Technology

Spending on mortgage technology increased 14% in the past year, according to the second annual Mortgage Bankers Association Technology Study.Study participants spent an average of $156 per loan application and $250 per closed loan on origination-related technology costs. In addition, those that serviced loans spent an average of $25 per loan on servicing-related technology costs, the MBA reported. About 75% of 2004 technology spending (operating expense before depreciation, plus capital expenditures) was dedicated to origination functions and 25% to servicing functions. Of 2004 technology spending, 73% was baseline maintenance (required in order to continue conducting business), while the remaining 27% was discretionary (needed to improve functionality and performance). Regulatory and compliance obligations accounted for 9% of technology budgets. Looking ahead, participants expect their technology budgets to increase by 5% over the next year. The participants represented approximately 20% of the U.S. mortgage origination market, according to the MBA. The association can be found online at http://www.mortgagebankers.org.

Automated valuation methods are immune to transactional pressures, according to a white paper issued by the Collateral Assessment and Technologies Committee of the Real Estate Information Professionals Association.REIPA said the study found that biases in full appraisal value opinions are sometimes pronounced, and consistent with allegations of transactional pressure placed on appraisers by originators. While AVMs have a lesser tendency to overstate values, they are not as accurate as full appraisals. But the overvaluations that come from a full appraisal are more highly correlated with mortgage default risk than are the overvaluations from AVMs, the study found. "High-quality AVM systems are proven solutions that are capable of bringing incremental objectivity, consistency, and controls to collateral valuation and risk assessment processes in our evolved and modern marketplace," said the white paper's author, Terry Loebs, senior vice president at Fiserv Inc. and a member of CATC's Executive Committee. "They can do so in an efficient and cost-effective fashion that even the best-intended appraisal industry reforms or new regulations may be hard-pressed to match." The paper, "Systemic Risks in Residential Property Valuations: Perceptions and Reality," was presented at REIPA's Annual Predictive Methods Conference in Newport Beach, Calif.

Housing bubbles in the United States are following the Don Ho model, showing up only as "tiny bubbles" in local U.S. markets, according to two keynoters at the Predictive Methods Conference in Newport Beach, Calif.However, Doug Duncan, chief economist of the Mortgage Bankers Association, and David Lereah, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors, disagreed on economic growth. Mr. Duncan differed with Mr. Lereah's characterization of the current 3.5% pace of U.S. economic growth as anemic, arguing that the Federal Reserve Board has said this pace is the highest the economy can sustain without inflation. Mr. Duncan, delivering the conference's June 28 keynote address, predicted that 30-year fixed mortgage rates would not reach 7% till mid-2007. Mr. Lereah was the previous day's keynote speaker at the annual conference, which is sponsored by the Real Estate Information Professionals Association. REIPA can be found online at http://www.reipa.org.

Triad Guaranty Insurance Corp., a subsidiary of Triad Guaranty Inc., Winston-Salem, N.C., has joined the BlitzDocs Certified Underwriting Provider Program.The certification allows Triad to review and underwrite electronic files directly from lenders using BlitzDocs systems from Alpharetta, Ga.-based Advectis Inc. To become certified as a BlitzDocs Certified Underwriting Provider, Advectis said a company must have a minimum of six trained BlitzDocs underwriters on staff, be a member of the Mortgage Bankers Association, demonstrate a core competency in underwriting, offer contract underwriting services to customers, and comply with basic interface requirements. Advectis can be found on the Web at http://www.advectis.com.

Spokane, Wash.-based SharperLending LLC has partnered with Stewart Mortgage Information, Houston, to offer a nationwide title and escrow system for purchase, refinance, and equity loans.In turn, Stewart can now deliver its products to the wide range of lenders using the SharperLending platform. Stewart serves the real estate and mortgage industries through the electronic delivery of products and services required for origination, settlement, and post-closing. SharperLending bundles Stewart's title, escrow, closing, flood determination, and appraisal services at a single point of entry through its interface with the vendor's back-end system. The platform enables Stewart to integrate with lenders who prefer either a national or a local agent solution. In addition, the SharperLending platform offers Stewart as a vendor option to its more than 2,000 originators. The companies can be found on the Web at http//www.stewart.com and http://www.sharperlending.com.

Metavante Corp., Milwaukee, has acquired origination vendor GHR Systems, Wayne, Pa., and TREEV LLC, a document imaging/management vendor based in Herndon, Va.Both will become subsidiaries of Metavante, and no name change is planned for either company. Metavante said it paid $19.5 for TREEV, of which approximately $17.6 million will be funded using Marshall & Ilsley Corp. common stock. Metavante also disclosed that it paid $65 million for GHR, of which approximately $55 million will be funded using Marshall & Ilsley Corp. common stock. Both deals are expected to close in the third quarter. The management teams at both GHR and TREEV will remain intact. Metavante can be found on the Web at http://www.metavante.com.

Standard & Poor's has tackled the issue of compliance with the release of "Security to Entity CrossWalk" online.The application enhances operational controls and efficiency by automatically linking more than five million securities identifiers (including CUSIPs and ISINs) from S&P and Telekurs Financial with corporate identifiers from the D&B global database, according to S&P. The application makes it possible for data managers, compliance and risk managers, portfolio managers, and operations personnel to meet new risk management mandates (such as under the Basel II accord and the Sarbanes-Oxley law) by instantly identifying risk on an asset, portfolio, companywide, or market level. Web access to "Security to Entity CrossWalk" offers clients the ability to conduct individual look-ups and on-the-fly searches. The application can be found on the Web at http://www.crosswalkweb.com.

AllRegs, an Eagan, Minn.-based online publisher of reference information for the mortgage industry, has announced the addition to its state compliance offering of Spanish versions of over 300 state-specific disclosures required at the time of origination.The Spanish versions are available without cost to any subscriber and are searchable and accessible within AllRegs to non-Spanish-speaking users, the company said. "Providing Spanish language disclosures achieves several important goals," said Steven M. Kaplan, a partner at Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP’s Washington, D.C., law office and a specialist in national residential mortgage lending issues. "Not only is it required by certain laws, but it helps ensure that Spanish-speaking loan applicants understand the terms of the loan. It is a good risk management tool." Written and provided by TenA Cos., a St. Paul, Minn.-based provider of quality assurance systems, the disclosures mirror the English versions already included in AllRegs State Compliance, the company said. The companies can be found online at http://www.allregs.com, http://www.klng.com, and http://www.tenaco.com.

David Jensen has been named chief financial officer of DocuTech Corp., an Idaho Falls, Idaho-based provider of compliance services and documentation technology for the mortgage industry.Mr. Jensen has more than 30 years of accounting and financial management experience, DocuTech said. Before joining the company, he served as CFO for Idaho Falls-based Walker Produce, Walker Farms, and McNeil Development, and he held executive posts at other companies. DocuTech can be found online at http://www.docutechcorp.com.

Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced an agreement to acquire Service Link LP, a title insurance agency and provider of title and closing services to national lenders, for an undisclosed amount.The purchase will also include Asset Link, a company owned by Service Link that manages and disposes of real estate owned. "The acquisition of Service Link provides FNF and its title insurance subsidiaries with centralized title and closing capabilities and improved direct access to national lender accounts for both refinance transactions and emerging lender-driven purchase transactions," said FNF president Raymond R. Quirk. "Service Link will operate as a distinct brand under our Chicago Title subsidiary and will establish underwriting agreements with the FNF family of title insurance underwriters." FNF can be found online at http://www.fnf.com.