products and services offered to consumers through its professional loan origination staff. “These agency approvals are much more difficult to obtain today, so it speaks to the confidence and quality of the Inlanta platform rapidly changing mortgage origination market,” added Badciong. Inlanta Mortgage is a growing mortgage banking firm committed to quality mortgage lending, ethical operations and strong customer service. Over the past three years Inlanta has more than doubled its revenue and nearly doubled its employee base.
LRES Takes Assembly Line Approach to REO Management
Guaranteed Rate has announced that three firms recently joined the company. The transactions, structured as asset purchases, included Sun State Home Loans of Scottsdale, Ariz.; Nationwide Direct Mortgage of Carlsbad, Calif.; and Arbor Mortgage of Grand Rapids, Mich. The three firms have more than 50
Axis Appraisal Management Solutions has announced that it has entered into a letter of intent with Zaio Corporation in which Zaio would acquire Axis, subject to due diligence to be completed by April 15. Zaio provides customers in the property valuation, underwriting and lending industries with real-time access to certified appraisal reports from the company’s patented database of proactively maintained residential property valuations prepared by licensed appraisers across the U.S. “Axis’ leadership team will remain intact and continue to manage appraisal operations with the same level of unparalleled quality and customer service its industry partners have come to expect,” said Kim Perotti, executive vice president of Axis. “The Axis client base has grown dramatically to include the largest lenders and servicers, and one benefit of this transaction will be Axis’s ability to provide a deeper suite of services and products to those clients, including home inspections, evaluations, AVMs and BPOs—all through enhanced technology.” Axis is a privately held S-Corp and a national appraisal management company (AMC). It serves regional and national bankers, credit unions, attorneys, and homeowners with a highlycontinued on page 54
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Come Join Us for NAPMW’s Golden Celebration in the Emerald City! By Jill Kinsman
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NAPMW began its journey 50 years ago when nine women came together to form an organization focused on the advancement of women to find careers in the field of mortgage lending and to provide its members with the highest quality of educational and networking opportunities possible for those in our industry. Since then, we have evolved as times have changed and new technologies have been put into place, however, our focus has continued to be on providing excellence in education to its members. Personal and professional development, leadership skills, mentoring, technology, marketing and other timely and industry relevant types of classes are what we provide our members so that they can continually educate themselves and help further their careers and their personal lives. Free Webinars are provided to our members on a variety of industry topics in addition to meetings and seminars held in locations all across the United States. Leadership development has made giant strides this year by providing Webinars and establishing a great online resource library for our members. There will also be both NAPMW leadership classes and general leadership training held at the National Education 53 Conference being held in Seattle in May. We hope you will take the opportunity to invest in yourself by looking at what NAPMW has to offer you and joining us at the 2014 National Education Conference in Seattle! Come and join us to celebrate 50 years of educational history and to participate in the education we have planned. Topics will include everything from social media, appraisal valuation, CFPB, FHA/VA updates, credit, customer service, financial planning, mentoring and so much more! There is an NMLS eight-hour class and the Certified Mortgage Instructor designation being offered on Wednesday, May 14. Opening Ceremonies will begin on Thursday, March 15 and the Conference will continue through Saturday, May 17 as we celebrate our history and look to the future in “Breaking New Ground” at our Installation Banquet on the evening of May 17. For more information, or to register, please visit www.napmw.org. Jill Kinsman of U.S. Bank is 2013-2014 NAPMW National President. She may be reached by phone at (206) 344-7827 or e-mail jill.kinsman@usbank.com.
n Michigan Mortgage Professional Magazine n MARCH
Guaranteed Rate Announces Three New Acquisitions
Axis Appraisal Management Signs Letter of Intent With Zaio Corporation
NAPMW REPORT
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
LRES has announced its new real estate-owned (REO) operating model to increase efficiency and accommodate the influx of new clients with portfolios of assets in various stages of the foreclosure process. An assembly line operational system was developed to enable task managers to handle each stage of the life of the property from beginning to end. Previously, LRES employed the more traditional system whereby a single asset manager handled the entire servicing process. The new system added several positions to the REO department structure, including a premarketing coordinator, marketing coordinator, listing coordinator and closing coordinator. The restructured approach has allowed the department to handle additional REO inventory that facilitated 72 percent year-over-year growth. This is particularly significant considering the national decline in REO inventory. “We have enjoyed working with LRES and appreciate the attention and responsiveness they offer our account,” said Mary Grace Anderson, loan servicer at Generation Mortgage. “Over the past year, our growth in REO volume can be attributed to the restructured model as well as to the performance of our asset management team exceeding the industry-established Key Performance Indicators (KPIs),” said Roger Beane, CEO of LRES. “Our modified approach has increased efficiency to better serve our new and existing clients. We anticipate continued growth in 2014 and look forward to developing strong client relationships in the REO space.”
employees combined and represent more than $500 million in annual loan production volume. The three firms recently completed their transition to Guaranteed Rate after joining during the fourth quarter of 2013. “These three firms have a stellar reputation for customer service and employ some of the top loan originators in the country,” said Victor Ciardelli, president and CEO of Guaranteed Rate. “They are a perfect fit for Guaranteed Rate and help further our efforts to provide low rate, low fee mortgages in several key major markets.” Sun State Home Loans was founded in 1997 by Mike Metz. Sun State has been a leading lender in the PhoenixScottsdale area. Metz can also be heard regularly on KFNN-AM Radio in Phoenix, where he serves as their mortgage banking correspondent. With offices in the San Diego and Denver areas, Nationwide Direct was founded in 2009 by Glen Steward and Bonita Bischoff. This team has been added to Guaranteed Rate’s Online Division. Founded in 1998 by R.J. Kistka and headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., Arbor Mortgage has been a leading mortgage lender in Michigan and surrounding states operating a direct mortgage lending program. They also have offices in Indianapolis, Ind. and Richardson, Texas.