Digital mortgages

From first-time homebuyers and real estate referrals to digital mortgages and back office execution, here's a look at the biggest concerns and highest priorities of the country's most successful loan officers.

While the West Coast still reigns as the epicenter of technology development, the Detroit area has quietly emerged as a proving ground for digital mortgage innovations.

Publicly traded mortgage technology firms seeking growth could eventually end up squaring off against or buying privately owned point of sale system startups.

The Mortgage Bankers Association is calling for Ginnie Mae, states, the Internal Revenue Service and other government agencies to overcome remaining digital mortgage challenges.

Cloudvirga, in collaboration with Freddie Mac, has created the capability for loan officers to submit mortgage loan data to both government-sponsored enterprises' automated underwriting systems simultaneously with a single click.

The bank says its partnership with Lender Price will help streamline and simplify its home loan process.

While the mortgage industry heads in a digital direction, homebuyers are still expecting a more electronic experience during the mortgage process, which would also stand to benefit lenders.

Applications can now be made on the bank's app or website, but closings will still be in person. With this move, BofA joins Quicken Loans, Lenda, SoFi and others offering a mostly digital mortgage. The trend is sure to continue.

Lennar Corp.'s home finance subsidiary with the help of Blend rolled out its own digital mortgage platform, as another small lender tries to keep up with Rocket Mortgage.

Tech vendors Merscorp Holdings and eOriginal have developed a suite of tools for small and midsize mortgage lenders to close fully electronic loans.