Technology

LoanMarket.net, an online auction website specializing in residential and commercial loans, has hired mortgage banking veteran David Akre as a managing director. Mr. Akre co-founded New York Mortgage Trust, a mortgage lending and investing REIT that went public back in 2004. During his career, he also worked in secondary marketing and sales at Thornburg Mortgage, Santa Fe. Based in Irvine, Calif., LoanMarket is privately held. The company has been selling performing, subperforming and delinquent notes for almost a year.

A la mode, Oklahoma City, has released "The Appraisal Fee Reference," a monthly guide to what independent appraisers charge nationwide. The software vendor/publisher says the AFR will help lenders/servicers with compliance issues especially in regard to new Federal Housing Administration appraisal guidelines. FHA now requires lenders to ensure that appraisers are paid reasonable and customary fees, independent of what might be added on by an appraisal management company. The AFR provides the median appraisal fees for each of the 3,221 counties in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam.

In his first major initiative since taking the helm at PHH Corp., Jerome Selitto laid out his strategy for transforming the nation's largest private label lender/servicer into a leaner, more profitable company — including a major cut in expenses. On a conference call Tuesday, Mr. Selitto, who became chief executive in October, said he plans to slash expenses by $100 million to $120 million annually. The effort will include combining back offices and upgrading technology. Selitto came to PHH "with a mandate from the board to turn this underperforming company into a high performer," said Steve DeLaney, a managing director and mortgage finance research analyst at JMP Securities. "He's sending the message that he's cleaning up and that he's going to do whatever it takes to make the company profitable." According to figures compiled by National Mortgage News and the Quarterly Data Report, PHH Mortgage ranks eighth among lenders nationwide, and ninth among servicers.

BrokerPriceOpinion.com, Westminster, Colo., has created a "Next Generation BPO (V3)" platform for its valuation service. The company said the new platform represents a fundamental shift in the philosophy for how it provides BPOs. The focus is primarily on data analysis rather than data capture and delivery. Walt Coats, president, said, "Our software automatically evaluates and scores all comp sale and listing data provided by the broker. It was designed to analyze the data for accuracy and/or fraud, and to provide immediate feedback for brokers and analysts." Enhancements to this platform, scheduled to introduced in Phase II of the roll out in the second quarter of this year, include the ability to access local market data and incorporate it into both new and existing products. Clients will be able to gain insight into local markets and make better, more informed business decisions, adding to increased profitability, the company said.

NetMore, a mortgage banking firm based in Walla Walla, Wash., has hired Comergence Compliance Monitoring as a third-party due diligence provider to keep an eye on its correspondent lenders. CCM will manage all reviews and monitor third-party originators that source loans to the company. CCM is based in Orange, Calif. NetMore, a nonbank, said it is "committed to working with the highest quality mortgage brokers in the industry in a 'friction free' manner."

Banking and mortgage regulators have developed a new file format that will allow for electronic examinations of mortgage originators. The new format, called the Licensee Examination File, is designed for use by mortgage loan originators, software providers and consultants and provides a standardized way to prepare loan portfolio data for online submission to state regulators. Documentation on the new format will be available on the "RCCertify" website which will have a ".org" address and launch on Feb. 22. The LEF was created by the CSBS/AARMR Multistate Mortgage Committee and unveiled at the NMLS User Conference in San Diego. The electronic transmission of data is part of the MMC's enhanced supervision of mortgage entities under the CSBS/AARMR Nationwide Cooperative Protocol and Agreement for Mortgage Supervision. Beginning last year and continuing through 2010 the MMC has been and plans to be conducting pilot examinations using ComplianceAnalyzer software provided by ComplianceEase. Lenders are expected to provide loan portfolio data uploads to state regulators by 2011. John Prendergast, chief risk officer for the Massachusetts Division of Banking and the chair of the MMC said, "Our vision of an improved examination process through the use of new technology has been in the works for several months, but one of our main challenges has been the inability of lender systems to feed data directly to the regulator in a form that is readable by the ComplianceAnalyzer program." This new format rectifies that, he said.

Service 1st Valuation and Settlement Services Inc. has joined the Ellie Mae Network. Connectivity to the network is integrated in Ellie Mae's Encompass360 mortgage management software, which is used by mortgage bankers, mortgage brokers, community banks, credit unions and national and regional lenders across the United States. As a result of the Service 1st integration, Service 1st will be available as an independent appraiser on the Ellie Mae Network and available to all users of Encompass360.

Wells Fargo Funding has authorized the use of Docu Prep's EESS product for digital signing documents. The Entire Electronic Signature Solution is Docu Prep's newest signing technology. The company's EESS product gives customers the ability to customize their document sets, and provides them with electronic signatures and delivery, as well as integrated management with reporting capabilities. Docu Prep is the 15th approved vendor by Wells for e-signing.

Equity National has released PACEplus, a predictive valuation tool intended to combine data and human analysis to ensure a more accurate measurement of a distressed property's true market value. Specifically, PACEplus combines quantitative data collection and analysis with human evaluation. The tool uses public and private housing, economic, and market data. The human element is still present, however, as this information then undergoes analysis, combining expert human review and field data collection, a questionnaire and photos.

DebtMarket of Los Angeles, which operates an online marketplace for trading whole loans, has officially named Stuart McFarland, a former Fannie Mae chief financial officer, as a top advisor to the firm. The company said Mr. McFarland will serve as a special advisor for capital and federal markets. The company also named Jim Jones and Bob Feller to its board. During his long career in mortgages, Mr. McFarland has worked for GE Capital Asset Management, and Pedestal, an early B2B online trading platform. Mr. Jones is a former CEO of GMAC's Residential Capital Corp. unit and Mr. Feller is a former CEO of Capmark Financial Group, a company that recently went through bankruptcy. Mr. McFarland first began working with DebtMarket late last year.