S

Safeguard...........................................94-95

WFG National Title.................................10

Securities and Exchange Commis-

Whiteboard Mortgage CRM ����� 32, 52

sion.........................................................24, 88

Wipro Gallagher Solutions ��������������� 52

SecurityNational Mortgage ��������������10

Z

Greenbaum, Michael............................94

Zillow..................................................24, 46x

H

Singelyn , Dave..................................62-63

Hamilton, Dana.......................................64

Sommer, David.........................................10

SimpleNexus......................................32, 50 Simplifile..............................................32, 50 Snapdocs............................................32, 50 SoftWorks AI......................................32, 50 Specialized Loan Servicing ����������������10 Spruce...................................................32, 50

PEOPLE A

StreamLoan........................................ 32, 51

Amato, Charlie...................................72-73

Sutherland................................................. 92

Anderson, Elizabeth...............................79

SWBC......................................................72-73

Anderson, Tim...........................................10

T Tavant Technologies...................... 32, 51 Tesla..............................................................64

Haralson, Ali..........................................16-17

Strait, Steven..............................................12

Hartford, Patrick........................................5

Swaminathan, Krish............................. 92

Hein, Mark.............................................72-73

T

Hsieh, Anthony........................................80

Tennyson, Jeff........................................... 70

J

Thomas, Kathie........................................10

Anzaldua, Ricardo...................................10

James, Heather.......................................90

Thompson, John..................................... 70

Avallone, Chris..........................................68

Jenkins, Debby..........................................76

Trump, Donald..................................57, 88

Jones, Mike....................................................5

V

K

Voorman, Heather.................................90 W

B

The Office of the Comptroller of the

Baldridge, Kevin......................................64

Currency........................................................10

Beasley, Gary............................................65

Kraninger, Kathy......................................88

The Procter & Gamble Corporation

Bolgren, Josh..............................................10

Krawcheck, Sallie.....................................12

10

Buffett, Warren........................................62

Kucera, Jule................................................90

TIAA....................................................... 79-80

Schwalm, Roy...........................................10

Kushi, Odeta...............................................10

Waters, Maxine.........................................87 Webb, Amy..................................................13 Winters, Michael......................................77 HOUSINGWIRE ❱ APRIL 2019 101

PARTING SHOT â?ą HOME EQUITY Companies are betting on rapid growth for the home equity market as home prices continue to rise. Americans are sitting on a record $6 trillion in tappable equity, according to Black Knight. As a confluence of factors drives down business in the purchase market, home equity lending will be the next big opportunity.

102 HOUSINGWIRE â?ą APRIL 2019

2019 the S of N izing n O g o r ts I o ff c T e e .S. R in g NA I the U d and g t M n s i t NO E ou omen in driv omy forwar G C N I N w E ED econ EPT sing UNC S u N O o FLU O ACC I N h T

IN / M CO .

E R I W G IN S U HO NOW

INA NOM GH HROU T N RU 019 26, 2 L I R AP

AN ERS ISSUE N N 19 WI T 20 US AUG

The 80’s called.

They want their servicing technology back.

It’s time to enter the 21st century with SIME—Servicing Intelligence Made Easy.

SIME has disrupted the industry by providing full transparency into a lender’s loan portfolio. With SIME’s award-winning, game-changing loan servicing platform, you don’t have to settle for subpar subservicing with bad technology. Only SIME offers: • Web-based interface with less screens • No codes to memorize, no cheat sheets needed • Instant access to a 360° view of your borrower portfolio • Real-time reporting with loan level details • Ability to identify delinquency trends and proactively manage borrowers • Access to call recordings on demand

Visit GetSIME.com today. You’ll find it on the worldwide web.

The Money Source Inc., NMLS #6289, 135 Maxess Rd., Melville, NY 11747. This is intended for the exclusive use of mortgage professionals only and is not intended for distribution to or use by consumers.