Technology

Seattle-based HomeTeam, which created a syndicated television program of the same name to place first-time homeowners into homes, has now developed a platform that directly links the show with an education program and an online consumer portal.HomeTeam said it is collaborating with First American Corp., Fiserv, InCharge Institute of America Inc., and NeighborhoodScout.com, among others, to ensure that the necessary products and services are available to consumers through its portal. The goal is to help industry professionals drive branding, lead generation, and awareness into the marketplace at the regional and national levels, the company said. HomeTeam has also created HomeTeam University, which offers homeownership mentoring, home-buying fairs, education, and counseling. The portal offers point-to-point networking capabilities, neighborhood searches, real estate agent and loan officer searches, and access to extensive mortgage information. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.hometeam.com.

Lead generation was the marquee topic at the Internet Mortgage Marketing Summit July 26, held by Real Estate Connect at San Francisco's Palace Hotel.Back-to-back mortgage sessions took up search engine and portal marketing, pay-per-call, lead validation, going beyond online loan applications, how to work Internet leads, and best practices for Internet lead providers. As mortgage originators deal with a declining market, lead generation becomes more critical, and several mortgage company executives and loan officers took the opportunity to publicly upbraid their vendors for sending them poor leads. Several panelists reminded mortgage professionals that Internet borrowers value speedy service and that the shelf life of Internet leads can be minutes rather than hours, much less days.

Veros, Santa Ana, Calif., has released the results of its quarterly forecasting of the nation's real estate markets, predicting the 10 hottest and coldest markets for the next 12 months.According to Veros, the 10 markets in its coverage area that will see the greatest home price appreciation over the next 12 months are: Seattle, with an 11% rate; San Bernardino County, Calif., 9%; Jacksonville, Fla., 9%; Raleigh/Durham, N.C., 8%; Tampa, Fla., 8%; Tucson, Ariz., 7%; Riverside County, Calif., 7%; Oakland, Calif., 7%; Los Angeles, 7%; and Nashville, Tenn., 7%. Among the markets expected to show the least home price appreciation over the next 12 months are: Sacramento, Calif., minus-2%; Memphis, minus-1%; Boston, 0%; Cleveland, 0%; and Detroit, 0%. Veros also released performance statistics for its forecasts for each of the previous three years, indicating that its automated home valuation analytics are highly accurate. Veros, a risk management and collateral valuation services vendor, can be found on the Web at http://www.verovalue.com.

E-Loan, an online consumer-direct lender based in Pleasanton, Calif., has introduced BuilderFocus, a program that it says provides homebuilders a streamlined and flexible loan process from application to funding.The program allows homebuilders to work with dedicated account managers and provides noncommissioned loan consultants, guaranteed on-time closings, and verified pre-approvals, E-Loan said. In addition, BuilderFocus offers competitive rates and extended lock programs with a one-time, 30-day "float down," as well as a promise of no lender fees and no hidden costs, the company said. More information on the program can be found online at http://www.eloan.com/builderfocus.

MindBox, Greenbrae, Calif., has launched MindBox Power Portal, a customizable website technology for electronic commerce transactions that allows lending institutions to quickly launch private branded websites for automating the underwriting and approval of mortgage loan applications.With MindBox Power Portal, brokers, loan officers, and other originators can submit specific borrower and loan information to a website for automatic analysis. For every loan submitted, multiple loan scenarios are automatically generated by MindBox's deal-structuring capabilities and displayed by the Power Portal. Power Portal supports multiple channels of business -- including wholesale, correspondent, retail, and affinity -- and can be implemented as a stand-alone e-commerce site or integrated into an existing website. The product features, among other things, user authentication for secure, authorized transactions; pipeline management that allows users to view the status of their loans; credit interface and analysis for real-time, accurate scoring; and electronic integration into the lender's back office. The company can be found on the Web at http://www.mindbox.com.

Freddie Mac has announced the selection of JPMorgan Worldwide Securities Services to provide transaction processing and recordkeeping services for its approximately $700 billion portfolio of mortgage-backed securities and short-term assets.Freddie Mac said the decision to outsource the functions is part of an effort to upgrade its technological capabilities and streamline its operating infrastructure. JPMorgan Worldwide will provide administrative and settlement services for Freddie's estimated $700 billion retained portfolio of longer-term assets (chiefly Freddie Mac-issued MBS) and an estimated $70 billion liquidity and contingency portfolio of short-term assets, the government-sponsored enterprise said. Freddie senior vice president Joseph Rossi said the move would simplify the company's operating environment and enable it to manage its investment assets at the Federal Reserve Bank and the Depository Trust Co. more efficiently. He praised JPMorgan's "state-of-the-art systems," scalable infrastructure, and technology management experience with governments and central banks. The companies can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com and http://www.jpmorgan.com.

The eMortgage Workgroup of the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization has unanimously passed a motion to develop implementation guidance for creating electronically signed PDF documents using the Adobe PDF 1.6 specification.The announcement is a follow-up to MISMO's May 3 statement on e-mortgage activities as they relate to the possible formal adoption of the Adobe PDF format. A motion to include data mapping guidance as well as e-signature guidelines was voted down. A MISMO spokesman told MortgageWire that the motion was defeated because if it had passed, classic PDF would be a competitor to the category-one SMART Doc, and historically MISMO has never endorsed proprietary technology as part of its open standards. MISMO deferred judgment on Intelligent PDF until Adobe posts a worldwide patent license letter on the product. MISMO can be found on the Web at http://www.mismo.org.

Santa Clara, Calif.-based e4e, a provider of "on tap" mortgage business services, has announced a "captive-plus" system that allows midsize lenders to choose from a variety of acquisition, processing, customer care, and servicing capabilities.The system will "substantially improve" profitability, reduce risk, and create a variable-cost environment, providing a "sustainable competitive advantage" that will enable midsize lenders to compete on a level playing field with large lenders, the company said. "Since 2000, e4e has been managing processing operations that support captive offshore centers of large lenders," said Vaibhav Tewari, e4e's president of financial services. "As the business environment continues to change, we've seen the growing need to allow mid-tier lenders the benefits of a captive environment without the resource costs necessary to set up an offshore captive operation." The company can be found online at http://www.e4e.com.

JSSmith Mortgage, a six-month-old mortgage company in Scottsdale, Ariz., is forming a joint venture with West USA real estate offices in the greater Phoenix area.Smith Mortgage and West USA will be partners in the new venture, to be called TLC Mortgage, which will originate loans on behalf of the realty firm's clients. With more than 2,000 agents in Arizona -- and five branches in the Phoenix metro area -- West USA is considered the state's largest brokerage firm and ranked sixth in size nationally. "We chose to team up with JSSmith Mortgage because of that company's deep expertise in creating mortgage joint ventures," said Caly Fouts, president and founder of West USA. Jeffrey Smith, who founded the company bearing his name in January, has helped create more than 100 mortgage joint ventures around the country and is considered a national expert on the matter. "Having a mortgage solution on site will only enhance [the realty firm's] customer service," Smith said.

LoanPerformance, a San Francisco-based provider of residential mortgage data and analytics, has announced the release of TrueStandings Securities 2.0, a Web-based mortgage reporting and analysis application.Version 2.0 features a Java-based user interface, Internet access, and full navigation using hyperlinks, and offers clients full access to "the mortgage industry's leading nonagency mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities databases," the company said. The new version provides faster refresh rates for its Web pages, an enhanced design for a "more intuitive user experience," and improved process and workflow for building and managing customized reports, LoanPerformance said. The company, a subsidiary of First American Real Estate Solutions, can be found online at http://www.loanperformance.com.