SitusAMC buys ReadyPrice in fourth acquisition over five months

On Monday, SitusAMC announced that it had purchased ReadyPrice, a mortgage technology provider that bridges the gap between loan officers and lenders.

ReadyPrice’s software aims to streamline the origination process by offering loan officers pricing options while also automating the underwriting and delivering approved loans. It marks SitusAMC’s fourth acquisition in the last five months. ReadyPrice joins its growing list of subsidiaries including Cohen Financial, ComplianceEase and rSquared CRE. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Before the acquisition, Houston-based SitusAMC offered limited technology and services to LOs and lenders, instead focusing on document classification, data extraction, income calculators, asset and liability calculator, and guideline engines for the secondary market. However, the company is actively working to make its tools available for primary origination, CEO Michael Franco said in a statement to NMN.

Since the pandemic started, tech vendors have drawn more investor interest and client demand, as more lenders seek to use their tools to aid remote work and to streamline the deluge of loan volume. SitusAMC joins the growing number of mortgage companies aiming to put all the pieces of the lending puzzle under one roof in order to create efficient, one-stop-shops.

Franco said SitusAMC is building a system aimed at the broker that doesn’t leave them beholden to one specific lender, compared to other tech giants in the industry — like Rocket Cos. However, Rocket’s sister company, Nexsys Technologies, has also made a bid to reach the broker audience of late with their automated homeowners insurance underwriting tool released last month.

“Rocket and other platforms have built great tools; however, they are more centric to a particular lender and are aimed at making the broker captive. Our goal is to give brokers better technology tools but also an ability not to be held captive to one lender,” Franco said.

“Also, with our ability to connect primary and secondary markets, we want to work with our secondary market clients who are looking for nonagency assets and create an ability to translate those programs down to the LO/broker level. We believe we can make underwriting for nonagency as efficient as underwriting for agency loans for those parties who are fully participating in our ecosystem.”