Technology

Bill Adamowski, chairman of MortgageHub, will resume the role of president and chief executive officer of the company in conjunction with a new growth strategy for the Des Moines, Iowa-based Web services platform provider.Mr. Adamowski said the company will hire more than 30 technology professionals and open at least four news offices over the next 60 days to help execute the strategy, which will include acquisitions and the introduction of new products. "For the past two years, my team and I have been working on putting together what I feel is the future of mortgage technology," Mr. Adamowski said. "We took a team of the best technologists and completely removed ourselves from the day-to-day work of running a company and invested in the development of this revolutionary new platform." He said the new technologies will be unveiled next month at the Mortgage Bankers Association's annual convention. The company can be found online at http://www.mortgagehub.com.

The Real Estate Solutions division of Fidelity National Financial Inc., Jacksonville, Fla., has announced that it will launch a new application using the new Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting 2006 software.The new application integrates Fidelity's Broker BackOffice Pro system, an office management tool designed to automate and streamline small to midsize real estate office processes, with Small Business Accounting to enable customers to manage their real estate and accounting transactions through a single application customized for the real estate industry. The application provides integrated contact and agent management, electronic activity scheduling, sales pipeline reporting, complete listings and sales management tools, real-time access to performance and productivity statistics, as well as a direct access to Small Business Accounting, the company said. Fidelity can be found on the Web at http://www.fnf.com.

Minneapolis-based Dexma has formed a strategic partnership with First American Fulfillment Solutions, Jacksonville, Fla., to offer a point-of-sale application directly to First American Fulfillment Solutions customers.The product is geared toward small and midsize lenders currently using First American Fulfillment Solutions for outsourced processing. Specifically, Dexma has developed a transactional consumer/retail website for First American, which can be offered on a private-label basis to its customers. These sites enable consumers and loan officers to obtain loan approvals from either Fannie Mae's DO/DU or Freddie Mac's Loan Prospector. In addition, the consumer/retail platform is already integrated with the outsource processing platform and fully supported by First American. In 2004, First American acquired LOS Xsequor, now called First American Fulfillment Solutions, to expand its role as a fulfillment outsourcer. The new combination of First American and Dexma was designed to further First American's origination technology offering and broaden Dexma's customer base, according to First American. The companies can be found on the Web at http://www.dexma.com and http://www.firstam.com.

Impac Mortgage Holdings Inc., Newport Beach, Calif., has announced a new "broker-to-banker" transition program that enables qualified brokers to apply for a customized line of credit through Impac's warehouse-lending group.Once approved, brokers can receive same-day fundings and up to 100% financing on alternative-A loans sold to Impac. Once loan packages are approved by Impac's iDASLg2 automated loan underwriting, there is no haircut on the transaction and brokers can close the deal on their own terms, the company said. The broker-to-banker program offers a $3 million start-up LOC, online reporting, bulk and flow delivery, flexible loan solutions down to alt-B, and electronic collateral delivery and tracking, Impac said. The company, a mortgage real estate investment trust, can be found online at http://www.impaccompanies.com.

The Washington Department of Financial Institutions has ordered a non-credit-union mortgage service provider to stop using the term "credit union" in its Internet addresses.Linda Jeckel, director of the DFI's credit union division, told Evergreen Moneysource Mortgage Co., Bellevue, Wash. that state law prohibits any entity from doing business under a name or title containing the words "credit union" or representing itself to be a credit union, unless it has a credit union charter. According to a report in MortgageWire affiliate Credit Union Journal, the company was directed by the DFI to immediately cease using "credit union" in any way on its websites. The company had been using the Web addresses, creditunionhomeloans.com and creditunionhomeloans.mortgagewebcenter.com. The company has complied with the DFI, striking the credit union reference from its Web addresses.

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.