October 20, 2004
I've been speaking to a lot of folks in the mortgage business that will be turning out for next week's MBA annual convention. I'll be there scouting for convergent technologies, those tools that might have migrated here from another part of the real estate business, or that might work equally well over there.
I'll also be there to find out more about how lenders are using technologies to cut costs and operate more efficiently. During the refi-boom, lenders didn't have time to implement these new tools, even though many will tell you that they were sure they would work. The opportunity cost of turning away from the incoming business was just too high. Now, things are different.
Take Countrywide, for example. In today's news they announce the implementation of PaperClip's software for their correspondent lenders. By making it possible for these originators to send in their loan packages electronically, Countrywide can streamline its operations and cut out some of the costs associated with dealing with paper files. And just in time. The lender has issued its third quarter earnings release. Profits were down 47% from last year's third quarter. Suddenly, saving a few bucks on each loan processed sounds pretty appealing.
But this isn't a story unique to Countrywide, or any of the top lenders. The business is different for everyone out there and it's giving lenders the time and the reason to look into new tools. That's why I expect to see a lot more technology at this show than we may have seen in the past.
Good news for Threewide. Not only has the company recently closed on another round of financing, but with today's news, its software is in use in 10 of the top MLSs in the nation.
We spoke to company CEO Ira Luntz for our MLS of the Future feature in the most recent issue of RETI. He spoke about some of the capabilities that his firm was building into its new products. After the article ran, he wanted us to clarify that Threewide serves MLS companies; it's not in the market to compete with them. More about that in Part III of our survey of the MLS, coming later this year.
And congratulations to FNC. We hear they have made the Inc. 500, the annual list of the nation's fastest growing private businesses. The collateral valuation specialist and technology provider came in at 154. Quite respectable. It was also in the top 20 financial services firms listed this year.
October 18, 2004
One week before the MBA's annual convention and technology news is rolling in. A number of companies have made announcements over the past few days, most of them dealing with new partnerships and compliance technologies.
I would definitely suggest that you watch this Advectis Dexma partnership. Gregg Smith's company has been working with GE since before it was recast as Genworth. BlitzDocs got off to a huge start when Advectis impressed Allied (one of the nation's largest net branch lenders) to push the product out to its lenders and investors. I have visited with Smith on a number of occasions and found him to be a dynamic leader.
Dexma, on the other hand, has a long history of making partnerships work. Fannie Mae and Boeing are just two of the companies you'll find on its resume. The company has been hiring top people lately, including Tim Anderson (formerly of DocuTech) and John Barnes (previously with BCE Emergis). I'll be watching closely to see what these companies do together.
On the compliance side, both AppIntelligence and ComplianceEase are in the news today. With lawmakers in cities across the country waking up to the idea of imposing legislation on mortgage lenders, compliance has pretty much moved outside the mortgage company and out to professional outsourcers. Part of the reason for this is that it's very difficult to keep up with everything without outside help. The bigger part is that by outsourcing, lenders are ensuring that the courts don't find a pattern of behavior in the event a bad loan slips through.
The other big topic this week is collateral valuation. Transunion and Hansen Quality have both rolled out new products. Transunion is making desktop appraisals available and Hansen has a new screening tool.
© Copyright 2010 October Research Corporation. All rights Reserved.