Mortgage technology

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced the acquisition of DocX LLC, an Alpharetta, Ga.-based provider of outsourced lien release and assignment services to mortgage lenders.The terms of the deal were not disclosed. FNF said DocX also offers a lien release software platform that can be licensed for use in an in-house environment, maintains a national database of county recording office information, and provides recording fee and transfer tax calculators via its patent-pending Feewise calculator. "The acquisition of DocX enhances the scale of our lien release capabilities and provides access to a marquee customer base," said FNF executive vice president Ernest D. Smith. ".... The Feewise calculator is also a great tool that can be used by our title operations in automatically calculating closing fees." FNF can be found online at http://www.fnf.com.

The Mortgage Bankers Association has released its first-ever Commercial Technology Survey, which was designed to measure the extent of computer automation in commercial lending.The survey found that more than three-fourths of survey participants have started efforts to store electronic images of loan documents, and that nearly two-thirds of the loan proposals sent from originators to lenders were submitted in electronic format, the MBA reported. The survey also found that more than half of loan underwriting packages received by lenders were received in electronic format; usage of electronic communications is high among servicers, and larger servicers are generally more electronic than smaller ones; investor reporting and remittances are almost entirely electronic; and processing property inspections is largely electronic. The survey was developed by the Technology Initiatives Committee of the MBA's Commercial Real Estate/Multifamily Finance Board of Governors. It drew responses from originators and lenders responsible for roughly $70 billion in 2004 loan originations and servicers responsible for more than 130,000 loans with an aggregate unpaid principal balance of $525 billion, the MBA said.

REIData Inc., Houston, has announced that Property Profiles, a property and ownership report used by real estate professionals, is now available for all 58 California counties via PropertyInfo.com.Property Profiles enables subscribers to easily research properties by address, owner name, legal description, or parcel identification number, the company said. "Property Profiles is an essential tool for real estate professionals to assist buyers and sellers in determining effective sales and purchase prices for specific market areas," said Robert Alcala, senior vice president of REIData market management. "It also allows both residential and commercial real estate agents and brokers to help their customers more efficiently find an appropriate property for a home or business." REIData, a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Information Services Corp., can be found online at http://www.propertyinfo.com.

The Real Estate Solutions division of Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has released a new reporting add-on utility for its Broker BackOffice Pro system to enhance the product's reporting flexibility.Using the new reporting tool, real estate management professionals can expect more flexible and detailed reporting capabilities to support the executive-level decision-making process, Fidelity said. In addition to fully customizable reporting capabilities, the new reporting tool will include pre-formatted reports such as commission summaries, agent rosters, and earnings, trust, and ranking reports. While several of these are already included in Broker BackOffice Pro, the new tool offers enhanced versions that can pull information from any data field in the Broker BackOffice Pro system to create customized reports, the company said. In addition, all reports created using the new tool are automatically exported in report format to Microsoft Office Excel. Fidelity can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com.

Santa Ana, Calif.-based First American Corp. has acquired Certified Closing Network, a provider of customized and outsourced title clearance, equity calculation, and settlement services for clients with residential relocation-related transactions.The terms of the transaction, which closed on Aug. 19, were not disclosed. CCN will become a part of First American Residential Group Inc., a specialty business line established by First American in 2002 to address the service, technology, and outsourcing needs of companies serving the residential real estate and relocation markets. CCN uses a national network of attorneys and title and escrow agents who have developed relocation-related expertise. CCN's service teams will continue to operate out of the company's Bethesda, Md., and Washington, D.C., locations under the direction of managing partners G. Michael Dufour, Jennifer Swanhart Murphy, and John L. Heithaus, First American said. First American can be found on the Web at http://www.firstam.com.

Vienna, Va.-based VirPack has announced that Flagstar Bank, Troy, Mich., has begun using an enhanced version of its Virpack Direct electronic image loan delivery system.VirPack Direct conforms to Flagstar’s electronic image loan delivery specification and supports delivery to Flagstar's paperless loan processing systems for both correspondents and brokers, VirPack said. Now Flagstar's correspondents and brokers can deliver fully indexed images instead of paper loan packages to reduce costs and cycle times. VirPack said loans identified for delivery to Flagstar are immediately retrieved from the VirPack system, prepared and electronically delivered in a secure fashion. Direct is integrated with VirPack's imaging systems, which provide barcoding, scan capture, and electronic document management applications designed specifically for the mortgage industry. VirPack Direct is free to VirPack customers. The company can be found online at http://www.virpack.com.

Washington-based iComply Inc. has added state and federal disclosure forms to its online mortgage compliance service.By offering disclosures, iComply allows companies to manage all their compliance needs through one service. Companies no longer have to go to multiple sources to track compliance laws and then obtain the required disclosures, according to the company. Specifically, disclosures are offered to all iComply subscribers at no additional charge, and they can be downloaded and saved to any format. The forms are currently available for more than 10 states and will expand to include all 50 states over the next several months. The company can be found online at http://www.icomply.com.

The board of directors of the Mortgage Bankers Association, Washington, has passed a resolution that endorses the adoption by the industry of residential and commercial electronic mortgages.The decision is said to be based on a recommendation from the board of directors' technology steering committee. Specifically, the resolution noted that "the use of residential and commercial e-mortgages, based on open standards, is a significant mechanism for simplifying the mortgage process and creating other efficiencies that will reduce costs for all market participants." The MBA intends to establish e-mortgage standards and best practices, and applying its resources accordingly, including its ongoing financial support of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization. The MBA stated that e-mortgages will help its members stay "ahead of the curve," and the MBA will provide its members educational and training materials. For additional information, visit MBA's Web site, http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

To help MBS investors and others to better manage the collateral side of secondary market transactions, Waltham, Mass.-based Pro-Teck Services, Ltd. has just released an advanced client feature providing enhanced flexibility in managing bulk/batch orders.Web-based Batch Manager offers real-time tracking and management of batch orders consisting of multiple properties. Users are able to define business rules around the order and manage the order within the context of those rules. Users can get a high-level summary of the order within any point of the batches lifecycle, plus loan-level drilldowns. The tool provides dynamic data access via XML, XLS or PDF zip files to subsets of data meeting user-defined filters. The collateral valuation process for a batch order may run through AVM Cascades, Collateral Fraud Indicators, Broker Price Opinions, Desktop Reconciliations and ultimately tie out with the seller. Pro-Teck's website is located at http://www.pro-teck.com.

Fidelity Information Services, Jacksonville, Fla., has released an updated version of Mortgage PhD, which makes data and services from third parties and its Mortgage Servicing Package available via a Web service. Mortgage PhD provides access to MSP data as well as a range of service providers. The enhanced version now allows in-house applications and delivery channels to launch loan-level data and service requests directly, securely and in real time using a service-oriented architecture and Web services. Among the early adopters of Mortgage PhD's Web services is one of Wachovia Corp.'s mortgage loan servicing operations. Chris Charleswirth, senior vice president with Wachovia's Retail Lending Technology organization, said, "Mortgage PhD is the integration layer bridging mortgage and service-provider systems." Fidelity can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com.

ABN Amro has selected the ComplianceEase automated compliance technology as its enterprise-wide solution for managing adherence to federal and state lending regulations.ComplianceEase offers an Internet-based open platform that integrates seamlessly with loan origination systems. It offers to reduce the cost of complying with "high-cost" regulations, Sarbanes Oxley oversight requirements and other regulatory risk. ABN Amro said it picked ComplianceEase for its ease of implementation and use as well as its ability to reduce the time, cost and resources the lender has to commit to compliance in the consumer-lending arena.

AppIntelligence's founder and former chief executive officer, Steve Halper, has launched a new company.The company, DataVerify, is offering a new generation of automated data integrity tools that the company said is "powered with more robust exterior database sources, superior predictive analytics and a comprehensive array of new and advanced features." DataVerify lets lenders accurately predict fraud and mitigate loss with unprecedented accuracy while increasing workflow efficiency and reducing loan approval timeframes at the point of sale, according to the company. DataVerify can be found online at www.dataverify.com.

Online Documents Inc., Concord, Calif., and ComplianceEase, San Francisco, have announced a strategic alliance to integrate ComplianceEase's automated mortgage compliance system into Online's mortgage document systems.Clients using any of Online's document systems will be able to submit loans to ComplianceAnalyzer for a comprehensive mortgage compliance audit before delivering loan documents to the closing agent, the companies said. "Direct access across Online’s connection to ComplianceAnalyzer will be of immediate value to our lending partners, simplifying an industry which already deals with so many federal, state, and municipal anti-predatory and state licensing laws," said Joan Ingham, president of Online. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.onlinedocuments.com and http://www.complianceease.com.

Popular Inc., a Puerto Rican financial institution, has announced a merger agreement under which it will acquire 100% of the common stock and common stock equivalents of online mortgage lender E-Loan Inc., Pleasanton, Calif., for approximately $300 million in cash.The common stock and equivalents will be purchased for $4.25 per share. E-Loan will maintain its brand identity and become a wholly owned subsidiary of Popular Financial Holdings Inc., Popular's U.S. finance subsidiary, and Mark Lefanowicz, E-Loan's chief executive officer and president, will continue as president. The merger agreement has been unanimously approved by the boards of both companies but is still subject to E-Loan shareholder approval. Popular said the transaction will expand its penetration into the U.S. market, complement its nonprime and warehouse lending businesses, and "significantly enhance" its technology platform. E-Loan originated over $5 billion in mortgage, home equity, and auto loans last year, Popular said. The companies can be found online at http://www.popularinc.com and http://www.eloan.com.

PlatinumData Solutions, a provider of cascading automated valuation models based in Mission Viejo, Calif., has added report creation capabilities to its AVM platform that allow system administrators to track the geographic performance of specific AVMs and individual users' AVM orders.The PlatinumData platform allows lenders and investors to create customized AVM cascades that deliver valuation and activity analyses identifying property or borrower characteristics indicative of elevated risk factors. Administrators can now better understand and more strategically manage their organizations' valuation resources through the creation of "Hits Reports" and "Products Ordered by User" reports via the update, the company said. The Hits Report details usage of all AVMs that return data within the selected time period, and the Products Ordered by User report displays all the AVMs that each user has ordered within the specified period, allowing accountants to know, by user, how much AVMs are costing the organization, according to PlatinumData.

Advectis Inc., Alpharetta, Ga., has released BlitzDocs Collaboration Suite, an application that provides a collaborative network for mortgage brokers, correspondents, lenders, investors, and other third parties.The product line includes BlitzDocs Enterprise, BlitzDocs Deliver, and BlitzDocs Connector. BlitzDocs Enterprise provides lenders with electronic document collaboration, enabling all participants in the mortgage industry to capture, submit, organize, underwrite, audit, share, and archive loan documents electronically, the company said. BlitzDocs Deliver enables investors or correspondent buyers to provide their correspondent sellers with the ability to transmit closed loan documents electronically. Advectis can be found on the web at http://www.advectis.com.

The venture capitalists are back, and they are looking hard at the mortgage and real estate sectors."This is a great time to be an entrepreneur in real estate and mortgage," Mark Sherman, a partner in Battery Ventures, said at Real Estate Connect in San Francisco, a conference that seeks to marry the real estate and technology businesses. "We're very excited about the mortgage business especially," said Mr. Sherman, whose firm recently provided funding for Loan Page, an online lead generation firm for brokers and lenders. "The capital markets are very active." The venture capitalists cautioned investors not to be worried about a real estate market slowdown -- or worse. "Look through the downturn," he advised. "The real estate market has decades of legs to it, so look at the long term." He also predicted that "numerous changes" in technology platforms are ahead, and said current incumbents are open to start-ups and new programs. The next wave of new technology is being driven by consumers who are turning more and more to the Internet, he added. "There has been a huge shift in consumer behavior," he told the meeting. "Everyone is now using the Web to start and sometimes conclude high-dollar purchases."

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization has announced the approval of a new property dataset.Specifically, the Core Data Workgroup with MISMO has given the green light to the Property Reporting Specifications, version 2.32. The approval of the Property Standard is the first step toward establishing a standard for describing a real estate property from its inception at origination through the entire financial process, ending with county recorders, according to MISMO. The specifications are available on the Web at http://www.mismo.org/mismo/specs_232.cfm. MISMO can be found at http://www.mismo.org.

Mortgage Cadence, a Denver-based origination vendor, has released a new imaging module within its loan origination system.The product, available as an add-on module, enables Mortgage Cadence clients to capture, store, and manage data. Mortgage Cadence said it views the development of this imaging module as a necessary step toward electronic mortgages, while also responding to increased demand throughout the industry. The implementation of the module also allows Mortgage Cadences to extend its ACE business rules management engine. ACE Actions can be created to automatically insert records into document tracking, insert tasks to review documents, update loan status, and notify users of new documents when they arrive. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.mortgagecadence.com.

Live Data Group Inc., the Boca Raton, Fla.-based operating company for Foreclosure.com, has acquired the www.preforeclosure.com URL and the development of a new Preforeclosure.com website.Scheduled to launch in the fall, the new Preforeclosure.com website will offer subscribers a database of residential preforeclosure listings, as well as access to a database of foreclosure, bankruptcy, for-sale-by-owner, and distressed properties, according to the company. "With the launch of the new site, we will empower Preforeclosure.com users with the same simple access to property listings that our subscribers have come to expect from us," said Brad Geisen, president and chief executive officer of Live Data. "Adding the URL to our family of websites will allow us to cater to a new set of real estate consumers who are specifically searching for an online resource that provides detailed information on properties in the preforeclosure stage."