Mortgage technology

Framing the investment as an endorsement of open standards in technology, First American has announced a $50 million capital infusion in San Mateo, Calif.-based Dorado and its Enterprise Lending System.The company said this "will help mortgage industry leaders transform mortgage origination from a compartmentalized process with frequent starts and stops into a highly integrated, open, and dynamic process that gives lenders more control over their businesses, enables faster time-to-close, and creates more efficiency in the market overall." ELS allows services from third-party vendors to be integrated directly into a lender's workflow. ELS and other Dorado technology platforms will now be integrated with First American Web Services and First American Fulfillment Services. First American said it plans to fund future Dorado acquisitions "as a means of further expanding this new origination vision." The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.firstam.com and http://www.dorado.com.

Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has signed the Arizona Uniform Real Property Electronic Recording Act, which authorizes the storage of real property records, including mortgages, in electronic format.The act was adopted based on a model recording act of the same name drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws in 2004. It states that an electronic document satisfies a recording statute that requires a document to be an original, on paper or another tangible medium, or in writing, and that an electronic signature satisfies a recording statute that requires a document to be signed. The act also states that an electronic signature satisfies a requirement that a document or signature associated with a document be notarized, acknowledged, verified, witnessed, or made under oath by someone authorized to sign for the document so long as the electronic signature and all other information required to be included is attached to or logically associated with the document or signature. The Arizona URPERA goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2006.

LendingTree Settlement Services, Charlotte, N.C, has selected Pittsburgh-based ValuAmerica's Web-based ValuNet xsp software to manage its vendor management process.ValuNet xsp automates vendor selection and ordering, and provides real-time vendor performance scoring and reporting in order to increase operational efficiencies, ValuAmerica said. The implementation is scheduled to be complete in June 2005. LendingTree Settlement Services is a joint venture between LendingTree LLC and GreenLink LLC, an affiliate of Wachovia Corp. It offers settlement services such as appraisal, credit, flood, title, and closing services. ValuAmerica is a national provider of settlement services and supply chain management tools. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.lendingtree.com and http://www.valuamerica.com.

The Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization has announced the introduction of MISMO eXtensible Markup Language Compliance for credit reporting.MXCompliance allow implementers of MISMO's Internet-based XML standards to "reference requirements and take steps in becoming officially compliant" and to validate their XML, the Mortgage Bankers Association subsidiary said. There are three types of MXCompliance services: verification, import, and export. Verification is a service for businesses interested in buying certified products and services from organizations that claim to be MISMO-compliant, the organization said. The import and export services are used by applicants seeking certification (under MISMO standards) of their product or service interfaces. For further information on MXCompliance, visit http://mxcompliance.mismo.org.

Stewart Title has announced another step toward the electronic closing of real-estate finance transactions with the completion of the sale of a single-family home using its eClosingRoom, integrated into its SureClose online transaction management system at Stewart Title of Wichita Falls, Texas.The all-cash closing called for sellers and buyer to use a simple "click to sign" process and a "sign-once, apply-many" signature capture process to affix their electronic signatures to the documents, including HUD-1 statements, the attorney disclosure, survey documents, the privacy policy notice, the 1099 and 1099 certification, and a Stewart Title disclosure. The warranty deed and Affidavit as to Debts and Liens needed to be "wet-signed" to conform to Wichita County requirements, the company said. Sellers and buyer accessed their SureClose transaction file via a user ID and password-protected website to review documents in advance of the closing. The eClosingRoom system was developed with Silanis Technology. Stewart Title can be found online at http://www.stewart.com.

Dynatek has made plans for a phased launch of an improved version of its MORvision loan origination software that will be called MORvisionTi , the company said at its 13th annual user conference in Livonia, Mich.The new MORvisionTi will utilize new technologies like Web services/.NET, Smart Client, service-oriented architecture and n-tier functionality. The system will include a new business process management central module to streamline loan management, advanced product and pricing, e-mortgage ready capability, and an enhanced point-of-sale system. The Web Status Center to enable the user to accommodate Web services was the first deliverable of the new system. The next deliverable will be the POS component, which will include synchronized docked and undocked access to the software, improved loan selection, improved calculators, simplified data entry and advanced printing functionality. Dynatek can be found on the Web at http://www.dynatek.com.

Fiserv Inc., Brookfield, Wis., has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the assets of the eLending U.S. operations of Emergis Inc., Montreal, Quebec.Emergis disclosed on its website that the purchase price is US$13.75 million in cash. The eLending Emergis operation enables mortgage lenders to obtain third-party services needed to process, close, and fund mortgage loans via the Internet. In addition, it provides the capability to manage, electronically sign, and store mortgage documents in a secure electronic environment. Fiserv said the eLending U.S. Emergis technology includes the Vendor Services Exchange component on which Fiserv's Electronic Partner Connection operates as a private-label system. The Electronic Partner Connection is an electronic network that provides mortgage originators with a single online point of entry for the order and delivery of any mortgage-related products or services. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fiserv.com and http://www.emergis.com.

Costa Mesa, Calif.-based Experian has positioned itself as a major consumer-direct player on the Internet with the acquisition of LowerMyBills.com for $330 million and the launch of Experian Interactive.The deal also calls for an additional $50 million performance-related compensation over the next two years. LowerMyBills is a mortgage-lead generator that assists consumers with debt consolidation and other financial decisions. All employees and management for LowerMyBills.com will be retained, Experian said. Consumer Interactive will combine the acquired entity with its Experian Consumer Direct, MetaReward, and Affiliate Fuel business lines.

MERS, the industry-owned system for tracking ownership of mortgage loans and servicing rights, has registered 30 million loans, according to the organization.MERS said it hit the 30 million mark, a 35% increase from one year earlier, on April 6. Decision One Mortgage, a Charlotte, N.C.-based division of the HSBC Group, registered the 30 millionth loan. The company has over 200,000 loans registered on MERS. Electronic registration eliminates the need for paper assignments when trading loans and servicing rights. MERS can be found on the Internet at http://www.mersinc.org.

NetBank Inc., an Atlanta-based online bank, has reported a mortgage-related net loss of $2.0 million ($0.04 per share) for the first quarter, compared with net income of $9.4 million ($0.20 per share) a year earlier.The production of conforming mortgages totaled $2.1 billion in the quarter, a decline of 8.6%, and the production of nonconforming mortgages totaled $630 million, a decline of 18.4%, the company reported. "The current-period loss is largely centered in our nonconforming mortgage operation," said Douglas K. Freeman, NetBank's chairman and chief executive officer. ".... More aggressive pricing industrywide and higher-than-normal provision expenses pushed results well below the level our other developing lines of business can offset today. We consider the prevailing nonconforming business conditions atypical. We are fully committed to the nonconforming operation and believe in its ability to contribute significant profitability to our bottom line in normal conditions." The company can be found online at http://www.netbank.com.

The MLS Systems and Solutions group of Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions, Jacksonville, Fla., has released an updated version of its Paragon MLS system, a Web-based multiple listing service platform.Enhancements include updates to the Comparative Market Analysis, Associated Documents, and Listing Photo Management features. The CMA updates have enhanced the feature's user interface, improving its workflow functionality, the company said. In addition, comparative graphs and charts will now be included in the CMA feature. The Associated Documents feature enables any documents related to a specific listing, such as inspection or disclosure reports, to be stored as part of that listing in the Paragon system. Lastly, updates to the Listing Photo Management feature include a new drag-and-drop interface. Fidelity also announced that the application can now be accessed from any browser-enabled device, such as a Wireless Application Protocol-enabled mobile phone or a personal data assistant. The FNF family of companies can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com and http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com.

Del Mar Database, San Diego, has released its Hosted Solution Suite, providing application service provider access to its entire product line.The Hosted Solutions are designed for lenders that require centralized data access for remote users, have limited information technology resources, prefer lower upfront costs, and seek rapid implementation. Del Mar announced the new offering at the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Secondary Marketing Conference in San Francisco.

Cogent Economics has used its annual symposium, held recently at the Nikko Hotel in San Francisco, to sound a "clarion call" for enterprise-wide quality-control systems.Keynote speaker James Robinson discussed the three pillars of the Basel II capital adequacy II framework -- minimum capital requirements, the supervisory review process, and market discipline requirements -- as a mandate for enterprise QC rather than the relegation of QC to "a small department in the basement." Though the Basel Accords will primarily affect larger institutions, he said smaller banks and mortgage lenders will have incentives to adopt advanced approaches to risk assessment to pass regulatory muster and enjoy increased investor confidence in their loan originations. Symposium attendees also were briefed on plans to migrate the entire code base of CogentQC from FoxPro to C# (a language for Microsoft's .net platform) and to ease connectivity to SQL databases by the fourth quarter of this year. Cogent can be found online at http://www.cogentqc.com.

Wachovia Mortgage, the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, has launched Palisades Technology Partners' Impact Mortgage Services Suite, a fully automated, Web-based loan origination system."Palisades' Impact Loan Processing System delivers a robust lending platform that we integrated tightly into our infrastructure," said Laurie Smith, director of lending technology for Wachovia. "We are particularly excited about the potential for extending our use of Impact's components for loan pricing, fee calculations, and compliance as Web services." The company said the project required the development and implementation of interfaces to many downstream systems, including Wachovia's in-house point-of-sale system, using a MISMO-like Interface Manager and standard messages over an IBM MQ protocol. (MISMO is the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization.) The implementation will also facilitate the electronic delivery of documents leveraging Wachovia's Electronic Forms and Image Archive infrastructure.

Ellie Mae, Dublin, Calif., has acquired Michigan-based Lasso Technologies, a developer of Web-enabled applications, to be able to offer its Encompass point-of-sale software as an application service provider.The terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Lasso used to offer Encompass on an ASP basis as a third-party service, which is why the acquisition was such a good fit, said Jonathan Corr, senior vice president for products at Ellie Mae. As a result, Ellie Mae is launching Encompass Anywhere, a new Web-hosted solution of its flagship loan origination and management system. Lasso management will be absorbed into Ellie Mae, the company said. Ellie Mae can be found on the Web at http://www.elliemae.com.

HomesByOwner.com, Memphis, has announced an alliance with RealBird Inc., a Redwood City, Calif.-based provider of online maps and GIS tools for the real estate industry.HomesByOwner.com offers for-sale-by-owner businesses national exposure and a customizable website to serve the local FSBO market. RealBird's online mapping service features street, aerial, and topographical maps with interactive hotspots linked to photos, websites, or virtual tours, as well as driving directions. "With RealBird Maps we have raised the perceived value of our service, and will attract more homebuyers and sellers because they have now a better way to sell or buy a home," said Wayne Strobel, president of HomesByOwner.com. "RealBird is the only affordable, fully customizable online mapping service that was also very easy to integrate with our website and database of listings." The companies can be found online at http://www.homesbyowner.com and http://www.realbird.com.

Dynatek Inc., Livonia, Mich., has completed a system-to-system plug-in for Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector.com automated underwriting system within its MORvision offering.Dynatek used the latest technology specifications available from Freddie Mac to design a plug-in that would eliminate duplicate data entry, offer increased flexibility, and allow the transfer of loans from the online version of Loan Prospector to MORvision. The improvements ultimately provide faster, more accurate underwriting responses for MORvision users, according to Freddie Mac. Dynatek can be found on the Web at http://www.dynatek.com.

The MLS Systems and Solutions group of Fidelity National Real Estate Solutions, Jacksonville, Fla., has announced an agreement with ShowingTime to provide access to the latter's Web-based property-showing management system.Under the arrangement, Fidelity's multiple-listing service customers can enable their broker and agent users to gain direct access to the property-showing system, ShowingAssist. "In our experience, we've found MLSs receptive to adding showing technology to their sites," said Scott Woodard, ShowingTime's chief executive officer. "ShowingAssist expands the toolkit they can offer to members and becomes an important timesaver in the showing appointment process." For showing agents, access to ShowingAssist through their MLS system enables them to view available showing times for listed properties and submit showing requests 24 hours a day, Fidelity said. The companies can be found online at http://www.fidelityinfoservices.com and http://www.showingtime.com.

GHR Systems Inc., Wayne, Pa., has announced the introduction of the Enterprise Reporting System, which is designed to create instant reports with research capabilities and graphical analysis.ERS also provides historical and real-time views into a lender's organizational, branch, and loan officer pipelines. GHR Systems said users can obtain quantifiable feedback with ERS, linking strategy, performance, and management decisions. The ERS works with any GHR product and can also integrate data from any non-GHR system. Specifically, GHR's ERS system allows users to access, manipulate, and change the layout of information in real time, providing an engine capable of detailed analysis and reporting, the company said. As an online analytical processing system, ERS can also gather information from one or more source systems and provide enterprise reporting. GHR can be found on the Web at http://www.ghrsystems.com.

In order to round out its mortgage platform, Bear Stearns has started a wholesale division called Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage Corp. and on April 18 plans to roll out a technology interface called BearDirect.net that will provide an online underwriting decision engine for mortgage brokers.The move is part of a larger effort to expand the company's mortgage franchise by capturing origination volume, fixed-income president and co-chief executive officer Warren Spector said in a recent webcast investor presentation. Also adding to Bear's volumes recently has been an expansion of its product guidelines in the conduit area, according to people familiar with Bear's strategy. (For more information, see the April 18 issue of National Mortgage News.)