Real Estate Technology, Real Estate Investment
PRnewswire | July 12, 2023
Covius, a leading provider of technology-enabled solutions to the financial services industry, announced today that its Settlement Services division has introduced a new home equity decisioning solution that significantly accelerates the origination process and gives lenders early insight into property and/or borrower issues that could expedite or delay decisions.
The Covius Home Equity Solution will allow bank and credit union clients to offer a streamlined origination experience to their home equity customers. For example, title and tax reports that used to take 3 or more days are now delivered in hours on a majority of loans, enabling closings to occur in as fast as 5 days, as opposed to the industry average of 20-plus days.
The new solution also features Covius Loanscape, a separate point-of-sale component for lenders that provides critical property and consumer insights in fewer than 45 seconds. This report reveals title, valuation and credit information that enhances a lender's loan origination workflow, coupled with expedited decisioning and abbreviated closing timelines.
The Covius Home Equity Solution is fueled by Flueid's leading title data and decisioning platform, Flueid Decision, as an expansion of the companies' integration announced in February 2023.
Joe Chappell, Executive Vice President of Operations at Covius, said, "The demand for home equity products is extremely strong, but the competition for this business is intense. Our new solution[s] enable clients to differentiate themselves by delivering a modern, streamlined customer experience, beginning at point-of-sale and continuing throughout the underwriting and closing processes.
"In seconds, Covius Loanscape allows lenders to determine if the loan qualifies for an expedited clear-to-close. Sharing this information at the point of sale empowers lenders to set borrower expectations more accurately, better prioritize orders and improve overall pipeline performance. Likewise, lenders will know that a lead on a property will not meet criteria before ordering full credit, valuation or other third-party products, and having underwriters spend days on an application that will be declined. This is especially valuable with home equity origination, where many costs are absorbed by the lender."
About Covius
Covius is a trusted provider of services, insight and technology to leading financial companies. Covius' technology-enabled solutions deliver operational efficiencies, mitigate risk and empower compliant decisions and borrower interactions. Covius businesses are recognized leaders in loss mitigation, document and data solutions, title and settlement services, compliance and critical borrower communications, lien release tracking and preparation, HOA tracking, quality assurance, REO asset management and auction services, credit reporting and verification, capital markets due diligence and oversight, insurance policy analysis as well as rapid-development, customizable cloud-based business process solutions. The company was named a 2023 HousingWire Tech100 winner. For more information about the company and its services, visit www.covius.com.
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Market Outlook, Real Estate Investment
PRweb | July 14, 2023
JPAR® - Real Estate, a leading real estate brokerage company, announced today the acquisition of JPAR Modern Living, a franchise affiliate located in McAllen, Texas. The acquisition represents a significant milestone in JPAR® - Real Estate, Texas’ expansion strategy.
JPAR Modern Living, led by the esteemed Anna Hammad, has a stellar reputation as a trusted real estate brokerage renowned for its commitment to excellence, exceptional service, and cultivating long-term client relationships. The acquisition represents a powerful alliance, combining JPAR® - Real Estate’s corporate resources, the incredible platform built by Anna Hammad, and the tremendous growth opportunity and strategic significance of the McAllen and Rio Grande Valley markets.
"The potential that the McAllen market holds is remarkable, and we view this acquisition as a catalyst for JPAR® - Real Estate’s accelerated growth in this region,” says Chris Sears, President, JPAR® - Real Estate, Texas. "Anna Hammad has built an impressive franchise over the last four years, and by bringing JPAR® - Real Estate’s corporate resources to bear on this market, we can unlock unparalleled opportunities for JPAR’s expansion.”
JPAR® - Real Estate and JPAR Modern Living will benefit significantly from this acquisition. JPAR will look to establish a dedicated market leader, empowering the leader to spearhead agent recruitment, development, and retention efforts. The office will also leverage the company’s robust recruiting infrastructure, successfully recruiting over 900 agents last year. Aligned with the recently developed recruiting initiative focused on Spanish-speaking agents, JPAR® - Real Estate is also focused on lead-generation efforts for the Hispanic market. These initiatives will bolster agent diversity and better serve the community’s needs.
“We are committed to providing our agents with support and opportunities for growth,” says Anna Hammad, Owner, JPAR Modern Living. “With a dedicated market leader, our agents will receive increased access to the same comprehensive training programs and mentorship that have propelled our company-owned locations to great success.”
This acquisition perfectly aligns with JPAR® - Real Estate’s long-term growth strategy, which revolves around establishing a strong presence in attractive markets and empowering agents. With its robust population of nearly 900,000, the McAllen market presents immense potential. Agents joining JPAR® - Real Estate will benefit from the company’s industry-leading 100% commission model and extensive support, equipping them with the tools and choices needed to build their businesses successfully.
About JPAR® Real Estate
JPAR® - Real Estate is a full-service real estate brand and franchise platform offering a highly competitive transaction fee-based model and agent-centric culture. The JPAR® platform provides agents seven (7) days-per-week support, a comprehensive tech stack, marketing, lead generation, training, and mentoring. JPAR® affiliated owners benefit from compliance review, 1-on-1 consulting, recruiting support, and a peer network of influential industry leaders. The company boasts 4,000 agents operating in 65 offices across 25 states and closes $7.8B annually in sales volume.
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Real Estate Technology, Mortgage and Lending
PRnewswire | July 21, 2023
FirstClose, Inc., a leading fintech provider of data and workflow solutions for mortgage and home equity lenders nationwide, announced today that its home equity origination platform—FirstClose Equity— is now integrated with Encompass® by ICE Mortgage Technology®, part of ICE, a global data, technology and market infrastructure company that designs, builds and operates digital networks to connect people to opportunity.
Through the new integration, Encompass users can seamlessly originate home equity lines of credit (HELOCs) and home equity loans (HELs) within their LOS and complete the application through closing process in as few as 10 days versus the industry average of 45 to 60 days. Encompass will continue to be the system of record because all data is secured through the LOS and stored there. Each call to action initiates a data map and an audit trail to Encompass.
FirstClose's one-of-a-kind home equity solution reduces operational touchpoints to elevate the overall customer experience for borrowers. The solution also enables lenders to automate data collection, verification, and continue to order settlement services through FirstClose's existing order management module.
"Home equity lending has become a go-to option for millions of homeowners and is expected to be a significant growth opportunity for the foreseeable future," said Tedd Smith, Chief Executive Officer at FirstClose. "Our integration with ICE Mortgage's platform will give Encompass users a simple, efficient way to either enter this market or to differentiate themselves by significantly improving the customer experience that they are offering."
The end-to-end platform was built modularly so lenders can implement one, two or all modules based on the approach that's right for their organization.
Point of Sale (POS): A private-label borrower-facing point-of-sale solution with a unique borrower experience – single sign on, workflow, and customized branding including domain that gives consumers instant online feedback on their home valuation, available home equity, loan options and delivers credit decisions in minutes. (Borrower eligibility is determined by the credit score and CLTV.)
Borrower Portal: A borrower portal that lets consumers provide consents, upload needed documents, interact with originators, select loan terms, and draw amounts. In parallel, the portal's backend is iframed into Encompass, so loan originators never leave their LOS and are rewarded with a consistent process and streamlined functionality including title decisioning via the lenders' business rules and a credit decision that leverages EPPS and Encompass' Dynamic Data Management (DDM) to deliver findings in minutes.
Order Management: Automated workflows, including triggers enable the ordering of settlement services such as flood, title, valuation and more.
Closing: An option to support hybrid closings and recordings that are compliant with state regulations and lender guidelines.
"Our best-of-breed technology dramatically accelerates decision-making and connects lenders to a broad network of preferred providers with one contract, one bill and one support team," said Craig Austin, Executive Vice President at FirstClose. "Lenders currently originating home equity products can onboard in as fast as 30 days; while new entrants can onboard in as fast as 60 days enabling lenders to pivot and capitalize on the current market which is a bright spot for our industry."
About FirstClose
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, FirstClose, Inc. provides fintech solutions to HELOC and mortgage lenders nationwide. The company's mission is to increase profitability and reduce cost for mortgage lenders. FirstClose makes this possible through offering systems and relationships that enable lenders to assist the lender's borrowers more effectively, reduce closing costs, and ultimately shorten closing times.
About ICE Mortgage Technology
ICE Mortgage Technology® is part of ICE, a global data, technology and market infrastructure company that designs, builds and operates digital networks to connect people to opportunity. Backed by ICE's global resources, we offer a truly differentiated digital platform that provides straight-through processing for a more comprehensive end-to-end workflow than any other provider in the market. We reach almost every mortgage in the U.S. by combining the native automation of Encompass® with the e-collaboration and e-recording capabilities of Simplifile®, along with the national electronic registry for nearly 90% of the U.S. mortgage market in MERS®. Ultimately, our technology enables people across the industry to focus on personal connections when they need it most, and support borrowers for a better journey of homeownership.
About Intercontinental Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. is a Fortune 500 company that designs, builds and operates digital networks to connect people to opportunity. We provide financial technology and data services across major asset classes that offer our customers access to mission-critical workflow tools that increase transparency and operational efficiencies. We operate exchanges, including the New York Stock Exchange, and clearing houses that help people invest, raise capital and manage risk across multiple asset classes. Our comprehensive fixed income data services and execution capabilities provide information, analytics and platforms that help our customers capitalize on opportunities and operate more efficiently. At ICE Mortgage Technology, we are transforming and digitizing the U.S. residential mortgage process, from consumer engagement through loan registration. Together, we transform, streamline and automate industries to connect our customers to opportunity.
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