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National Mortgage Professional Magazine

TABLE OF CONTENTS RTGAGE PRO

SSIONAL

NATIONAL

NMP

April 2011

MAG

AZIN

Volume 3, Number 4

COMPANY

WEB SITE

PAGE

Accurate Quality Control .................................. www.accurateqc.com ............................................4

Special Focus on “Going Green/Paperless” Why the Future is Bound to be Paperless By Rene Rodriguez

Bay Equity LLC ................................................ www.bayeq.com ..................................................38 Benchmark Mortgage ...................................... www.iambenchmark.info ......................................17 Calyx Software ................................................ www.calyxsoftware.com ......................................18

Comergence Compliance Monitoring, LLC .......... www.comergencecompliance.com ........................10 Elliott and Company Appraisers, Inc................... www.appraisalanywhere.com ................................13

Going Paperless: The Technology is Ready … the People Are Not By Chris Knowlton 29

Flagstar Wholesale Lending .............................. www.wholesale.flagstar.com ....................Back Cover

Frost Mortgage Lending Group .......................... www.frostmortgage.com/nmp ..............................35

Help Clients Go Green With FHA By Jeff Mifsud Three Ways Your LOS Can Help You Go “Green”

Freedom Mortgage .......................................... www.fmbranch.com ......................Inside Back Cover

GSF Mortgage Corporation ................................ www.gsfprobranch.com ........................................33

By BJ Bounds

The Color of Money is Getting Greener By Dain Ehring

America’s Greenest Mortgage Companies

Guaranteed Home Mortgage.............................. www.joinguaranteed.com ......................................9 HVCC Appraisal Ordering .................................. www.hvccappraisalordering.com ..........................13 Majestic Security LLC ........................................ www.majesticsecurityidsafe.com/nmp.htm ............25 MortgageProShop.com...................................... www.mortgageproshop.com ..................................44 Mortgage Dashboard ........................................ www.mortgagedashboard.com ..............................11

Features

Nationwide Equities Corp. ................................ www.nwecorp.com ..............................................39 PB Financial Group Corp. .................................. pbfinancialgrp.com ..............................................29

In Memoriam: Armand Cosenza By James L. Nabors, CMC, CRMS

Value Nation: Tempering the American Dream

By Charlie W. Elliott Jr., MAI, SRA, ASA

The NAMB Perspective

REMN (Real Estate Mortgage Network)................ www.remnwholesale.com ....................................34 Ridgewood Savings Bank .................................. www.ridgewoodbank.com ......................................8 StreetLinks National Appraisal Services .............. www.streetlinks.com/SCORe ..........Inside Front Cover TMS Funding.................................................... www.tmsfunding.com ............................................6

United Northern Mortgage Bankers Ltd. ............ www.unitednorthern.jobs................................7 & 31 US Mortgage .................................................... www.usmortgage.com ............................................5

The Secondary Market Overview: From Bonds to Production … Things Are Not Always what They Seem on the Yellow Brick Road By Dave Hershman

Leaders on the Frontline: A Critical Value for Community Building By Stewart Hunter and Jim McMahan

Getting the Most Out of LinkedIn By Katrina Lennon

NMP Mortgage Professional of the Month: Chad Jampedro, COO, GSF Mortgage Corporation

The Broker’s Future: an Overview of the New Commission Landscape By Steven A. Milner

Lykken on Leadership: Conviction … A Key Ingredient of Leadership By David Lykken

Columns NMP News Flash: April 2011

Heard on the Street

8 22

Mortgage Heroes

NMP Mortgage Professional Resource Registry

NMP Calendar of Events

Visit NationalMortgageProfessional.com.

APRIL 2011

New to Market

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

By Atare E. Agbamu

Windvest Corporation ...................................... www.windvestcorp.com ........................................19

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Forward on Reverse: FIT for Reverse Mortgage Lenders (Part VIII) … Out of Pocket Burn-Through Risk

USA Cares ........................................................ www.usacares.org ................................................24

April 2011 Volume 3 • Number 4

Mortgage PROFESSIONAL N A T I O N A L

MAGAZINE

Your source for the latest on originations, settlement, and servicing

1220 Wantagh Avenue • Wantagh, NY 11793-2202 Phone: (516) 409-5555 / (888) 409-9770 Fax: (516) 409-4600 Web site: NationalMortgageProfessional.com STAFF Eric C. Peck Editor-in-Chief (516) 409-5555, ext. 312 ericp@nmpmediacorp.com Andrew T. Berman Executive Vice President (516) 409-5555, ext. 333 andrew@nmpmediacorp.com Domenica Trafficanda Art Director domenicat@nmpmediacorp.com Karen Krizman Senior National Account Executive (516) 409-5555, ext. 326 karenk@nmpmediacorp.com

Jon Blake Advertising Coordinator (516) 409-5555, ext. 301 jonb@nmpmediacorp.com Tara Cook Billing Coordinator (516) 409-5555, ext. 324 tarac@nmpmediacorp.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS To receive subscription information, please call (516) 409-5555, ext. 301; e-mail orders@nmpmediacorp.com or visit www.nationalmortgageprofessional.com. Any subscription changes may be made to the attention of “Circulation” via fax to (516) 409-4600. Statements, articles and opinions in National Mortgage Professional Magazine are the responsibility of the authors alone and do not imply the opinion or endorsement of NMP Media Corp., or the officers or members of National Association of Mortgage Brokers and its State Affiliates (NAMB), National Association of Professional Mortgage Women (NAPMW), National Credit Reporting Association (NCRA) and/or other state mortgage trade associations. Participation in NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA, and/or other state mortgage trade associations events, activities and/or publications is available on a non-discriminatory basis and does not reflect the endorsement of the product and/or services by NMP Media Corp., NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA, and other state mortgage trade associations. National Mortgage Professional Magazine, NAMB, NAPMW, NCRA, and/or other state mortgage trade associations do not make any misrepresentations or warranties concerning the regulatory and/or compliance aspects of advertisers, products or services and/or the editorial content contained in NMP Media Corp. publications. National Mortgage Professional Magazine and NMP Media Corp. reserve the right to edit, reject and/or postpone the publication of any articles, information or data. MO

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APRIL 2011

ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS/PRESS RELEASES To submit any material, including articles and press releases, please contact Editor-in-Chief Eric C. Peck at (516) 409-5555, ext. 312 or e-mail ericp@nmpmediacorp.com. The deadline for submissions is the first of the month prior to the target issue.

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ADVERTISING To receive any information regarding advertising rates, deadlines and requirements, please contact Senior National Account Executive Karen Krizman at (516) 409-5555, ext. 326 or e-mail karenk@nmpmediacorp.com.

MAG

AZIN

A Message From NMP Media Corp. Executive Vice President Andrew T. Berman Going green in the mortgage space Twenty-plus years ago when I first entered the mortgage industry, I never thought I’d hear the word “paperless” in the same sentence as “mortgages.” At the time, I was seeing files in our shop that were three inches thick at a minimum. As time went on, those files grew and grew (especially FHA files and at least twice the file size for 203k deals). Yet here we are in 2011, with a large number of mortgage companies running at 75 percent to 100 percent paperless. You can find some of these companies on pages 36-37 in our “America’s Greenest Mortgage Companies” feature. This month’s focus on “Going Green/Paperless” includes some great submissions. Folks like Mortgage Dashboard’s Chief Executive Officer Rene Rodriguez writing about the rush to paperless being more than just “going green,” but as a requirement of doing business. Inlanta’s VP of Technology and Marketing Chris Knowlton discussing some of the obstacles mortgage companies face when going paperless. Our FHA expert, Jeff Mifsud, explaining how FHA can help your company cater to borrowers seeking mortgages for green projects. Calyx’s BJ Bounds shares some tools that are available to you as well as how “going green” can “save you green” in your bottom line. The section wraps up with a piece from CoreLogic Dorado’s CEO Dain Ehring about all the driving forces that push going green into the forefront of mortgage companies.

NAMB in action fighting for the mortgage industry In March, I had the pleasure of attending the National Association of Mortgage Brokers 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference in Washington, D.C. There were more than 200 mortgage professionals from around the country present to get updates from NAMB and officials from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD), participate in networking functions, and lobby on Capitol Hill. The most impressive part of the event was attending the meetings NAMB members had with their elected members of the House and Senate. While it seemed that the meetings were all just show and legislators appeasing their constituents, several of those meetings resulted in letters in support of NAMB’s position on the Fed’s loan originator compensation rule. There’s more on the NAMB 2011 Legislative Conference on page 14 of this issue.

Mortgage Professional of the Month Chad Jampedro I had the pleasure of meeting with Chad Jampedro from GSF Mortgage Corporation for this month’s NMP Mortgage Professional of the Month. I really think one of the major factors behind Chad’s success is his well-rounded career path. Chad started at the “other end” of the mortgage industry in the servicing department for a big bank. You can read more about Chad on page 20.

Remembering a great friend of the industry … Armand Cosenza Earlier this month, the world lost a truly classy gentleman in Armand Cosenza. I see his face with that forever grin, the same grin that greeted me when I took my first mortgage convention road trip to icy cold Cleveland for the Ohio Association of Mortgage Brokers Annual Convention. Armand’s warm smile and hospitality was a sigh of relief as we entered the state-specific mortgage publishing business. Armand was a crucial supporter in helping us see this vision, as we expanded from Ohio into other states. We got to know the real Armand and his devotion to our profession but more importantly, saw his dedication to and the pride for his family. He will be missed! Our condolences and sympathies go out to his family and friends. May he continue to live forever in our hearts as the wonderful memories of his rich life carry forward. Until next month …

Andrew T. Berman, Executive Vice President NMP Media Corp.

Lykken on Lending is a weekly 60-minute show hosted by mortgage veteran of 37 yrs, David Lykken, along with special guest Alice Alvey & Joe Farr as well as featured special guests. Each week we provide our listeners with up-to-the-minute information of what is happening in mortgage and housing industry.

Sign-on weekly at nmpmag.com/lykkenonlending

The National Association of Mortgage Brokers

National Association of Professional Mortgage Women

11325 Random Hills Road, Suite 360 Fairfax, VA 22030 Phone #: (703) 342-5900 Fax #: (703) 342-5905

P.O. Box 451718 Garland, TX 75042 Phone #: (800) 827-3034 Fax #: (469) 524-5121 Web site: www.napmw.org

NAMB Board of Directors Officers President—Michael D’Alonzo, CMC Creative Mortgage Group 1126 Horsham Road, Suite D Maple Glen, PA 19002 (215) 657-9600 mjdalonzo@hotmail.com Vice President—Donald J. Frommeyer, CRMS Amtrust Mortgage Funding Inc. 200 Medical Drive, Suite D Carmel, IN 46032 (317) 575-4355 dfrommeyer@amtrust.net Secretary—Virginia Ferguson, CMC Heritage Valley Mortgage Inc. 5700 Stoneridge Mall Road, Suite 225 Pleasanton, CA 94588 (925) 469-0100 hvm1@msn.com Treasurer—John Councilman, CMC,CRMS AMC Mortgage Corporation 2613 Fallston Road Fallston, MD 21047 (410) 557-6400 jlc@amcmortgage.com Immediate Past President—Jim Pair, CMC Mortgage Associates Corpus Christi 6262 Weber Road, Suite 208 Corpus Christi, TX 78413 (361) 853-9987 jlpair@aol.com

Directors Michael Anderson, CRMS Essential Mortgage 3029 S. Sherwood Forest Boulevard, Suite 200 Baton Rouge, LA 70816 (225) 297-7704 mikea@essentialmtg.com

Olga Kucerak, CRMS Crown Lending 222 East Houston, Suite 1600 San Antonio, TX 78205 (210) 828-3384 olga@crownlending.com Walter Scott Excalibur Financial Inc. 175 Strafford Avenue, Suite 1 Wayne, PA 19087 (215) 669-3273 wscott.afcs@gmail.com

Vice President—Central Region Lisa Puckett (405) 741-5485 lpuckett@ameagletitle.com

President-Elect Laurie Abshier, GML, CMI (661) 283-1262 E-Mail: lauriea@gemcorp.com

Vice President—Eastern Region Christine Pollard (646) 584-8332 cpollard1046@gmail.com

Senior Vice President Candace Smith, CMI, CME (512) 329-9040 csmith@wrstarkey.com

Secretary Murielle Barnes, CME (806) 373-6641 napmw123@yahoo.com

Vice President—Northwestern Region Jill M. Kinsman (206) 344-7827 jill.kinsman@usbank.com

Treasurer Hulene Bridgman-Works (972) 494-2788 hulene137@yahoo.com

Vice President—Western Region Tim Courtney (760) 792-5620 desertranchrealty@hotmail.com

Parliamentarian Dawn Adams, GML, CMI (607) 737-2584 dawnvadams@live.com

National Credit Reporting Association Inc. 125 East Lake Street, Suite 200 Bloomingdale, IL 60108 Phone #: (630) 539-1525 Fax #: (630) 539-1526 Web site: www.ncrainc.org

2011 Board of Directors & Staff Tom Conwell President (248) 473-7400 tconwell@credittechnologies.com Donald J. Unger Vice President (303) 670-7993, ext. 222 don@advcredit.com Daphne Large Treasurer (901) 259-5105 daphnel@datafacts.com Marty Flynn Ex-Officio (925) 831-3520, ext. 224 marty@ccireports.com William Bower Director—Tenant Screening Chair (800) 288-4757 wbower@confinfo.com Mike Brown Director—Technology Chair (800) 285-6691 mike.brown@ncogroup.com

Janet Curtis Director—New Membership & Elections Co-Chair (212) 224-6121 jcurtis@sarma.com Renee Erickson Director—Tenant Screening Co-Chair (800) 311-1585, ext. 2101 renee@zipreports.com Nancy Fedich Director—Conference Chair (908) 813-8555, ext. 3010 nancy@cisinfo.net Judy Ryan Director—New Membership & Elections Chair (800) 929-3400, ext. 201 jryan@kroll.com Tom Swider Director—Legislative Co-Chair (856) 787-9005, ext. 1201 tswider@creditlenders.com Terry Clemans Executive Director (630) 539-1525 tclemans@ncrainc.org

APRIL 2011

Susan Cataldo DirectorEducation & Compliance Chair Jan Gerber (404) 303-8656, ext. 204 Office Manager/Membership Services susancds@cdsusa.net (630) 539-1525 jgerber@ncrainc.org

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Deb Killian, CRMS Charter Oak Lending Group LLC 3 Corporate Drive, P.O. Box 3196 Danbury, CT 06813-3196 (203) 778-9999, ext. 103 debkillian@snet.net

President Gary Tumbiolo, CMI (919) 452-1529 garytumbiolo@aol.com

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Donald Fader, CRMS SMC Home Finance P.O. Box 1376 Kinston, NC 28503-1376 (252) 523-5800 dfader@smchf.com

National Board of Directors

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FHA Commissioner Stevens insured healthcare facilities and well more than 20 percent of mortgages in to Replace Courson as the domestic single family market. Head of the Mortgage “David H. Stevens is uniquely qualiBankers Association The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) has announced that John A. Courson, the association’s president and chief executive officer, will be leaving the association, effective June 1, 2011, and will be replaced by David H. Stevens, Assistant Secretary for Housing and Commissioner of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) at the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) in May. Stevens had announced earlier that he would be resigning from his position at HUD, effective March 31, 2011. “John Courson has led MBA through the most turbulent times that this industry, and the association, have ever seen,” said MBA Chairman Michael D. Berman, CMB. “John inherited an association facing serious financial challenges precipitated by the meltdown in the mortgage market and MBA’s decision to purchase its own headquarters building in the year leading up to the Great Recession. He was compelled from the outset to make difficult financial decisions, both to bring MBA’s budget under control and to extricate MBA from the building, but he leaves MBA with a budget in the black and having executed the sale of the building while maintaining MBA’s commitment to it members. Courson came to MBA as chief operating officer in August, 2008 and became the association’s president and chief executive officer in January, 2009. Prior to joining the MBA, John spent more than 40 years in the mortgage banking industry during which time he was an active MBA member and served as the association’s chairman in 2003. Stevens joins the MBA after nearly two years leading FHA through the same tumultuous times. During his tenure, Commissioner Stevens implemented a myriad of changes to improve FHA’s risk management to ensure the programs future viability and to help FHA weather the storm of increased losses. At FHA, Stevens has direct responsibility for oversight and administration of the FHA insurance portfolio, which includes multifamily housing,

fied to lead the association in its next chapter,” said Berman. “Most recently he has had a tremendous impact at FHA, as that program faced its own unprecedented challenges. He also brings a wealth of industry experience in mortgage lending that will help him further build MBA’s position as the industry’s leading voice in advocacy, communications, education and research.” A graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, Stevens has a strong background in housing, including experience in finance, construction, sales, mortgage acquisition and investment, and regulatory oversight. He began his journey to HUD at the dining room table, where he listened to stories about the creation of FHA and other efforts to stabilize the housing market from his father, who started as a runner on Wall Street during the depression. The dining room table soon became the board room as Stevens started his professional career with a 16-year tenure at the World Savings Bank. He later held positions as senior vice president of single-family business at Freddie Mac, and then executive vice president, national wholesale manager at Wells Fargo. Prior to being confirmed at HUD, Stevens had been president and chief operating officer of Long and Foster Companies, the nation’s largest, privately-held real estate firm.

FHFA Announces One-Year Extension to Refi Program Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Acting Director Edward J. DeMarco has announced an extension of the Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP), a refinancing program administered by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to June 30, 2012. The program was set to expire on June 30, 2011. In addition, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will make the following adjustments to their programs: Freddie Mac will exempt HARP loans from their recently announced price continued on page 6

news flash

continued from page 4

adjustments and Fannie Mae will conform their eligibility date to May 2009. The program expands access to refinancing for qualified individuals and families whose homes have lost value. HARP has grown over the past year. Through 2010, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have purchased or guaranteed more than 6.8 million refinanced mortgages. Of this total, 621,803 were HARP refinances with loan-to-value (LTV) ratios between 80 percent and 125 percent. This is up from 190,180 in 2009, when HARP began.

Attorneys General Probe Highlights the Illegal Practices of Mortgage Servicers Responding to widespread evidence of improper accounting, unwarranted fees, false documentation, and arbitrary foreclosure decisions, the 50 state Attorneys General are crafting a plan to hold the mortgage servicing industry accountable. The plan would address accusa-

tions that banks and servicers have engaged in illegal and negligent servicing practices that have been a continued drag on the U.S. housing market and economy. “When unnecessary foreclosures flood the market, taxpayers end up picking up the tab,” said Mike Calhoun, president of the Center of Responsible Lending (CRL). “Loan servicers have repeatedly broken the law to push foreclosures through, even when loan modifications made more sense financially for everyone, including lenders and investors.” Based on information that has been made public, the plan of the Attorneys General is sorely needed to fix the bro-

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ken mortgage servicing industry. The bulk of the provisions are commonsense measures that require servicers to obey the law, stop losing documents, stop giving homeowners the runaround, and prevent unnecessary foreclosures. However, some proposed provisions raise concerns that the plan may be inadequate. For example, there has been discussion of a monetary fine of $20 billion, which represents only a fraction of the damage caused by the banks. Other key parts of the proposal remain under consideration or have not yet been made public. So far, banks and mortgage servicers have objected to the plan, but they ignore the extraordinary damage they inflicted on homeowners, the housing market and the overall economy, and they also ignore the extensive aid they received from taxpayers. “The sooner banks and servicers can move forward and begin to rebuild trust with the public,” said Calhoun, “the sooner we can start to stabilize the housing market and build a more robust economy.”

Equi-Trax Survey Finds Nothing Short About Short Sales

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Equi-Trax Asset Solutions LP has released a survey of the difficulties real estate agents face completing short sales. “According to the survey, 71.9 percent of respondents reported that a short sale can take four to nine months to complete, and they think that is simply too long,” said Guy Taylor, chief executive officer at Equi-Trax. “They would like to see the time period reduced so that deals go through faster and are less costly.” In addition, nearly 10 percent of short sale transactions require more than 10 months to complete, though 18.2 percent of deals require less than three months to complete. The survey reflects the views of more than 600 real estate agents who responded to the survey. When agents are asked to select ways to make short sales easier, 57.6 percent think lenders should take less time to close the transactions; 14 percent think borrowers should be better educated about short sales; and 40.4 percent think both of these changes are necessary to improve the process. Respondents to this question could select as many answers as they thought were relevant. “One way to speed the process and help all parties involved in these deals is to ensure that valuations are accurate and current,” said Taylor. “If they are not, the willingness to complete these deals will be reduced and the time they take to complete will increase. That means unnecessary expenses for borrowers and lenders.” continued on page 9

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MEMBER United Northern Mortgage Bankers, Ltd. Corporate NMLS ID# 7230 New York State Dept. - Licensed Mortgage Banker - License #100724 New Jersey Dept. of Banking and Insurance - Mortgage Lender - License #L0046623 Pennsylvania Dept. of Banking - Mortgage Lender - License #20887 Connecticut Dept. of Banking - Mortgage Lender - License #20372 Massachusetts Div. of Banks and Loan Agencies - Mortgage Lender & Mortgage Broker - License #MC5070 North Carolina Commissioner of Banks - Mortgage Lender - License #L140365 South Carolina State Board of Financial Institutions - Supervised Lender - License #S7, 461 Florida Dept. of Financial Institutions - Mortgage Lender - License #ML0700679 Senior Security Home Advantage is a lending area of United Northern Mortgage Bankers, Ltd. Direct FHA Endorsed Lender

Lenders One Partners With Flagstarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s DocVelocity on Paperless Loan Origination Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative has announced a partnership with DocVelocity, a Web-based paperless solution that simplifies the mortgage loan origination experience, as its newest preferred vendor. DocVelocity is the flagship product of Paperless Office Solutions Inc., a whollyowned subsidiary of Flagstar Bancorp. DocVelocity provides an online paperless solution that allows mortgage documents to be processed electronically from start to finish. Automating the review and sharing of loan documents gives lenders greater overall control and transparency so

they can better manage their mortgage compliance and risk. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Our goal is to continually provide members with opportunities to expand and diversify their business,â&#x20AC;? said Scott Stern, chief executive officer of Lenders One. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Imaging is a process historically reserved for national lenders, but DocVelocity provides a platform that is more feasible for smaller and midsized lenders to deploy. Our members now have the ability to create their own paperless environment, which improves productivity and reduces costs to enhance their growth possibilities in any market.â&#x20AC;? Lenders One members will benefit from DocVelocityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s simplified online workflow and 24-hour Web access to all mortgage loan documents, as well as options for converting paper into elec-

tronic files. The paperless technology additionally benefits members with quicker turn times and lower operating costs in originating loans due to instant digital file delivery, searchable longterm document storage and automatic filing and naming capabilities. Built-in audit and compliance logs also allow Lenders One members to more effectively approach their observance of regulatory guidelines. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We are excited to partner with an organization as reputable as Lenders One and provide its members with the paperless tools that are key to progressing their business,â&#x20AC;? said Jason Dufner, director, product development at DocVelocity. â&#x20AC;&#x153;DocVelocity is committed to the cause of making our customers paperless and helping them realize its associated benefits. Aligning with Lenders One gives us direct access to a group of top quality lenders that can incorporate an automated origination experience to improve their performance.â&#x20AC;?

Infomercial Icon Guthy-Renker to Enter the Mortgage Business Paramount Equity Mortgage Inc. has announced its intention to enter into a partnership with Guthy-Renker LLC, one of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest direct-to-consumer marketing companies, to help the regional mortgage lender significantly

expand its mortgage and consumer financial operations. Guthy-Renker will assume a significant equity position in Paramount Equity. In addition, GuthyRenker will provide its preeminent direct television marketing expertise and resources to take Paramount Equityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s message of efficient, serviceoriented home loans and consumer finance solutions to a national market. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The real estate downturn of the last several years has created tremendous opportunities for growth as economic conditions begin to improve. In our opinion, the opportunity in the mortgage market coupled with our value-added services has never been greater, and GuthyRenkerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s marketing expertise will help us engage a new set of customers who, otherwise, might be beyond our reach,â&#x20AC;? said Hayes Barnard, founder and chief executive officer of Paramount Equity. â&#x20AC;&#x153;GuthyRenker is unmatched in its expertise, scale and ability to create awareness for national products. Combining those factors with our highly efficient money-saving platform will redefine the consumer experience for home loans, energy conservation and insurance.â&#x20AC;? Founded in 2003, Paramount Equity Mortgage has completed more than $8 billion in loans in California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah, and Virginia. Paramount Equity seeks to save families money on their mortgage, insurance and electric bills by matching the right concontinued on page 10

APRIL 2011

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news flash

Your turn continued from page 6

SEC Files MBS Fraud Charges Against Radius Capital Corporation and Its Owner

NMP News Flash column Phone #: (516) 409-5555 E-mail: newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are preferred. The deadline for submissions is the 1st of the month prior to the target issue.

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The U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced that it has filed a civil injunctive action against Robert A. DiGiorgio of Cape Coral, Fla., and his company, Radius Capital Corporation, charging them with securities fraud for making false and misleading statements relating to Radius’ issuance of mortgage-backed securities (MBS) guaranteed by Ginnie Mae. The SEC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, alleges that from December 2005-October 2006, Radius and DiGiorgio offered and sold 15 Ginnie-Mae guaranteed MBS to investors totaling approximately $23.5 million. According to the complaint, Radius and DiGiorgio represented to Ginnie Mae, and to investors in 15 separate prospectuses, that the residential loans underlying the securities were, or would be, insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) as required to receive Ginnie Mae’s guarantee. The SEC alleges that Radius and DiGiorgio’s representations about the insurability of the underlying loans were false and misleading as the vast majority, more than 100 of the 154 underlying loans, were not, and could not, be insured by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). According to the complaint, Radius never even applied for FHA insurance for most of the uninsured loans and failed to submit the upfront mortgage insurance premiums (UFMIP) it had collected from borrowers at closing to the FHA which were required for the loans to be insured. Even if Radius and DiGiorgio had applied for FHA insurance and properly submitted the mortgage insurance premiums, the uninsured loans could not have been insured because the borrowers failed to meet FHA’s debtto-income, credit history, employment history, and other underwriting requirements. The SEC alleges that many of the mortgages backing Radius’ securities quickly fell into default. In October 2006, Radius correspondingly defaulted on its pass-through payments to the investors holding the MBS. As a result, Ginnie Mae was required to pay investors the remaining principal balance on each uninsured loan that was in default, thereby incurring several million dollars in losses. In addition, investors holding the Radius securities lost interest income due to the unexpectedly high rate of prepayment of principal (by Ginnie Mae) as the Radius loans fell into default. The SEC’s complaint charges Radius

and DiGiorgio with violations of Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder. The SEC is seeking permanent injunctive relief against future violations, a conduct-based injunction preventing Radius and DiGiorgio from offering MBS, disgorgement of ill-gotten gains with prejudgment interest and civil penalties, jointly and severally, against Radius and DiGiorgio.

National Mortgage Professional Magazine invites you to submit any information on regulatory changes, legislative updates, human interest stories or any other newsworthy items pertaining to the mortgage industry to the attention of:

heard on the street

continued from page 8

sumer with the right product, whether it’s a purchase or refinance loan, insurance policy or solar energy system. Paramount Energy Solutions is one of the largest solar sales companies in California and is now poised for national growth and expansion. “Guthy-Renker’s history is about teaming up with extraordinary people and companies to get their stories told. Paramount Equity is a great company with outstanding employees, a vibrant culture and passionate vision. We’re excited by the opportunity to give them the marketing help that they need to grow,” said Ben Van de Bunt, co-chief

executive officer of Guthy-Renker. “The offering of mortgage, solar and insurance delivers a powerful combination that will enable Paramount Equity to become a sizeable player in the national market.”

CoreLogic Completes Its Acquisition of Dorado CoreLogic has announced that it has completed its acquisition of Dorado Network Systems Corporation in a $32 million all-cash transaction. Dorado is a recognized leader in collaborative cloud computing applica-

tions and architecture to the financial services industry. CoreLogic previously held a 38 percent equity interest in Dorado. With the acquisition, CoreLogic gains patented cloud computing-based technology that extends and accelerates the embedding of CoreLogic decision management applications into client operating environments, making transaction decisions faster, more automated, and more accurate. CoreLogic anticipates expanding these services to enhance its 360-degree approach to delivering improved loan quality and transaction transparency from point of sale through investor delivery to the secondary market. Additionally, CoreLogic will deploy Dorado technology into its strategic outsourcing business.

Ahh yes… the broker approval desk.

Lender Processing Services Announces the Acquisition of PCLender.com

Gets you all warm and fuzzy just thinking about having to approve and reapprove your brokers, now doesn’t it?

At Comergence, helping lenders holistically manage relationships with their mortgage broker clients is the most important thing we do. And with FHA now holding lenders accountable and responsible for approving brokers, there’s no better time than the present to have us show you how we can help with this important change to your business. For more information and to schedule an appointment, call 714.740.9000 or visit us at www.ComergenceCompliance.com Comergence is preferred by leading lenders nationwide.

APRIL 2011

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“The mortgage industry is entering an era that demands a new watermark in efficiency and transparency across all aspects of financial transactions,” said CoreLogic President and Chief Executive Officer Anand Nallathambi. “The existing capabilities that Dorado brings to the table, as well as the potential opportunities that exist to expand these capabilities, make this a growth enabler for us. This acquisition extends our leadership position in helping clients anticipate, adapt and respond to their market environment. The Dorado platform will help shape our next generation decision management applications into solutions that ensure integrity and quality throughout the entire lifespan of a loan. It also enables CoreLogic to customize and embed solutions directly within the lender operating environment, providing increased ROI to our clients.” Dorado, which will operate as CoreLogic Dorado, provides a comprehensive suite of enterprise lending solutions that automates loan origination and consolidates internal and external service integrations into a unified process, connecting lenders, their partners and consumers through a collaborative, real-time workflow. Dorado technology not only automates data handling, but also facilitates the integration of real-time borrower, organizational and market information into mortgage finance transactions so that lenders, servicers, investors, and borrowers experience improved loan quality and transaction transparency. “Dorado will offer clients a blended portfolio of cloud-based lending solutions complemented by an enhanced array of data and analytics. At a time when financial institutions worldwide are increasingly adopting sophisticated analytics as a way to increase the effectiveness, agility and flexibility of their operations, this transaction strengthens our growth trajectory,” said Dorado Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer Dain Ehring.

Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) has announced that it has acquired PCLender.com Inc., a provider of enterprise, Web-based mortgage lending solutions and a complete loan origination system (LOS). The acquisition of PCLender.com complements LPS’ stateof-the-art core loan origination platform, LPS Empower, and expands the company’s reach in the loan origination market. LPS Empower will continue to target large national and regional mortgage lenders as the optimal solution for its loan origination platform. PCLender.com offers a more cost-effective solution for smaller and mid-sized mortgage companies, credit unions and community continued on page 16

“I received three new buyers over the weekend and was able to work on my my daughter’s basketball game.” Jeremy Stump, Branch Manager LeaderOne Financial

2011 by visiting www.MortgageDashboard.com.

LOS | CRM | MORTGAGE BANKING | CLOSING

By James L. Nabors, CMC, CRMS On Monday, April 4, Armand Cosenza passed away. For those of you who hadn’t had the privilege of knowing him, let me simply say that it’s too bad you never got the opportunity. First and foremost, Armand loved his family, Judy, Denise and Vickie, and of course, the grandkids. Many people from the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) and the Ohio Association of Mortgage Brokers (OAMB) think that they were his family as well, but we weren’t even close. He loved this family, his faith, his golf … but I know that we were somewhere on this list. Armand graduated from Cathedral Latin High School and John Carroll University and began his working career at Society National Bank where he rose to the position of vice president before leaving to start his own company, Commonwealth Financial Services. It was with Commonwealth that Armand became a founding member of OAMB and headed our affiliation with NAMB. As a member of OAMB, he served on the board of directors from 1993 until 2007, when he decided to dedicate more time to his “new” grandchildren. From the beginning with both associations, Armand specialized in our Industry Partners Program, and starting from scratch, raised more than $7 million for the benefit of both associations. He served two terms as president of OAMB and rose to the position of president of NAMB in 2002 when the NAMB Annual Convention was held in Armand’s hometown of Cleveland. If you know Armand, or even if you were one of those who thought you knew Armand, then you know he was everything above and much, much more. Armand could be the easiest guy in the world one minute, and the next thing, you’d be pulling him off someone who had made disparaging remarks about his friends, the association, the Indians or even the Browns. He’d think nothing of giving me his first class seat and sit back in coach for a long three or four hour flight, then would joke as we would deplane that if my ass wasn’t so fat that he could have had a few Grey Gooses on the flight for free … all with a smile and a hug telling you he loved you. I could write a book on the things that we did together in both NAMB and OAMB. He was a dyed in the wool Eastside republican, and I am a Westside liberal democrat, yet we always got along. I guess it was that special bond of both being from Cleveland. Armand loved to travel, loved to gamble and loved to play golf. If you could put all three of those things together, it was even better. The Western Regional Conference, which later became NAMB WEST, was his favorite event … food, drink, gambling, shows, golf and thousands of friends to share it all with. Who could ask for more? He’d often say that NAMB should hold all of their events in Vegas, just like the Teamsters. I’d point out that it’d be a little hard to move the Legislative & Regulatory Conference from D.C., then he’d point out that most of Congress would probably rather be in Vegas in February anyway. Good point, but we never could get that to happen. I last saw Armand about seven weeks ago. We had lunch and he looked great. He came from work and we spent about two hours talking about our families and his grandkids. We talked about the battles we all thought he’d won with cancer and Judy’s battle to. We talked politics and naturally about the thing that first made us friends, NAMB and the OAMB. Although things had moved in different directions over the last few years, he still loved the associations and the people who made it so special. That day he looked just like he did on the cover of The Mortgage Press or any of the dozens of other magazine covers he had adorned. The only difference with this lunch was there was no Skyy or Grey Goose. Now it

was iced tea, but we did go for dessert. Sitting and thinking the night I learned of Armand’s passing, I thought of hundreds of stories. The great victories he’d accomplished, as well as a few of the defeats that are just part of the job. Some things were great, others good, many might even be considered plain stupid, but they all had one thing in common … working to make things better for the broker industry, and through that, our families and the association. Having fun made the victories better and the setbacks bearable. I was asked to write about Armand for both those who knew him and those who didn’t. I hope that the above gave you some idea of Armand and what he accomplished and cared about. But, I think not including one personal story for those who really, really knew Armand is necessary and out of all the possible stories I’d like to leave you with this one. It’s the one that makes me laugh every time I think about it. Of course, it’s about the brokers and politics. It was election night in 1994, and we are at the Fingerhut for Congress re-election party. We were supporting Eric Fingerhut because of his position on HOEPA and his influence in keeping a 35 percent DTI ratio out of the bill. Naturally, he lost to Steve LaTourette who would later become our friend. We sat there listing to some 18-year-old explain to us how, in the end, Eric would win. Of course he didn’t and later that night, he looked at me and said that we really needed to figure out what the hell was going on. Losing was not in his plans. Jump to 1996 and I talk Armand and Jim DeGeronimo into donating our PAC money to Dennis the Menace who was running for Congress. Dennis Kucinich … the most liberal democrat in the entire world and a Westsider to boot and I want to give him our money. The guy he’s running against actually liked us. They thought I was nuts, but I pointed out that he didn’t like to lose and Dennis was going to win and so we gave. The night of the election, we are at the Kucinich election headquarters. Here is Armand, about as Republican as you can get among all of Dennis’s supporters. The dancing and conga lines and finally Dennis comes out to accept his victory and grabs Armand and I to go onstage while he makes his victory speech. Live on every channel in Cleveland in on many national broadcasts. Armand should have been in his glory standing next to the newly elected congressman, in front of a citywide and even national audience. Everyone seeing his smiling face as Dennis personally thank him for his support. What could possibly be better? Well, Dennis could be a Republican to begin with. Maybe even a blue dog democrat. But, Armand and a liberal democrat and in particular Dennis? Not going to happen. He looked at me and said that if Judy saw him on TV standing next to Dennis that she would kill him. That his family would never quit busting on him and that it wasn’t going to happen and it didn’t. Dennis grabbed his arm and said come with me and somehow Armand got untangled between the floor and the stage. Later, as I laughed, he told me never to let that happen again. Well, we never went to another democratic election night event, but later were at both Steve’s and Bob Ney’s. Today, as bad as I feel and I know most of you do. As sad as it is, I just think of Armand and the election night with Dennis Kucinich and I have to laugh. After all, he was Armand and he will be missed. Most of all, I miss my friend. Someone I always felt would be there and I took it for granted. Cancer wasn’t a problem; this was Armand we’re talking about. If I had only known I would have tried to be as good of a friend to him as he was to me. Never did we leave without a hug, and I wish I could get at least one more. James L. Nabors, CMC, CRMS is past president of both the National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) and Ohio Association of Mortgage Brokers (OAMB). He is currently senior vice president of consumer mortgage at Citizens Bank in Sandusky, Ohio. He may be reached by phone at (419) 627-4531 or e-mail jlnabors@citizensbankco.com.

By Charlie W. Elliott Jr., MAI, SRA, ASA

Tempering the American Dream

earnings to better prepare for rainy days and retirement. Based upon the above data, little imagination is required for all of us to envision a reduction in our housing costs at levels approaching 10 to 20 percent, while still allowing for state-ofthe-art housing and high levels of homeownership. We partied hard, buying homes that were beyond our means. We then woke up with financial hangovers, and we have taken our medicine. That does not mean that we cannot get it right this time. The U.S. economic engine offers us, as homeowners, efficiencies never dreamed of by our ancestors. We can all live in homes that offer us many times the utility of those enjoyed by our grandparents, while staying within our budgets and living within our means. Yes, many of us in the United States and, for that matter, all around the world, have grown quite accustomed to living too high on the housing hog. The time has come for us to exercise better judgment in investing our shelter dollars. We can own beautiful homes, of which we can be very proud, while concentrating upon spatial efficiency. Charlie W. Elliott Jr., MAI, SRA, is president of Elliott & Company Appraisers, a national real estate appraisal company. He can be reached at (800) 854-5889, email charlie@elliottco.com or visit his company’s Web site, www.appraisalsanywhere.com. 13

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The mortgage meltdown was allegedly In 2010, 67 percent of all homes caused by mortgage lenders lending were owner-occupied. money to people who were not quali- In 1900, average individual income fied to purchase the homes. Aside from was $600 per year. whatever part fraud had to do with this In 2009, average individual income calamity, most of us would probably was $40,000 per year. agree with this statement. I certainly In 1900, the average worker made $2 believe it. per day (.25 cents per hour/48-hour Having made that statement, I am work week). of the opinion that this accusation can In 2010, the average worker made be carried a step further, $160 per day ($20 per more specifically, to hold hour/40-hour work week). accountable those who purchased larger homes The above data was than they could afford. assembled using a variety This theory implies that of resources, including many, if not most, of the the U.S. Census Bureau, foreclosures would not the National Association have occurred if the peoof Realtors (NAR), the ple who are losing their National Association of homes, had purchased Home Builders (NAHB) smaller, more affordable and other sources that I homes, within their means. consider to be reliable. With this in mind, I examDue to the lack of ade“We partied hard, buyined national statistical quate and accurate statising homes that were data, pertaining to historic tical data from the early average home sizes in the beyond our means. We 1900s, I made estimates then woke up with United States. Based upon in some cases. I also the above hypothesis, I set financial hangovers, rounded off numbers for out to perform a research and we have taken our the sake of simplicity. project to determine if we, The results of the surmedicine.” as a people, have been livvey are quite telling. ing higher on the housing hog in recent While the data was not intended to be years. technical in nature, it offers undeniably My findings included the following. antidotal evidence of the excesses we have enjoyed at the expense of our In 1900, the average-sized home was economy. 800-sq. ft. I offer the following as evidence to In 1950, the average-sized home was support my conclusion: 1,000-sq. ft. In 1980, the average-sized home was In 1900, the average person con1,700-sq. ft. sumed 174-sq. ft. of living space. In 2008, the average-size home was Today, the average person consumes 2,473-sq. ft. 935-sq. ft. of living space. In 1900, the average household size In 1900, the average cost of a house was 4.6 people. per occupant was $900. In 2010, the average household size In 2010, the average cost of a house was 2.59 people. per occupant was $69,000. In 1900, the average home cost In 1900, the average worker must $4,000. work 16,000 hours or about eight In 2010, the average home cost years, before payroll taxes, to pur$178,000. chase an average home. In 1900, 47 percent of all homes In 2010, the average worker must were owner-occupied. work 8,900 hours or about four-and-

a-half years, before payroll taxes, to purchase an average home. Today, we enjoy homes with more sophisticated plumbing, heating, air conditioning, electrical, appliances, insulation, kitchens, bathrooms, highquality decor and much more than was in the homes of 1900. We invest fewer of our working hours to purchase a home than our forefathers did four generations ago, and we enjoy the spaciousness of castles, relative to the bygone days of the early 1900s. Most of us would be able to enjoy more modest homes, which would fall well within our budgets and still be light years ahead of what our predecessors had to accept. No, the American dream is not dead; it is still very much alive. It is up to those of us doing the dreaming to fashion our dreams within the realms of reality and within our budgets. We can expect the homes of the future to be smaller, especially those built for first-time homebuyers. We can expect more multi-family housing to be sold. More of us will be sharing housing with others in an effort to better capitalize on the efficiencies of having housemates and extended family living under our roofs. Low downpayment loans will still be available to those responsible people, with good credit and who are willing to purchase homes in price ranges that they can afford. Approaching housing in a more common-sense manner will permit all of us to save more of our

For more information on the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, visit www.namb.org.

A Day on the Hill A look back at the NAMB 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference By Mike Anderson, CRMS

APRIL 2011

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

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What a conference! The National Association of Mortgage Brokers (NAMB) 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference was sold out, with 200-plus attendees, great speakers and panelists, great food and an opportunity for some face-to-face, peer-topeer networking. I would like to start off by giving a huge thank you to Denise Leonard for doing an absolutely spectacular job with putting this whole conference together and a special thanks to Olga Kucerak for helping Denise at the conference. The service from the host hotel, the Capitol Skyline Hotel in Washington, D.C., was exceptionally good and accommodating to our group. I would like to especially thank Provident Funding for stepping up to the plate as sponsor of this year’s Legislative & Regulatory Conference. They demonstrated their commitment and loyalty to the mortgage broker and truly communicated their support for our profession. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Legislative & Regulatory Conference as successful as this one. In fact, we actually made a profit and after all that we are facing with the April 1st deadline of the Federal Reserve rule on loan originator compensation, our group joined together with an energy and enthusiasm like I’ve never seen before. The passion of all in attendance was remarkable, and I can honestly say that the 200-plus attendees were true die hard professionals who take our profession very serious. The event was a quick, yet informative, two-day affair, consisting of one day of speakers and panelists and a second of a lobbying trip to Capitol Hill. Some of our guests included Vicki Bott, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD); Barton Shapiro, director of RESPA for HUD; Dr. Winslow Sargeant, chief counsel for the U.S. Small Business Administration Office

of Advocacy; Peggy Twohig, director of the Office of Consumer Protection for the U.S. Department of the Treasury; and Roy DeLoach of DC Strategies, chief lobbyist for NAMB. The hot topic was the Federal Reserve Board’s loan officer compensation rule LO and Dr. Winslow Sargeant received a standing ovation and a huge roar of applause for his role in the two letters SBA Advocacy issued to the Federal Reserve Board in asking for a delay in the LO compensation rule. Every session was standing room only, and the participants were very engaged with great questions for the panelists. In fact, no one left early during any session. We ended the day by distributing more than 300 lobby day packets that were to be presented the following day during the trip to Capitol Hill. Then, we all attended the opening reception with a delicious spread of Italian cuisine and of course an open bar. The room was packed with everyone engaged in deep conversations about the panelists, networked and discussed the red hot topic of the LO compensation rule. Day two of the 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference, better known as Lobby Day, was certainly a day to remember. Any of the lawmakers were shocked to hear about the Federal Reserve Board’s LO compensation rule, and almost all were committed to help in any way they could to stop this rule from being enforced on April 1st. In the end, I think we can all say that the 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference was an event that brought unity and a sense of urgency to all who attended. If we all stand together as one large voice, we can make a difference, and for those of you who did not attend, I would strongly suggest you put it on your list of things to do for 2012. Mike Anderson, CRMS of Essential Mortgage in Metairie, La. is Government Affairs Committee Chair of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers. He may be reached by phone at (504) 451-3339 or e-mail mikea@essentialmtg.com.

Scenes From the NAMB 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference March 14–15 at the Capitol Skyline Hotel in Washington, D.C.

President Andy Harris (left) and Vice President Jered Helton (right) from the Oregon Association of Mortgage Professionals (OAMP) visit with Rep. Kurt Schrader (DOR) (center) during NAMB’s 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference in D.C.

NAMB Government Affairs Committee Chair Mike Anderson welcomes attendees to the 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference

Members of the Pennsylvania delegation with NAMB President Mike D’Alonzo (far right) at the Dirksen Senate Office Building during Lobby Day

Roy DeLoach of DC Strategies, chief lobbyist for NAMB, discusses the latest on the Federal Reserve’s LO compensation rule

Scenes From the NAMB 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference March 14–15 at the Capitol Skyline Hotel in Washington, D.C.

Cara M. Britton and Melissa M. Hayes from First Liberty Mortgage LLC d/b/a CT Liberty Mortgage LLC were on hand for NAMB’s Lobby Day representing the Connecticut Association of Mortgage Brokers (CTAMB)

NAMB President Mike D’Alonzo, NAMB Government Affairs Committee Chair Mike Anderson, NAMB Past President George Hanzimanolis, Dick Morin from the Maine Association of Mortgage Professionals, Olga Kucerak, NAMB Director Walt Scott and NAMB Lobbyist Roy DeLoach

Representatives from the Missouri Association of Mortgage Professionals (MAMP) meet with Rep. Vicky Hartzler (center) during the 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference

Members of the Pennsylvania delegation met with Sen. Pat Toomey (fourth from left) in Washington, D.C. to discuss the LO compensation rule

Vicki Bott, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Single Family Programs for HUD, discusses industry-related issues with Legislative Conference attendees

Herman Churchwell from Provident Funding Associates, sponsors of the NAMB 2011 Legislative & Regulatory Conference

APRIL 2011

NAMB Past President Harry Dinham (left) and Missy MacNaughton from Cole Taylor Bank (right) representing the Texas Association of Mortgage Professionals met with Rep. Sam Johnson (center) during NAMB’s trip to Capitol Hill

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Barton Shapiro, Director, Office of RESPA & Interstate Land Sales for HUD, was on hand to provide attendees with updates to changes with RESPA

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Denise Leonard and NAMB President Mike D’Alonzo pause for a photo during the networking reception

Gregory K. Raven (left) and Kathy Raven (right) of Raven Financial Services, representing the Mortgage Professionals of South Carolina with Dr. Winslow Sargeant, chief counsel for the U.S. Small Business Administration Office of Advocacy (center)

heard on the street

Things Are Not Always What They Seem on the Yellow Brick Road

APRIL 2011

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Jobs, oil, real estate, oh my! And, we can add snowstorms, earthquakes and politics. Or should we say “pile them on.” Now we know just how Dorothy must have felt trying to get back to Kansas as she followed the yellow brick road. Certainly this recession was one for the ages. However, the recovery is proving to be just as challenging. Everyone predicted a recovery of “stops and starts,“ but few could envision all of the factors we would be overcoming. Certainly, jobs and real estate have been the focus for years. With close to 10 percent of the nation unemployed, and 25 percent of the nation’s real estate market underwater, there has been a huge canyon to dig out from. And we are happy to say that jobs and real estate are on the road to recovery—albeit a road of stops and starts. Last month’s employment report gave us a glimpse of what could help us recover much more smoothly, with 192,000 jobs added for a shortened and wintry month of February. The real surprise was the unemployment rate moving below nine percent. With weekly jobless claims coming down significantly in the past few months, it appears the employment recovery is finally gaining some momentum. Have you ever noticed that the quicker someone drives, the more it hurts when you hit a pothole? Well, let’s consider the widening world conflict causing oil prices to soar as quite a pothole. Then let’s pile on the economic devastation felt by Japan in the wake of the most recent tragedy. The effects of this latest crisis are just being felt as I write this column. How about the government? We previously addressed the end of government stimulus becoming a drag on growth for the coming years. But what happens if the government shuts down because Congress cannot agree on a budget solution? That could mean a halt to the most popular home loan programs: Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Rural Housing Service (RHS) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). If that hap-

pened even for a few weeks, how much of a pothole would that be for the fledgling housing recovery? Quite a deep and wide one. We are not saying that this will happen—but anyone with any sense can see that we don’t need to be creating deeper potholes in front of our recovery car. Not right now. The government has run out of money to patch them. As tough as this analysis may seem, I would like to say that things are not always what they appear to be along the Yellow Brick Road. Here are two flying monkeys that have many alarmed: Higher oil prices and lower real estate prices. Many are concerned that we are heading to $4 per gallon gas and a double-dip in housing prices. However, we caution observers to look beyond the headlines. Let’s start with oil. At the onset of the fiscal crisis, oil prices plummeted. And they plummeted just after spiking up to around $130 per barrel. Oil prices have been rising ever since in line with the recovery from the recession. A stronger economy translates into more demand for oil. However, with the political turmoil escalating in the previous two months, the rise in oil prices has also escalated. Analysts are not all on board with the permanence of this escalation. For example, Fortune reports: Given that Libya represents less than two percent of global production and that the IEA has over 1.6 billion barrels of oil in storage, clearly the current price movement is about more than Libyan disruption. Even if Libyan oil production were completely turned off, the IEA has enough oil in storage to offset that lack of production decline for a full year. Further, it is estimated that OPEC collectively has between four and six million spare barrels of daily production. The article concludes that oil is trading not on fundamentals, but fear. continued on page 18

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banks. Both technologies are fully-hosted ASP solutions, providing greater efficiencies, controls and security options for the mortgage lending industry. “The acquisition of PCLender.com will accelerate our growth in the loan origination space by expanding our solutions suite to address the needs of all lenders, regardless of size,” said Don Covey, managing director of Lender Processing Services’ Origination Technology Solutions Division. “The addition of PCLender.com gives LPS the opportunity to support more lenders with innovative technology to streamline efficiency, reduce costs and provide even better customer service.” LPS Empower is an enterprisewide LOS that provides functionality for every facet of the origination process, including consumer, retail and wholesale point-of-sale channels; FHA, VA and Conventional product support; funding and auditing; product and pricing; electronic document management and imaging; and industry-standard interfaces. PCLender.com’s fully hosted mortgage Software as a Service (SaaS) offering allows lenders to eliminate the cost of hardware ownership and costly upgrades; simplify and accelerate system implementation; and benefit from enhanced security and a centralized data repository. “The combination of both companies’ highly successful offerings enables us to jointly provide the industry’s best end-to-end origination technology suite,” said Cyrus Brinn, chief operating officer of PCLender.com. “We are excited about this opportunity to join forces with a well-respected origination technology provider like LPS and to offer the expanded technologies, solutions and support for which LPS is so widely known to our PCLender.com clients.”

real estate at Columbia University. “While lenders have addressed many of the risks of originating new mortgage loans, such as stated income mortgages, they must also consider a borrower’s changing circumstances prior to closing. In the future, lenders should be keenly aware of new innovations and solutions that can help them close loans with better credit controls in place.” This relationship represents Equifax’s latest effort to equip the mortgage market with a best-in-class solution. Undisclosed Debt Monitoring is the mortgage industry’s first platform to monitor for and notify financial institutions of new accounts and borrower activity initiated during the “quiet period,” which spans from the application date to the mortgage closing. A solution that is “always on,” Undisclosed Debt Monitoring alerts lenders of borrower activity that may represent risk associated with mortgage loans in their pipelines. By integrating Undisclosed Debt Monitoring into Interthinx’s FraudGUARD technology, lenders can increase their ability to address compliance requirements with a single platform. “Our research shows that $43 million in auto loan payments were potentially overlooked during mortgage underwriting in the first three quarters of 2010. Through our relationship with Interthinx, we have made it easier than ever before for mortgage lenders to access unique industry solutions that help them identify this type of hidden debt,” said Steve Meirink, Equifax Mortgage Growth Initiatives Leader. “Teaming with Interthinx, a proven leader in mortgage fraud detection, has created another way for financial institutions to make better underwriting decisions.”

Interthinx and Equifax Join Forces to Reduce Fraud

Titan Lenders Corporation and Grid Financial Partner to Lower Operating Costs

Equifax has formed a relationship with Interthinx to give financial institutions visibility into the underwriting process. Interthinx clients can now seamlessly access Equifax’s Undisclosed Debt Monitoring solution through FraudGUARD to address investor and lending requirements and uncover undisclosed debt—a multi-billion dollar challenge in the mortgage market. Through this relationship, mortgage originators, investors and insurers benefit from enhanced risk mitigation, reduced fraud and fewer loan buybacks. “As we begin to emerge from the economic downturn, the mortgage industry must look for solutions to key factors that led to the mortgage crisis, including borrower misrepresentation,” said Chris Mayer, a professor of

Titan Lenders Corporation (TLC) and Grid Financial Services Inc. have created a full-service best practices loan fulfillment service that will allow mortgage lenders to accelerate market entry, reduce overhead, and establish credibility with mission critical partners. The loan fulfillment service offers lenders a parallel and variable cost alternative solution to a fixed overhead operation. It will provide a consolidated automation platform and best practices expertise for mortgage lenders, picking up the loan file as soon as the loan officer completes an application. The TLC-Grid Financial platform will handle disclosures, processing, underwriting, closing, post-closing through final sale to investors. Completely represented and warranted from the closing perspective, the TLC-Grid Financial

service is focused on compliance, transparency, salability, and accountability. “Mortgage lenders can grow their business if they are open to innovation and to keeping their costs low,” said Titan Lenders Corporation (TLC) founder and president Mary Kladde. “By joining forces with Grid Financial, we are able to support mortgage lenders’ business models via a professionally disciplined loan process that we manage according to their policies and objectives.” TLC’s patented, proprietary Webbased software Cerberyx (CBX) supports a full suite of fulfillment services, including: funding, compliance, closing, post-closing, purchase review for correspondents and warehouse lenders, trailing documents, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERS) management, Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insuring, and document management (imaging). CBX’s flexible rulesbased architecture allows TLC clients to define field level decision trees, priorities, checklists and process management specific to an investor product variance or a cross-investor climate. “We continue to see a growing demand in the mortgage industry for a comprehensive loan processing outsource solution that can support zerodefect compliance strategies while significantly reducing mortgage lenders’ operating costs,” said Grid Financial President Michael Paul. “The TLC-Grid Financial platform and service offerings are a complete outsource solution that can help adapt a lender’s business to the still evolving mortgage industry landscape.”

Freddie Mac Selects Atlas REO Services and Green River to Support HomeSteps

Mortgage Professionals to Watch Megan Von Wald has joined Allonhill as managing director of credit risk management.

Megan Von Wald

When you are building a company, or even a single branch of a company, you are actually building a community. We can pretend that compensation plans and human resource recruiters populate our operations, but in reality, people join a company for the opportunity they think it represents, and stay because they feel like part of the community that company has created. If they don’t feel a connection to that company and their fellow employees, they cycle through just as quickly as they came. Being part of a community means that you share the same core values. It’s the way we build societies, and it’s the glue that holds groups together when things get rough. Our industry has certainly seen its darker days over the past few years. The things that have held our company together and kept it growing are our values. One of the most important of these we call “relationship.” Like many other firms competing in our space, our business is built on a number of core values, none of which should be considered greater than the other. All of these values must work in tandem. For us at Benchmark, the relationship is the primary core value. Every decision we make is based on the relationship we have with those with whom we work, including the decision to get into a relationship in the first place. When we choose new employees, business sources and new branch partners, we carefully evaluate the potential for the future relationship. We find out what the new person stands for, what they want to be known for, and then determine if it fits with our own goals and values. It’s quite simple, but so important. We don’t waste time trying to determine whether the relationship will always be trouble-free. We all struggle in our relationships from time to time. Conflicts occur; nothing is perfect. In a good relationship, these problems get resolved. But if the core values aren’t shared between the people in a particular relationship, it will never work. Because of the importance we place on values and relationships, we don’t hire people casually or keep them if they just do their job, but don’t completely share our values. Our standard is set high and we will not compromise it. The prime benefit that comes from making the relationship a core value is that you blur the line that people place between their business and personal lives. People who live most of their lives in only one of these two worlds are missing out on the many advantages of living right between them. By living in the middle, people get the very best of both lives. We work with people we know and care about. We know each other’s families. We do things together for fun that enhance our working relationship. Over time, every employee of our companies comes to the realization that they are having fun while working. The line between their two worlds has dissolved and they become fully engaged in the work of building the company, for themselves and for the other people they care about. For example, we often fly our underwriters out to our branches because we want these professionals to build deeper relationships with the people who depend upon them to get deals done. They are excited about being with the team that they are supporting every day. Over time, these groups build a strong relationship that quickly solidifies because it is based on common values. People begin to become emotionally invested in the company. They feel that they have a home and become unwilling to leave because they are a part of something more deep and fulfilling than just a job. They trust the people they work with, because they know them and they know what they stand for. By adopting the relationship as a core value, and building deeper relationships between employees, a company or branch will attract and keep the best people. This dynamic of values and relationships creates stronger teams that are more effective, and a work experience where people love to come to work and enjoy what they do. Jim McMahan is president and Stewart Hunter is founding partner and core values officer for Dallas-based Benchmark Mortgage. You can find them both online at www.iambenchmark.info.

APRIL 2011

continued on page 18

By Stewart Hunter and Jim McMahan

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StreetLinks Lender Solutions has named Luke Pille, former director of national programs for LendersOne, as the company’s new national sales manager. Erik Martin has been promoted to the position of national sales manager of the retail channel for Total Mortgage Services LLC. DocuTech has named Joe Cliver as an account executive for the northeast United States. The U.S. Department of the Treasury has announced the hiring of additional members of the senior leadership team for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), including Catherine West as chief operating officer, Gail Hillebrand as associate director of consumer education and engagement, Dennis Slagter as chief human capital officer, and David Gragan as assistant director of procurement. Flagstar has appointed Steven J. Issa to the position of executive vice president and managing director of commercial banking, and Michael J. Tierney was appointed to the position of executive vie president and managing director of retail banking. DocMagic Inc. has named Laurie Spira as its new chief compliance officer. ServiceLink has named Marco Brenes as its new senior vice president, enterprise relationships and strategy. Prommis Solutions has named Charlie Piper as the company’s new chief operations officer. ICBA Mortgage Solutions has

A Criticall Valuee forr Communityy Building

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Freddie Mac has announced that it has selected West Valley City, Utahbased Green River Capital and San Diego-based Atlas REO Services to provide sales and disposition support to HomeSteps, the company’s real estate sales unit. HomeSteps markets a nationwide selection of Freddie Mac-owned homes through local real estate brokers. Green River Capital and Atlas REO Services are specialty real estate-owned (REO) management and loss mitigation providers for mortgage servicers and other financial services companies. “Green River Capital and Atlas REO Services have the experience and capacity to enhance HomeSteps’ capacity to compete and excel in today’s housing market,” said Chris Bowden, vice president of HomeSteps. “Their selection underscores our emphasis to work with proven real estate professionals who support our commitment to stabilize communities and be responsible stewards of taxpayer resources.” Both Green River and Atlas REO will support HomeSteps’ core sales and disposition functions, such as valuation, market strategy, listing and closing. “Atlas REO Services is very excited for the opportunity to partner with Freddie

Mac in the disposition of their homes,” said Gregg Buckley, chief operating officer and co-owner of Atlas REO Services. “We are committed to leveraging our years of expertise and industry leading service to build a long lasting partnership.” “It is an honor to be chosen by Freddie Mac among numerous qualified companies to assist with the disposition of its REO assets,” said Christopher West, chief executive officer of Green River Capital. “We look forward to working with such a great company dedicated to maintaining property values and stabilizing communities. Green River Capital’s decades of REO asset management experience enables us to support Freddie Mac’s efforts and work together toward the industry’s recovery.”

the secondary market overview

APRIL 2011

heard on the street

“While real estate will be weighed down by shadow inventory and a steady stream of foreclosures for some time, the one factor the real estate market needs to reverse the slide is a stronger employment picture.” demand. Even those who were foreclosed upon will need houses to rent. The conclusion? If the economy continues to progress thorough 2011, the real estate market could turn around quicker than the doomsayers expect. So, while the tendency will be to hang your head low while the flying monkeys are around, those who lead this industry in the future will be ahead of the curve. Recently, it was reported that sales of million dollar homes were up significantly in 2010. Those who are successful do not wait for the markets to turn around, they act when others don’t. Many loan officers are scared to make moves with refinances slowing and the compensation plans about to be put in place. What you should be doing getting ready for the recovery so you are ready when it comes. That means understanding what your customers will need in the new world. You will need to be an expert—letting them know what is happening with rates to helping them qualify when others cannot. More on this later. For now, gain some long-term vision. Even the Wizard was not who he appeared to be …

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announced the addition of the following regional account managers: James R. Loving in the Midwest region, Joel Dulmage in the Central U.S. region, Diane Keane in the Southeast U.S., Carrie Felix in the Midwest region, Debra Noguera in the South Central U.S., Whit Brame in the Mid-Atlantic region and Michael Bender in the Northeastern United States. Kislak Mortgage has named Carlos Coloma as area manager of the company’s southern Florida region. Steve Brunworth has joined Mortgage Builder Software as western region sales manager. Primary Capital Mortgage (PCM) has announced the addition of Vicki Blum as southeast account executive. Landmark Mortgage Group has announced the additions of David Morris and Todd Galde to the company as mortgage advisors. Platinum Data Solutions has hired Ray Petta as a consultant focusing on building the company’s brand building and business development.

Resource National Title Agency has added Donna Betley as an account executive in the firm’s retail division. TitleVest has named James Leslie as its new chief financial officer and Glen Chernick as senior underwriting counsel.

Your turn National Mortgage Professional Magazine invites its readers to submit any information, events, passages, promotions, personal or professional occurrences that seem appropriate and/or other pertinent data to the attention of:

Heard on the Street/Mortgage Professionals to Watch column Phone #: (516) 409-5555 E-mail: newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are preferred. The deadline for submissions is the 1st of the month prior to the target issue.

Dave Hershman is a leading author for the mortgage industry, with eight books and several hundred articles to his credit. He is also a top industry speaker. If you would like to stay ahead of what is happening in the markets, visit www.ratelink.originationpro.com for a free trial. Dave’s NewsletterPro Marketing System can be found at www.webinars.originationpro.com and he may be contacted by e-mail at dave@hershmangroup.com.

Whether you’re actively searching for a new job or not, don’t miss what could be your next career opportunity. Post your anonymous resume now to start building a better career in the mortgage industry.

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Assuming that Libya stabilizes either under the present or a new regime, the country will realize quickly that producing oil will help them rebuild. The result could actually be more production of oil, not less. This means that oil prices could finish the year lower than where they are now. We are not saying that is going to happen, but many analysts believe this to be the case, especially if the crisis does not spread and deepen to Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries. As a matter of fact, the initial reaction to the devastating crisis in Japan has been lower oil prices—and interest rates. Now real estate. We had similar bubble which burst in real estate around the time of the fiscal crisis and recession. Real estate does not move in price as quickly as the stock market or oil and therefore the rise and fall was more gradual and less pronounced. Like oil, the price of real estate has been recovering over the past two years. However, this recovery was pumped up by the existence of tax credits and other government subsidies. Everyone knew that when the tax credits ended that there would be a negative effect on the markets. Therefore, the second half of 2010 saw the real estate market, including prices, weaken. Some have said that this is the beginning of a “double-dip” in prices. Again, we caution observers to keep an open mind. While real estate will be weighed down by shadow inventory and a steady stream of foreclosures for some time, the one factor the real estate market needs to reverse the slide is a stronger employment picture. Again, this appears to be happening with the unemployment rate and weekly employment claims sliding. A few stronger months will not get the economy turned around, but it appears we are heading in the right direction. If people can get jobs, kids will move out from their parents’ houses and household formulation will increase. We are not building enough homes to accommodate this latent

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Search the vast number of career possibilities available in the origination, settlement, secondary & servicing areas of the Mortgage Business or create a personal job alert to be notified of new jobs that match your search criteria. Be available for your next career opportunity. Post your resume at FindMortgageJobs.com where employers search for mortgage professionals.

e-mail: sales@calyxsoftware.com visit: www.calyxsoftware.com

Post your resume. Find a job.

Be happy.

Getting the Most Out of LinkedIn

you want to answer. Some experts in the field suggest a few ways to get involved on LinkedIn Answers. They include:

By Katrina Lennon

Do some research on the person asking the question to find a way to tie in a more personalized response; Provide all that you can when answering the question (Web site links, tips, recommend an expert to them, etc.); or In your answer, give them an invitation to contact you privately for more help.

Did someone once tell you to set up a LinkedIn profile? It probably went something like this; “LinkedIn is the professional Facebook. It’s great for business and networking. You really should be on there.” Did I get it right? So, you took that leap and created a profile. But now what? There are many people out there on LinkedIn who have no idea how to use the site to their advantage. They think that simply being on LinkedIn is enough. I am here to tell you that you are wrong. If you haven’t done so already, you should learn how to mine the riches that LinkedIn has to offer. In this column, you will find a wealth of information to help you tap into LinkedIn and use it to your advantage.

Think about creating your own group

Update your status frequently The idea here is you want to keep a steady LinkedIn presence so your connections recognize your name. Remember, some of your connections have never personally met you before so reminding them what you can offer them as a connection is important. Your status updates show up in their feed and act as this reminder.

Explore the “More” tab

Here are several tips from some of the best minds in social media: Watch your timing As soon as you make some sort of connection on LinkedIn, don’t wait weeks or even months before interacting with your new connection. Ask them a question, pay them a compliment, ask for an introduction to someone else etc. Take advantage of events LinkedIn has a feature that allows you to create an invite to an event. Keep an eye out on your connections and what events they might be attending. You can also look at the RSVP list of an event. Connect with a few of those individuals and get in touch with them before the event either through a message (if they are a connection) or an inmail (if a second or third degree, or no group connection). Let them know that you will be at the event and are looking forward to meeting them in person. Sync geography with your travels Most of the time, you will have connections from all over. If you are traveling somewhere on business click on the “Contacts” tab up top and then on the “Locations” link on the left. This will tell you how many of your connections are in each area. If you have some free time

Another way to expand your network is to join LinkedIn Groups. These are people who share common professional interests or fields of work. There are many groups out there covering all sorts of industries and interests. Once in a Group, you can do any (or all) of the following to build up your LinkedIn community: Participate in discussions Create your own discussion thread Post an article Connect with people in the group

www.windvestcorp.com

And for the grand finale, use your URL to ask people to connect with you on LinkedIn. You should encourage everyone you meet to connect with you on LinkedIn in order to expand your network. So … have I convinced you that simply being on LinkedIn is not enough by now? Follow these steps and you will be the person telling others how wonderful and beneficial LinkedIn is. Katrina Lennon is an account coordinator at Andrea Obston Marketing Communication LLC. Katrina brings five years of public relations, marketing communications and social media experience to the firm. She manages the firm’s social media, including On-Line Newsrooms. In addition, she is responsible for the organization of client material, logistics on projects and all social media both for the firm and select clients. She may be reached by phone at (860) 243-1447 or email klennon@aomc.com.

APRIL 2011

Become a resource Find out where you can add value by keeping an eye on status updates and group discussions. Your value can be added insight, advice, finding a new connection, etc. Once you are seen as a resource, your connections will classify you as a valued relationship in your network.

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Join LinkedIn Groups

Don’t hesitate to ask for advice Reach out to an influential connection and ask them for advice. Socialmediaexaminer.com explains crafting your message as follows: First, introduce yourself and explain who you are, reference a common connection, give a genuine comment, ask for advice with an explanation of why you are asking.

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Once you have successfully done the above, why not have some fun with it? LinkedIn has a handful Complete your of applications that you profile can add to your profile. “If you haven’t done The first step you must This option is under the make is to complete your so already, you should “More” tab on the top of profile. See that annoying learn how to mine the your page and then under bar on the right hand side “Application Directory.” riches that LinkedIn that says you are only a According to LinkedIn, has to offer.” certain percentage comapplications “enable you plete? Do what they sugto enrich your profile, gest in order to get that all the way up to share and collaborate with your net100 percent mark. One of the things this work, and get the key insights that help requires is asking for recommendations you be more effective.” My personal from other people on LinkedIn. Aim for favorite is “Tripit,” which allows me to four or five people from different areas let my connections know when I will be (different jobs, a colleague, a superior, a in town so that we can meet up for a friend, etc.). Ask for recommendations networking cup of coffee. from a wide range of people covering the full span of skills and knowledge you Get familiar with have acquired throughout the years. LinkedIn Answers This is also under the “More” tab and Expand your network then “Advanced Answers Search.” This LinkedIn is a networking site, so use it to tool allows you to search for topics in its fullest. Search for people you know your area of expertise to find a question with the search box in the upper right hand corner. Ask them to join your network. Both of you will benefit. In addition, look at the networks of people to whom you’re connected for people you’d like to know. Ask them for an introduction. Lastly, check out the “people you may know” block you’ll find on your home page. Going through this list every once in awhile will alert you of people you may know who are also on LinkedIn, and you can add them to your network.

Establish meaningful relationships with LinkedIn

on your business trip, suggest meeting up with some or all of your connections in that area for coffee, lunch or a small networking dinner.

Chad Jampedro, COO GSF Mortgage Corporation

APRIL 2011

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Each month, National Mortgage Professional Magazine will focus on one of the industry’s top players in our “Mortgage Professional of the Month” feature. Our readers are encouraged to contact us by e-mail at newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com for consideration in being featured in a future “Mortgage Professional of the Month” column. This month, we had a chance to chat with Chad Jampedro, managing vice president of GSF Mortgage Corporation. Chad got his start in the mortgage industry in 1997 with National City Bank. A graduate of Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa., Chad started off working in collections as a loss mitigation representative, helping create forbearance plans for customers. In 2001, he joined GSF Mortgage Corporation as a loan officer, working his way up the corporate ladder at GSF as vice president of marketing, manager of correspondent pricing and product development, to his current role with GSF as chief operating officer. Chad oversees the day-to-day functions of the company in his position as COO, providing guidance and leadership to the company’s branches.

How did you get your start in the mortgage industry? I began working for National City Bank in 1997. This was my first job in the industry. From a corporate standpoint, it was quite overwhelming transitioning from making pizzas, to working in a corporate atmosphere. I spent a tremendous amount of time learning the protocols, policies and procedures that drive corporate America. At National City, I started in the loss mitigation loan collections department, collecting delinquent loans, working from an automated system. The system would display the borrower’s information regarding specific transactions. I very quickly realized that there was a human side to each transaction. The people on the other end of the line may have been delinquent with payments, but they are also dealing with various circumstances stemming from divorces, deaths in the family, job loss, etc. At GSF, we realize that we are building lasting connections with our clients. While one of our goals is to earn repeat and referral business, first and foremost, we strive to be a resource our customers can access if they are experiencing troubles and hardships. We have constructed our platform to provide superior service to our clients during the transaction and will continue to advise them long after the transaction is closed. Did working on the loss mitigation side at National City better prepare you for the current tough times in the industry and help make you a more conservative mortgage banker? You were there at a time where most of your competitors were making money by doing sub-prime. At National City, I had zero input on the types of loans they were producing and the qualifications used during the origination process. When I was hired by

GSF, I was trained to market and originate conforming and government clientele. As a company, even before I came to GSF, they were a conforming and government lender, and it made sense. You have a standardized qualification process with a standardized rule set that was backed by automated underwriting findings. We have all heard the horror stories of the sub-prime era … the stated incomes, sub standard credit scores, LTVs exceeding 100 percent and those transactions just didn’t make sense. For many of the mortgage companies that have made it through the sub-prime meltdown, it took implementation of effective policies and procedures and a little bit of luck … a little bit of luck does not hurt in making it through those times. Geographically, GSF is in a more conservative market in the Midwest, and products like the pay option ARM never really caught on.. Our customers seemed to be resistant to this type of debt structure. As a result, sub-prime and alternate products never became a systemic choice for us. The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is calling for volume to go from $1.5 trillion to under $1 trillion this year and remain that way for the next few years. Do you believe that to be a valid observation? I cannot say I agree or disagree with the numbers because I do not have the same high level access to the economic indicators that the MBA does. I do believe it is going to be in that range. Refinance activity is going to decrease, while purchase activity is sure to increase. Our goal at GSF Mortgage is to focus on servicing our purchase clientele and ensure that we meet the needs that stem from this time-sensitive and delicate transaction. We have been heavily vested in the first-time homebuyer market for the

last 17 years, originating the majority of our business with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. Regardless of market factors we still originate most of our business with FHA. We believe in the product standards and mission set by HUD. We can see the first-time homebuyer making their way into the market, and the next year or two will provide great opportunities for them, as both home prices and interest rates are at record low marks. One thing you must do with firsttime homebuyers is educate them on both the benefits and responsibilities of becoming a homeowner. A recent reason we are not seeing as much activity in the first-time homebuyer market is due to uncertainty that exists in the U.S. employment outlook. Any time your unemployment rate hovers around the nine percent range and so much uncertainty exists, making an investment like a home purchase is the furthest thing from your mind. We are encouraged with recent improvements in the unemployment statistics and believe that as the employment situation continues to stabilize and improve; it will continue to bode well for the housing market. Stability in the U.S. housing market should go hand in hand with rising employment.

“When you are fighting for survival, you will be at your most optimal personality … you are smarter, faster and stronger because you have to be.” Is there any secret strategy or approach employed by GSF Mortgage that seems to work best to attract first-time homebuyers? We have had success educating potential homebuyers on the great deals that

All indicators point that the costs associated with completing a mortgage transaction are rising, and that is detrimental for the housing industry, the economy and our overall business. We are constantly trying to find that balance of “How can you keep your operations viable and profitable?” which is what we all need to do, while still offering a great service and a product that makes sense.

What has been your greatest accomplishment to date at GSF Mortgage? The greatest accomplishment for me personally here at GSF has been developing and maintaining our funding department. Rightfully, the credit belongs to our employees and management team. It has been great to watch this group grow and adjust to just about any market and massive amount of change on all fronts. We started out as a mortgage broker and then became a mortgage banker. We made that transition at a time when the market was still booming for the broker and brokering was how you conducted business as a mortgage originator. This process made for many sleepless nights leading up to making the decision to become a mortgage banker and when we made that transition, we lost approximately 20 percent of our sales staff. We have since rebuilt our sales staff with committed and capable professionals. As a result of this transition we have been able to produce more transactions per loan officer. We feel the support of the funding company adds the needed service levels to remain successful through the industry’s ups and downs. Navigating through the day-today mountain of information and regulatory changes and producing a highquality product on the back-end, while maintaining high service standards is something I am extremely proud to be a part of.

“At GSF, we realize that we are building lasting connections with our clients. While one of our goals is to earn repeat and referral business, first and foremost, we strive to be a resource our customers can access if they are experiencing troubles and hardships.”

How does your wholesale relationships and relationships with brokers stack up to your retail side? The two are very similar, although on the retail side, there is a more operational flexibility because our loan processors actually work in the same

Which of GSF’s business channels, your branch network, the wholesale side or retail side, do you feel has the greatest potential for growth? I think the channel that has the greatest potential for growth is on the retail continued on page 22

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What are some of your biggest fears about the current state of the industry? I think my greatest fear is the mass amount of regulatory changes the industry is facing in the short term . This headwind of regulatory change ultimately benefits the consumer, but you have to be able to maintain a consistent business model as you work through implementation of your compliance plan. A good example is the loan originator compensation rule imposed by the Federal Reserve Board. On paper, the goal of this LO compensation rule is to benefit the consumer, but in some cases, that may not be the case. Risk retention or the Qualified Residential Mortgage (QRM) is something that we look at as dangerous to the consumer and would be difficult for a mid-tier mortgage lender to deal with.

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So its not actually stuffing mailboxes … it’s about putting information out there so they can access it when they feel the need. . Correct. I still think there is a place in this industry for direct mail, targeted direct mail to past customers and referral partners are still a great source of originations. It is a highly effective practice to consistently check in with past customers and let them know you are available to answer questions and serve their mortgage needs. This is even more important considering the negative press that currently surrounds the industry. Example message: “I am sure you are hearing a lot of things in the news about the mortgage industry. Most of it’s negative. I’m here to tell you it’s not all negative, some of its positive. Give me a call and we can discuss.” Short, simple and honest, direct mail with quality content to someone you

have established a relationship with is well-received and will strengthen your relationship over time.

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exist in this market as prices are at their lowest levels in years. We also advise them of the record low interest rates that currently exist for qualified borrowers. To get the word out, we are employing various social media outlets to reach out to the first-time homebuyer market. In fact, we have hired a full time social media coordinator. We utilize soft e-mail marketing techniques, not spamming, where you have to optin for information. I’m sure we can all agree that spam is annoying and ineffective, and definitely not the way we choose to approach a potential customer. We aim to give as much information as possible in ways the firsttime homebuyer wants to consume it, through outlets such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and You Tube. I personally utilize You Tube for anything that I want to research, both for business and in general. Say for example, I want to learn how to work a particular piece of technology such as an iPhone app … I log on to You Tube and view tutorials. I can watch it at 11:00 p.m. or 11:00 a.m., on a Saturday afternoon in a non-pressurized situation where somebody is not hard-selling me on buying the service .This practice allows me to first learn and understand the product features and make an informed decision to proceed with purchase or not. Offering education and information to consumers in bite-sized pieces that they can consume at their own discretion is the new way to market financial services.

How has the quality of the loans been that GSF Mortgage has seen over the past few years? The focus is on the 3 Cs: Credit, Capacity and Collateral, and all areas have increased in quality. Median credit scores have increased , and the depth of credit required to achieve a mortgage loan has increased.. Capacity to repay and the evaluation of those details have definitely become more stringent as well. We look at income in a much different light than in the past. With unemployment being what it is today, capacity is highly scrutinized. With the Home Valuation Code of Conduct (HVCC) coming into play, it has impacted collateral. The quality of appraisals has definitely improved with the implementation of the HVCC standards. The originator is the first point of the securitization process. An example, if a loan originator is not taking a full and complete 1003 application, then I feel the loan originator is not beginning this process effectively. It starts with the fundamentals of full and complete information gathering and processing.. In the past, the loan originator took the application and expected someone else to clean it up. The application would go from a processor, then on to underwriting, then maybe to a quality control person. It has come to the point where the LO must really dot the “I’s” and cross the “T’s.” Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD want to see that it’s being done right at the beginning of the transaction when the originator sits down with the borrower. When a bond purchaser is purchasing a bond securitized by a mortgage, they want to know everything has been done absolutely perfectly, in accordance with the guidelines.

building with our underwriting and funding groups. We have also combined processing and quality control duties to create a seamless experience for the customer that ultimately results in a smooth efficient transaction. There’s also some flexibility because you can offer more product options to your retail side than you can wholesale just from an investor standpoint. There are overlays on third-partyoriginated business that exists, as a result of a risk perception, and we have no choice but to follow those parameters. For the most part, the originators that are still in our industry, whether they are part of GSF’s retail side or whether they are part of GSF’s wholesale network, are high-quality individuals. You could not make it to this point and still have a viable position in the mortgage industry if you are not exceptional at what you do. On the broker side, they really want to do the right thing, not only by their customers, but by their investors as well. Recently some of the larger wholesalers have exited this line of production. However, there are still regional and middle-tier wholesale companies out there ready to serve the brokers’ needs. Brokers reach out to us to get information proactively now more than they’ve ever done in the past. A good example of that is in regard to the 203k loan. We spent a lot of time developing the 203k product in our business, and we firmly believe in it. We think it’s a very good product for both our retail and wholesale channels. Before a broker submits one transaction, we normally interact with them three to four times. We talk to their processors and their Realtors and educate them on the 203k product. We recently hosted a conference call for training on the 203k product where we had around 1,000 participants on the call. We had many broker partners on the call and they were inviting their Realtor partners as well. In the past, you had conforming specialists and FHA specialists, and I think you’re going to see more diversity in what products the broker offers as those products are made available to them. I can see loan officers getting licensed in multiple states. A good loan officer in one state is going to be a good loan officer in another state, depending on the perspective of the individual. A good loan officer may not be able to show up at a closing in another state, but with technology these days, they can get them right up until that point and build a very good relationship with their borrower and still maintain a high level of service even though they are originating the loan outside of the state they are living in.

mortgage professional side. From an origination standpoint, I think there is more flexibility on the retail side than on the wholesale side.. We want to support the branches in our network, not just from an accounting and technology standpoint. We bring our branches marketing and product development. We teach those in our branch network things that can diversify their business offerings … 203k loans, USDA Rural Development loans, etc. We want to develop that knowledge and experience in them, and we feel that we do a great job doing that from a retail perspective.

“When a bond purchaser is purchasing a bond securitized by a mortgage, they want to know everything has been done absolutely perfectly, in accordance with their guidelines.”

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The wholesale market continues to be viable and there are some great opportunities in wholesale with selected business partners. We are not doing business with just any broker partner. We want to work with partners whose business plan and ideals align with that of GSF. Our goal with the correspondent market is to work with regional banks and credit unions that have not mastered the delivery process to the secondary market and we can again bring some expertise to them in a capacity that will be a little more work-intensive on our end, even though the volume might not be significant. With good reason, the large aggregators, such as Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citi and Chase, work with larger producers and the smaller producers does not get quite as much attention from the larger companies. We are happy to service this customer and help them deliver quality investment grade product to the market. Are there are any books, business philosophies or mentors that you have followed that have shaped and guided your career? There is a book that was actually referred to me by one of the owners of GSF, Phil Siebert, called The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene. It’s very similar to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which is a favorite of GSF’s other owner, Jim Guzanick. There is one specific part of this book I come back to pretty often. It’s a passage that discusses creating “a sense of urgency and desperation,” and it’s called “The Death Ground Strategy.” It’s all about when you are really facing your highest challenges in life and are fighting for survival. This is fitting for mortgage professionals since our professional lives are on the line every day. This passage talks

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about the idea that you are never more than your best than at that period of time. When you are fighting for survival, you will be at your most optimal personality … you are smarter, faster and stronger because you have to be. To survive, you have to be at your fullest, highest human potential, and I think that this section of the book continues to be relevant. I read it a few years ago, and I keep coming back to “The Death Ground Strategy,” as I feel like some days we are facing such trying times building and maintaining our businesses that we have no choice to put everything we have into what we do and be at our optimal human potential. What is encouraging about many of the originators I’ve had the chance to meet recently is that they are survivors and are now implementing new plans to grow and thrive in this new environment. I firmly believe they will implement change and meet the challenge of producing higher-quality borrowers. They will meet the challenge of making sure that the loans they produce, from a technical standpoint, are of an investment grade. They will meet the challenge of implementing new regulatory changes. What do you think makes a good leader in the mortgage industry? Listening. We can get locked behind our phones and computer screens and you look at data constantly, but listening to what originators are saying, listening to what borrowers are saying, and listening to what your investors are saying. As a leader, you have to be able to take that information in, validate it, and then implement it into your business.

“Our goal at GSF Mortgage is to focus on servicing our purchase clientele and ensure that we meet the needs that stem from this timesensitive and delicate transaction.” What do you do when not in the office? I am lucky to have a wonderful family. I have a beautiful wife, Kelly, and two children, six-year-old Rocco, and three-yearold Mia. The challenging times that exist in mortgage industry have helped me focus more on the little things outside of the office that mean the world to me. It is great to live in the moment with family. I am confident in the mortgage industry and feel lucky to be a part of GSF. There are real challenges in our industry. Dealing with those challenges have helped me to really appreciate the time spent with my loved ones and realize just how lucky I am to share time with them. Whether it is playing video games with my son, painting pictures with my daughter or having a glass of wine with my wife … life is good.

Icon Residential Launches IFIRST Relationship Management Tool Icon Residential Lenders has announced the launch of IFIRST, an innovative program designed to foster positive relationships between new brokers and the firm’s internal operations team. As the industry continues to recover, better systems will be required to adequately serve front-line mortgage originators, the company said. This new program was designed to ensure that the quality of the customer service and support for Icon’s clients never falters and, even more importantly, is delivered in a consistent fashion, without exception. “We are dedicated to providing new brokers with a high-touch experience— one that exceeds their expectations and demonstrates every day that our clients are the top priority,” said Philip J. Giunta, chief operating officer at Icon Residential Lenders. “Through this new program, a member of our team will be in constant touch with our brokers during the setup, underwriting, account management, and funding phases of the loan origination process. We will make sure that everything is going well, answer any questions they may have, and do anything we can to help them.”

Real Info Launches AVM Plus Property Condition Report to Meet Interagency Guidelines Real Info Inc., a national technology provider of real estate data and automated valuation models (AVMs), has announced that it is offering AVMs with property condition reports designed to meet new regulatory appraisal and evaluation guidelines. Real Info has contracted with Cleveland, Ohio– based, Safeguard Properties, one of the nation’s largest privately held mortgage field services companies, as their provider for third-party condition inspection reporting with full photo documentation. The recently published interagency guidelines recommend that lenders should consider obtaining verification of a property’s current physical condition when utilizing AVMs. By supplementing its existing AVMs with external

property condition reports and subject photos, Real Info is assisting lenders in achieving compliance with the new requirements and ensuring accurate results. The process is seamless and provides the end user the opportunity to request a condition report as a stand alone product to accompany any AVM, including Real Info’s i-Val and realAssessment reports. “Our collaboration with Safeguard Properties enables lenders to not only meet, but exceed valuation guidelines in as little as two days,” said Jim Kirchmeyer, founder and chief executive officer of Real Info. “By using a condition report in conjunction with an AVM, any potential issues are caught early in the process which makes an accurate valuation much more credible. By working with the leading provider of inspections, Safeguard understands the importance of up-todate information so that users can properly verify the physical condition of a property quickly and efficiently.” Real-Info provides three proprietary AVM’s: i-Val, realAssessment and Q-Val, which utilize the knowledge database through rules-based, expert system models to arrive at a predicted market value for a particular residential property. The company’s licensing partnerships with nationally recognized AVM developers provide an extensive menu of valuation products for clients.

Advantage Systems’ Commission Calculation Module to Assists Lenders With New LO Compensation Rules Advantage Systems, a provider of accounting and contract management tools for the mortgage and real estate industries, has announced that its Commission Calculation Module assists lenders with simplifying adherence to pending loan officer (LO) compensation rules that are now in effect. The Commission Calculation Module of the Accounting for Mortgage Bankers (AMB) accounting system enables lenders to automate the calculation of commissions and bonuses in both retail continued on page 24

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The Broker’s Future An overview of the new commission landscape By Steven A. Milner

Disclaimer: The views expressed in the following article do not necessarily represent the views of National Mortgage Professional Magazine or the associations we represent. As a result of the new legislation that takes effect on April 1, 2011, mortgage brokerage firms and their loan officers (collectively known as ‘brokers’) will be faced with the game-changing decision of how to receive compensation going forward. There will be two options offered: Receive compensation only from the lender in the form of a fixed percentage fee per loan (the broker will choose from multiple fixed percentage tiers); Receive compensation only from the consumer in the form of an origination fee (points).

selling the loans in the secondary market.

Receiving compensation from the consumer only The legislation clearly defines the loan originator and the mortgage brokerage firm as the same entity (e.g. the broker = loan originator = mortgage brokerage firm). Why this is an issue is that if the broker decides to operate under the model of receiving compensation only from the consumer (origination points), they are forbidden from passing along that income to any of the loan originators working in the brokerage firm. “Proposed § 226.36(d)(2) would provide that, if a loan originator is compensated directly by the consumer for a transaction secured by real property or a dwelling, no other person may pay any compensation to the originator for that transaction.”

How to survive? Unfortunately, it would appear the only way to survive as a broker is to have a high volume, quick turnaround time, no overhead costs, and no other loan originators at the brokerage firm. The brokerage firm inevitably becomes a “one-man-shop” for two reasons: A result of the margin compression

Additionally, the broker is going to find the ability to abide by the antisteering provisions to be very overwhelming, which will lead them to reduce the number of lenders they work with to as few as possible. This, in effect, defeats the added value the mortgage broker “brings to the table,” and puts into question their very existence. Recently, I was speaking to the head of a 20-year-old brokerage firm who expressed his frustrations to me by saying, “I would rather close up shop because of something I did than some regulations the government imposed.” So much for survival of the fittest … Update 04/06/11: With the passage of the law and the recent lift of the “stay” of the LO compensation rule, there will be an opportunity for those who created a fair compensation plan to benefit from the turmoil in the industry. U.S. Mortgage Corporation takes pride in knowing that our new compensation plan which we are referring to as the “Freedom Plan,” is both fair, simple and equitable. Change always has a silver lining and the clear goal is to take full advantage of it. Steven A. Milner has nearly 30 years of experience in the mortgage industry, having started his career as a loan officer in 1981 in New York. Currently, Milner is the founder and chief executive officer of U.S. Mortgage Corporation d/b/a Mortgage Concepts, a highly esteemed new York State-licensed mortgage banking corporation he founded in 1994. He may be reached by phone at (631) 580-2600 x114 or e-mail steven.a.milner@usmortgage.com.

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rida L ss: ut of Flo hem e: O r Bo c S e d v u age Fra erco s M o rtg Un d ast Texa E r jo a M 203(k) Rehab Loan Program: Foreclosures Present Challenges, Opportunity NMLS an d St ate Testing fo r Mortgage Pr ofessionals

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is that a broker’s earnings will contract to a point where even just the overhead costs associated with running a brokerage firm will prove to be unbearable; and Since the broker cannot split origination points with its loan originators, its ability to retain any of its loan originators will be put into jeopardy. More likely than not, any of its “quality” LOs will leave to join a lending institution where an opportunity to earn a reasonable income will still exist.

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Both of these compensation options come coupled with serious drawbacks and issues unique to the broker. “Unfortunately, it In addition to the would appear the above choices, compenonly way to survive sation to the broker will as a broker is to no longer be able to vary with the terms or condi- have a high volume, To reiterate, if the conquick turnaround tions of the loan (interest sumer pays the brokerage rate). This means that firm origination points, time, no overhead brokers will no longer be then the brokerage firm costs, and no other able to earn additional cannot share that payment loan originators at compensation from “upwith any of its loan originathe brokerage firm.” selling” an interest rate tors. This is because the law to a consumer, nor will prohibits sharing compenthey have the ability to charge more for sation and further considers the loan origloans that require additional work or inators LOs can only receive a payment time spent originating them. outside of origination income collected by Lastly, the broker will be forced to the brokerage firm, such as a salary. comply with the new anti-steering provisions which were designed to prevent Receiving compensation them from directing or “steering” a con- from the lender only sumer to consummate a transaction The “Lender Only Model” also comes based on the fact that the broker will riddled with challenges for the broker. receive greater compensation versus This is due to the margin of compresanother type of loan they could have sion created from the anti-steering provisions and disincentive the lenders offered. To comply with this rule, brokers will have to maximize profits for the broker. be required to disclose three pricing The issue is seen more clearly if you examine it from the standpoint of the options per loan to the consumer: Lender. For this example let’s consider Lender A and Lender B. The lowest interest rate; In our example, Lender A initially The lowest interest rate and point decides to keep their brokers as motivated combination; and The lowest rate with the least risky as possible by offering them the highest fixed percentage tier per loan of 2.5 perfeatures. cent. Lender B however, caps their highest The unfortunate but inevitable con- fixed percentage tier at 1.5 percent. By default, in our example, Lender B clusion of this legislation is that the broker model will no longer be able to exist will have more competitive interest rates in its current format, if at all. In fact, a for the consumer than Lender A. broker will be at a significant disadvan- Consequently, Lender A’s volume will dratage to a lending institution (mortgage matically suffer, forcing them to provide bank), since lending institutions are more competitive rates to the consumer. shielded from the anti-steering prohibi- To do this, Lender A will have to offer a tions and can continue to receive com- lower fixed percentage tier to brokers, a pensation tied to the interest rate from tier structure that is likely in line with that

of Lender B. This all leads to margin compression for the broker. When you couple this fact with the anti-steering provision that is going to require the broker to reveal the lowest rate to the consumer, the broker and the consumer will always default to Lender B. This will further encourage Lender A to reduce its payout and lead to additional margin compression for the broker. In effect, if you are Lender A, by agreeing to pay a broker more, you reduce your ability to create a product that will be competitive with the other lower cost options being shown to the consumer from Lender B. Hence, over time, the competitive pressures both lenders face will minimize the compensation to brokers so as to minimize costs to the consumer and maximize volume for the lenders. In addition, brokers themselves will not be able to take the highest margin alternative offered by a lender since the broker will find themselves in an anti-competitive position versus other brokers who might have chosen a lower fixed percentage tier. This, combined with anti-steering provision which requires brokers to show the lowest interest rate option to the consumer, will make it quite difficult for the broker to elect the highest fixed percentage tier from the lender, thus requiring them to take a lower compensation plan. Additionally, for the broker who chooses to get paid by the lender, in a competitive situation, the broker will be at a serious disadvantage. This is because the broker cannot change their compensation model on a deal by deal basis to match the pricing from another broker who has previously decided on a lower compensation model, and unless they violate the anti-steering provisions, they will lose the consumer.

new to market Pioneer Services steps up to help out

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Pioneer Services, the Military Banking Division of MidCountry Bank, has worked exclusively with military families for 25 years, offering unique solutions and industry-leading financial services to more than 1.5 million military families during that time. One area Pioneer Services had not entered, however, was the VA Loan market—but with 27 million veterans and active-duty service members eligible for VA loans, a glut of available and affordable homes, and historically low interest rates, it was actually a great time for military families to think about homeownership. The company joined USA Cares’ “Certified Military Family Housing Specialist” program as an integral part of their strategy to promote VA Loans. While their team members had more than 500 years of combined military experience, the program bolstered the knowledge they already had and even provided some new information. “Having worked with USA Cares so often in the past, we knew this program would focus on the families first,” said Randy Freese, director of marketing. “It has allowed us to give our customers the most accurate and useful information out there, while also helping to prevent any surprises during the application process.” “There’s a lot of paperwork and documents involved in getting a VA Loan, so it’s vital to make sure everything is in order, and then communicated well and in a timely manner,” said Loan Officer Steve Flom. “Setting up our process this way has really made things easier on the families who apply.” Pioneer Services’ positive brand awareness in the military market and great customer service has resulted in some memorable phone calls over the past several months. One of the more memorable ones for Flom was from a Soldier who called specifically because, in his words, "I really like Pioneer! The fact I might be able to get a VA loan with their help is like this big weight has been lifted from my chest." “I have to admit … I got a little choked up,” said Flom. “I told him that his appreciation can’t possibly match our appreciation for the sacrifice he’s made for our nation." That appreciation is why all of their frontline associates and loan officers have gone—and will continue to go— through the USA Cares Military Family Housing Specialist program, and why they will continue to find ways to change lives, one military family at a time.

Contact Military Family Housing Education (MFHE) Program Manager at Beverly.Frase@usacares.org to be our next Mortgage Hero. Take the free MFHE course offered online by USA Cares and tell us how you’re helping our military men and women. We want to recognize you!

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and wholesale environments. This is especially important as lenders adjust to interpretations of the Federal Reserve Board’s (LO)compensation guidelines. Through the tool, lenders have the flexibility to define how these amounts are calculated based on their own business rules. “The April 1 deadline for compliance with the loan officer compensation rules is a pain point for many of our customers,” said Brian Lynch, president of Advantage Systems. “To ensure accuracy, it is vital for lenders to automate this area of their business. With the Commission Calculation Module, they have the ability to implement and change compensation models as needed, and as it is part of the accounting system, a traceable audit trail of transactions is available.” The Commission Calculation Module utilizes the loan-level accounting capability of the AMB software to minimize user input and increase accuracy.

Cogent Announces the Release of Version 3.0 of CogentQC.NET Cogent QC Systems, a developer of loan quality control and compliance solutions for the financial services industry, has announced the release of Version 3.0 of its CogentQC.NET platform, which includes ServicingQC.NET for quality control of servicing processes and ProductionQC.NET for quality control of loan originations. The new release includes: Enhanced audit findings feedback functionality; new enterprise level security features; additional controls over data elements displayed, user activity permitted, audit environment behavior and audit activity tracked. “We have been working closely with our clients over the past year to find ways to leverage the power and flexibility of the CogentQC.NET architecture,” said James Robinson, president of Cogent QC Systems. “This has resulted in the enhancements you see in Version 3.0, as well as the extension of the Cogent solution beyond the mortgage world to QC and compliance testing of consumer loans and other financial products.” Cogent’s CogentQC.NET systems utilize Microsoft’s .NET Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and Microsoft SQL Server to offer the most efficient, flexible and powerful QC and compliance solution available.

Stewart Lender Services Launches New FHA Qualification Package Stewart Lender Services (SLS), in conjunction with Spectrum Field Services, has announced that it is now offering a Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Lending

Qualification Package. The package provides investors with a comprehensive analysis of options available for maximizing loss recovery for real estate-owned (REO) assets. With the FHA Qualification Package, investors can receive upfront validation for their vacant assets. The program will determine if the asset meets the minimum lending requirements for an FHA program, if the asset is eligible for a limited scope rehabilitation option or if the asset can be backed by FHA financing and sold as is. “This package includes a full range of services for analyzing the property’s current status, rehabilitation costs and market expectations,” said Jason Nadeau, president of SLS. “It takes existing services and packages them into a sensible flow that will certainly accelerate the time to market the REO properties.”

Moody’s Launches New Mortgage Portfolio Analyzer (MPA) Moody’s Analytics, a provider of enterprise risk management solutions, has announced the release of Mortgage Portfolio Analyzer (MPA), a new risk management and capital allocation tool to help retail portfolio managers analyze and manage the credit risk of their mortgage portfolios. MPA is a full-featured credit risk management, stress testing and capital allocation tool, designed from its inception to provide retail credit portfolio managers with a transparent view into the risk of their mortgage portfolios. Featuring a range of customizable models and forecasting tools, MPA gives retail credit and fixed-income portfolio managers the information they need to hedge or rebalance their portfolios using techniques similar to those widely used for corporate credit risk management. MPA analyzes newly originated, seasoned and delinquent loans, providing a single framework for analysis of all mortgage assets. It is fully integrated with Moody’s Structured Finance Workstation (SFW), allowing institutions to use the same framework to analyze the whole-loan and securitized portions of their portfolios. MPA’s analytic output can also be formatted for use with other waterfall and cashflow products. “MPA is a breakthrough product that brings loan-level analysis detail and enhanced transparency to mortgage portfolios, similar to the products that Moody’s Analytics offers for corporate bond and loan portfolios,” said Roger M. Stein, president of Moody’s Research Labs. “MPA simplifies and streamlines core credit portfolio risk management activities, such as capital allocation, monitoring and transfer pricing, bringing them together within a single, powerful product.”

MPA also includes robust simulation tools to model loan-level and portfoliolevel performance as they evolve, and to project defaults, prepayments and severity dynamics. In addition, MPA can explicitly model the effect of mortgage insurance at the loan level. Portfolio managers can stress-test portfolios by using macroeconomic scenarios and by shocking default, prepayment and recovery rates directly. Macroeconomic stress-tests may be run using either Moody’s Analytics macroeconomic forecasts or user-defined macroeconomic scenarios. MPA’s models use key macroeconomic data at the national, state and MSA levels including home price changes, unemployment levels and various interest rates. This macroeconomic data is provided by Moody’s Analytics and is refreshed quarterly.

Fiserv Announces New Web and Mobile Self-Service Channels for Loan Servicing

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XINNIX has announced the availability of its Lead Conversion train-

InHouse Inc., an appraisal management company (AMC) and provider of appraiser management technology for banks, lenders, servicers, credit unions and other mortgage originators, has announced that its Connexions appraisal management system now features technology to manage multiple broker price opinion (BPO) vendors, including BPO companies, appraisers and individual real estate agents and brokers. Connexions provides ease of BPO ordering online and the ability to change BPO vendors with the click of a button.

Enforcement of the Red Flag Rule has Begun!

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New XINNIX Course Teaches Entire Mortgage Lead Conversion Process

InHouse Announces the Launch of New BPO Ordering Capability

And the REAL customer is???

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Fiserv Inc. has announced the availability of a new module that gives lenders the ability to offer borrowers two highdemand self-service channels, which can help lenders enhance customer relationships and realize efficiencies. Through the new module, LoanServ: LoanLink from Fiserv, consumers are able to access and update their loan information in real-time via the Internet or an Apple iPhone or iPad application. Providing borrowers with self-service channels gives lenders the ability to cater to customer expectation, while managing costs, as the self-service portal can help reduce the volume on other, more expensive channels. Additionally, with LoanLink, lenders can customize the module to address the specific needs of their borrowers choosing from services such as: Account cross referencing, loan payments, payoff requests, payment histories, address and contact information updates, customer financial information, and information about loan modification and alternate options. One of the most compelling components of the LoanLink module is the application, which gives borrowers a way to view their lending life from an iPhone or iPad. Consumer demand for banking services on a mobile device has grown rapidly over the past few years as the prevalence of smart phones has steadily increased. The LoanLink iPhone/iPad application from Fiserv enables lenders to take advantage of this new high-demand channel that can help improve customer acquisition and retention rates. LoanLink allows lenders to offer customers 24/7 access to their loan records and pulls information directly from the LoanServ platform in real time, avoiding the typical data-sync issues associated with batch processing.

ing program for loan officers. With home purchases currently being down, it is critical that loan officers focus on converting each qualified lead they receive into a loyal customer. XINNIX’ Web-based training program, Lead Conversion, consists of two 90 min. live Webinars that provide a step-by-step approach on executing an optimal response strategy and a proven sales process for loan officers. The classes are designed to gain every lead’s trust and confidence, while vastly improving every sales opportunity. Loan officers walk away from XINNIX’ Lead Conversion course with the confidence to reach out, follow-up and close potential leads. “Every lead is extremely valuable in today’s economy,” said Casey Cunningham, president of XINNIX. “A successful loan officer must master the ability to convert every lead they receive. Our Lead Conversion program will provide loan officers with sales knowledge that will immediately increase their conversion percentage and help maximize their lead channel.” The two Webinars provide loan officers the skills to guide customers through the loan process and help them make better decisions. The classes include steps on foreshadowing, trial closes, how to emotionally connect with a customer, how to build on a relationship with a customer and how to follow-up accordingly with a customer who is not committed. Lead Conversion outlines for loan officers the steps of a proven sales process along with precise sales techniques needed to uncover customers’ needs, present transaction details and enhance the closing process. By approaching every lead in the same, methodical but flexible manner, it will be easier to identify what is being done correctly and what can be improved. Loan officers will gain the ability to identify buying signs, implement active listening strategies, develop a lead contact strategy, implement a process to confidently speak to clients, effectively answer common client questions and build rapport with leads.

new to market

FIT for Reverse Mortgage Lenders: Part VIII Out-of-Pocket Burn-Through Risk

Everyone knows there is no medical underwriting in reverse mortgage lending. So there are no health-related risks in reverse mortgages for seniors and investors, right? Wrong! For seniors with self-reported “poor health,” there are risks. However, we address just one financial risk in this article: Out-of-pocket healthcare costs’ burn-through risk. In Part VII of our “FIT for Reverse Mortgage Lenders” series, we defined burn-through risk in reverse mortgages. Let’s review our definition:

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“Burn-through risk is the chance that seniors will use up their reverse capacity faster than usual and put in doubt their ability to stay at home over time and meet borrower obligations—taxes, homeowner’s insurance and home maintenance.” Now the out-of-pocket part: Out-ofpocket healthcare costs are costs not covered by insurance that seniors must pay from their own funds. They may include insurance premiums, co-payments, deductibles and other gaps in any benefit package. A February, 2010 study by the Urban Institute, “Will Healthcare Costs Bankrupt Aging Boomers?” says we can expect these out-of-pocket healthcare costs to rise, especially for lower-income seniors and for seniors without retiree health benefits. And why are out-of-pocket healthcare costs expected to rise? Here are some reasons from the study: Rising federal and state governments debts are already resulting in cuts to entitlement programs, such as Medicaid, which help low-income seniors with serious health problems to stay at home; Runaway healthcare costs over the last 35 years could continue, which would further increase premiums and co-pays for Medicare; Possible Social Security reform could further reduce or limit retirement income;

Tax increases could cut take-home pay and reduce cash for out-ofpocket expenses; Healthcare and retirement costs riskshifting trend from employers and governments to workers continues; Slowing to declining income growth among seniors (no recent cost of living increases to Social Security benefits). What did the study say about out-ofpocket health care costs for boomers? Some highlights follow: Between 2010 and 2040, out-ofpocket healthcare costs will more than double from $3,300 to $7,800; For people 65 and older, share of household income spent on healthcare will jump from 10 percent in 2010 to 19 percent in 2040; People 65 and older who spend more than one-fifth of their income just on healthcare will increase from 18 percent in 2010 to 35 percent in 2030 and 45 percent in 2040; If employers eliminate retiree health benefits, the number of seniors with rising out-of-pocket healthcare costs will leap to 52 percent by 2040; For seniors at the bottom fifth of the income scale, healthcare costs will jump from 21 to 39 percent of their income between 2010 and 2040. “With out-of-pocket healthcare costs increasing more rapidly than incomes,” the study says, “the financial burden of healthcare will increase for older adults over the next few decades.” This is why out-of-pocket healthcare costs for reverse mortgage prospects with self-reported “poor health” are risk factors. It is “yellow flag” number six in the FIT process. Originators continued on page 38

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InHouse’s software platform enables lenders and servicers to target BPO vendors based on geographic competency and it manages specific state credential guidelines for BPOs, ensuring compliance. There are no barriers to entry, upfront integration fees, or long-term contracts for companies to order BPOs on the Connexions platform. Lenders and servicers can manage the allocations and quality of their BPOs on one level playing field with Connexions and replace the use of excel spreadsheets for determining BPO rotation—a common practice in the industry. Connexions also enables lenders and servicers to configure their service level agreements in the system to better manage their BPO vendors. “As more bank-owned REO properties come onto the market, lenders, servicers and investors require a system for ordering BPOs that is fast, accurate and compliant,” said Jennifer Creech, president of InHouse. “InHouse offers the only technology platform that empowers lenders, servicers and investors to make data-driven BPO decisions and appropriately allocate the use of their BPO resources. All of this can be accomplished in real-time with the click of a mouse.”

Equator Launches Three New REO Products Equator (EQ), a software provider of default servicing solutions, has announced that it is offering lenders and servicers three new modules: Loan Segmentation, REO Segmentation and Invoice Management. “With the velocity and frequency of loans flowing into the foreclosure bucket this year, the need for servicers to adopt a Delinquent Loan Segmentation module is paramount,” said Chief Operating Officer John Vella. “By using Equator’s new Loan Segmentation module at the 60-120 day bucket of delinquency, servicers will be able to route the right loan to the right person early on in the delinquency to insure optimal outcome for the loan.” Within the Loan Segmentation module, servicers will also be able to analyze key data variables from the loan and the borrower and combine it with market data and history, so that loans can be channeled through a retention or liquidation strategy. The end result is the optimum workout path based on the borrower, market and loan data accompanied by an NPV. With an increase in REO expected in 2011, Equator is offering an REO Segmentation module which can be used for managing disposition strategies for REO properties by analyzing market and property data, and producing the desired disposition path such as: Rental, hold, quick sale, repair, donate or auction. From there, the module

determines the expected net proceeds per disposition strategy to support its recommended disposition method. Equator’s third new product, an Invoice Management module, is now available for all existing Equator clients as well as companies seeking to leverage Equator’s industry expertise. Users will benefit from a full investor-based rules engine, enhanced communication between parties and a complete end-toend paper trail which provides unprecedented audit control. Users can also set auto-approval thresholds for the system to immediately approve invoices that fall within the pre-specified parameters, saving time and money.

LPS Applied Analytics Introduces Condition-Adjusted Valuation Model Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS) has announced the release of the ValueSure Condition Adjusted (VSCA) valuation model by its LPS Applied Analytics division. The model is among the first automated valuation model (AVM) products to comply with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines (IAG). The ValueSure Condition Adjusted valuation model is unique to the market in that, upon receipt of an order for a valuation, a licensed real estate agent is dispatched to physically review the property to determine whether or not its condition is consistent with that of neighborhood norms. Only when the licensed agent has made a judgment as to the property’s relative condition can the AVM be processed, and that information is taken into consideration to create a conditionadjusted valuation. In some cases, the property condition can be so poor as to disallow the use of an AVM at all. “The ValueSure Condition Adjusted valuation model goes beyond simply bundling a photograph of a property with a standard AVM,” said Dan Berman, president of LPS Applied Analytics. “And with regard to the new IAG, that’s just not sufficient. An AVM cannot simply assume that a given property is in average condition. To our knowledge, LPS’ Value Sure Condition Adjusted valuation model is the only AVM on the market that fully complies with the IAG.”

BrokerPriceOpinion.com Announces the Release of Repair Estimate With BPOs BrokerPriceOpinion.com, a provider of customized valuation solutions, has announced the availability of a new online repair cost estimator with its broker price opinion continued on page 33

By David Lykken

Conviction: A Key Ingredient of Leadership ship. One way to detect weak leadership is recognizing when someone is trying to still arrive at a consensus when it is time to take action. As a way to dramatically depict the differences between leadership by conviction versus consensus, I am going to use a classic movie, “The Poseidon Adventure.” This movie in and of itself is a leader. It was the first of a series of disaster movies. In it, Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine portray the importance of dealing with conflict while sticking to your convictions. There were some great lines in it. Another great example of a strong leader leading with conviction were the fables and legends of the Scottish folk hero/leader William Wallace as portrayed in the movie “Braveheart.” History provides us with other wellknown lessons in leadership by those that were led by strong personal convictions … the best of which might be George Washington. For example, did Washington try to build consensus amongst his troops, or did he command with the conviction? Of course, it was his convictions that led the way to victory, not a consensus amongst his troops. I am writing all of this to help you to recognize a “harsh” reality of our world today. Leaders today, more than ever, must have conviction; and managers must adopt those convictions as their own. While the strength of a conviction for any idea is vetted through some level of conflict (arguments, analysis and testing), once a decision has been reached, managers of that which has been decided must command others with the same conviction as if it were their own. The bigger/larger your organization is (i.e. the greater the laycontinued on page 38

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tion plan. Many, if not most, executives have been more concerned about trying to figure out what their competitors are doing rather than studying the regulation for themselves (vague as it may be) and arriving at a plan that will work for their loan originator all the while staying true to their own company’s goals and objectives. Can you see the difference? One is trying to establish a consensus, versus arriving at a conclusion and boldly leading with conviction. I am sure you have seen how many executives manage by consensus building believing it is the best approach. Management schools and books have taught the importance of listening to everyone’s point of view and “mirroring” their thoughts. But trying to “get everyone on the same page” and “marching to the same drum” isn’t going to cut it when the Fed’s provided no leadership or guidance. While there is a time and place for vetting things out and trying to gain a consensus, there also comes a time when a decision has to be made and that decision has to be executed with conviction and confidence. Too many are operating in fear of “losing their LOs,” so they are slow to act with conviction and are always trying to build a consensus. Strong people recognize strong leadership and will gravitate to strong leadership, especially in times of uncertainty. Those executives who portray strong character and strong convictions will draw the stronger LOs to their company. Those who “lead” by following a consensus will realize their fear by losing their better LOs. True leaders are not afraid of conflict! Leadership, almost by definition, involves conflict. An avoidance of conflict inherently implies a lack of leadership, or at a minimum, poor leader-

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plans. In that same February article, I predicted that the success or failure of any future LO compensation plan will have more to do with “leadership” (rolling out the plan) than the LO compensation plan itself. And as we have watched various companies roll out their respective compensation plans to their LOs, we have seen this to be an accurate prediction. For example, one rather large company made the decision to invite not only their own loan officers to the meeting where they rolled out their compensation plan, but they opened up the meeting and invited every originator in that city to come and listen to their compensation plan. Think about it, what a bold and confident statement this made in that market. Whether or not their plan was in fact the better plan, the way they rolled it out (it was done with conviction and confidence) was very well-received by all and established them as leaders in their particular market. Not only that, but they presented their plan in such a convincing way that not only were their own LOs sold on the plan, but a fair number of LOs outside of the company began to wonder if they shouldn’t consider making a move to this company. This is a good example how strong leadership led to a successful outcome and that it was more about leadership than the plan itself. Their gutsy way of rolling out their plan in full view of everyone in that market demonstrated their character and conviction. It further established themselves as leaders in that market. Mixed in to all this was an element of creativity that you have to admire. Now let me contrast the above story to what I see many are doing in the industry as it pertains to developing and rolling out their own compensa-

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When is “conviction” an important component of leadership? I guess you could ask the question this way: “When is it not?” The later is more rhetorical in nature. In times of uncertainty, who wants to follow some ‘wishy-washy’ indecisive “leader?” That is an oxymoron if there ever was one … an “indecisive leader.” This is especially true when uncertainty gives way to anxiety, fear and some level of panic. Times of crisis demand strong decisive leadership. I am writing this article the very week that the new Fed rule regulating loan originator compensation is scheduled to go into effect. I cannot think of a single issue that has stirred up more frustration, anger and anxiety than the Fed’s changes to loan originator compensation. Federal Reserve officials, who are supposed to provide leadership and guidance, have done nothing to help sort out this vaguely written convoluted “ball of tape” new rule. Their handling of this matter has been absolutely abysmal. Loan originators have been understandably concerned whether or not they can make the same level of income as they have in times past. Business owners and executives have had concerns that if they do not come up with the right compensation plan, they may lose their whole loan origination staff and watch their businesses fail. As a result of poor leadership from the Federal Reserve, there have been elevated levels of anxiety on both ends of the spectrum. As I pointed out in the January issue of National Mortgage Professional Magazine, our industry is in a serious leadership crisis. In February, I wrote about the importance of leadership as it relates to successfully launching the new loan originator compensation

Why the Future is Bound to be Paperless Paper is a nuisance today … tomorrow, it’s likely to be a compliance problem By Rene Rodriguez

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“My body had long since exhausted all its energy, but it went on running just the same. The physical overdraft came only from greater willpower. This was the crucial moment when my legs were strong enough to carry me over the last few yards, as they could never have done in previous years. With five yards to go, the tape seemed almost to recede. Would I ever reach it?” —Roger Banister describing his fourminute mile. “You cannot run a mile in under four minutes …” and “the world is flat …” are two very oft-cited examples of beliefs that were at one point in time believed to be true. I believe that in the near future, companies will look back and say, “How did we ever survive with all that paper to manage?” When I counsel companies about becoming more successful, I tell them that every step they take along the sales process must involve a deadline and a result. There is an outcome that must occur before we can call that step in the sales process complete. And until all of the steps have been completed, there is no sale. Not knowing the outcomes and managing the organization toward them leads to a lot of failure. In fact, I think that’s why the mortgage industry isn’t completely paperless already. Lenders have known the benefits of paperless lending for years now. Studies

have shown that paper in the mortgage lending process is one of the key drivers of higher costs and lower borrower satisfaction. We pay to buy paper, print on it, staple it to other sheets of paper and then file it away. We pay more when we have to replace the paper we cannot find or duplicate it to share with other parties. When sensitive borrower data is printed on the paper, we pay even more to have it shredded. And it’s not just money that lenders lose when they rely on paper, it’s time as well. Paper in the lending process has been shown to slow down the mortgage origination process by up to a week. We can calculate the cost of that in a different article. On the servicing side, the millions of pages of paper that have flooded into these firms from borrowers hoping for a loan modification have completely clogged up the system. Even the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) have been pushing lenders to get rid of the paper. Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been offering electronic mortgage products for years but, have had very little luck getting lenders to originate without paper. More recently, Fannie Mae has required that certain loan modifications be delivered electronically, using its SmartDoc Version 3. But the industry knows all of this. Lenders and servicers don’t want the paper any more than their investors

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made a bad deal. That freedom from want it. And yet, it’s still here. Why? Before I answer that, let me ask you a buyer’s remorse is a critical and important question: What is the outcome of a outcome for the borrower. From the borrower’s perspective, our paperless process? If you say an electronic mortgage, then you must be a industry has never done a good enough job of building trust on the lender, servicer or origipart of the borrower. When nator. Borrowers don’t the CFPB comes online, the know about electronic government will step in as mortgages, and they honthe primary protector of the estly don’t really care borrower in financial transabout them. actions. What’s the outcome of When that happens, it a paperless mortgage for a will quickly become clear mortgage borrower? An that while a borrower may electronic signature pad, a be able to read through a handshake and a couple few dozen disclosures before hundred thousand dollars signing at the closing table, in debt? Not a very attractive outcome from that “Lenders have known the CFPB will not be capable perspective, is it? the benefits of paper- of reading through the many millions of loan files in The reason we have less lending for years order to ensure that conthree to five inches of now. Studies have sumers are being protected. paper in the typical loan shown that paper in Of course, they won’t have file is to convince the borthe mortgage lending to. rower that they are getting process is one of the MortgageDashboard and a fair deal and to prove to key drivers of higher the other leading loan origregulators that all of the costs and lower borination software (LOS) information has been disrower satisfaction.” providers can easily send closed to the borrower electronic loan files to the before the loan was closed. In fact, the reason that regulators CFPB for review. In fact, I wouldn’t be surrequire more paper disclosures in each prised if the government makes it mandaloan file is because they believe lenders tory that loan origination systems provide a cannot be trusted to be honest with bor- window into their databases for governrowers without the paper. Why would a ment access. In fact, the GSEs have already begun making data standards available to borrower give this up? For years, the industry has argued make that easier to accomplish. If borrowers know that the governthat more paper disclosures do not make for a better lending process any ment is watching every transaction, more than it guarantees that bad actors they’ll feel as confident about taking won’t take advantage of borrowers. out a loan as they do about buying a After the financial crash, that message new deck at a home improvement may have finally hit home. While it’s store. When that happens, an electronnot yet clear what regulations the new ic keypad and a smile is all they’ll feel Consumer Financial Protection Bureau like they need to finance their next (CFPB) will require, one thing is sure … home and the high cost and lost time the government is putting a watchdog that comes with paper-based lending on our industry because it believes we will go away. cannot be trusted. This will eventually Rene Rodriguez is chief executive officer lead to a paperless lending process. Lenders haven’t gone paperless in the of MortgageDashboard, a Web-based, onpast because the paper was the govern- demand loan origination software built ment’s method of keeping the industry on the Software as a Service (SaaS) model. honest. If the borrower didn’t walk out of Rene is a renowned behavioral, leaderthe closing room with that stack of paper, ship and organizational change expert, they couldn’t really be sure that the gov- world-class sales trainer and dynamic ernment had done its job, that the lender keynote speaker. For more information, had done its job and that they hadn’t just visit www.SeeReneSpeak.com.

Going Paperless: The Technology is Ready … the People Are Not By Chris Knowlton

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that slows them down. On the other hand, your more tech-savvy employees might love to be used as paperless test pilots. Be prepared to have a system that can accommodate both. Pairing up an old school salesperson with a tech wiz processor is a great way to move your office in a paperless direction without alienating your top producers. Think the plan through and talk it over before unplugging the printers. An even more difficult factor to asses is your customer’s desire to deal with a paperless process. In my experience, it is best to ask upfront, make this part of your sales pitch, letting the customer know you can take care of them either way. A younger first-time homebuyer might love to hear that they can upload all of their documents to your Web site 24 hours a day. Your older buyers might see this as a less trustworthy way of processing a transaction of this magnitude. If you are able to easily accommodate both these types of customers, it will only serve to bring you more business. The mortgage company I work for is no exception to that mix of loan officers who believe and embrace a paperless system and those who don’t quite accept it yet. Loan Officer Allen Davis has been in the business for 28 years and is somewhat of a skeptic. He’s not completely against it and he did admit that he can see it working in the future, but it will take some major improvements to the system. One major problem Davis runs into is the actual technology aspect of the whole process. To him, relying on fax machines to send in documents can create unwanted problems. This is problem number one when it comes to a paperless world. “Before we get totally into this, we need to get partners or these companies we work with to be into it,” Davis said. “And the problem is not all the partners in the system are set up to go paperless.” Problem number two comes from the other side, customers. He has run into customers who are hesitant to send their personal information that appears on those documents over the Internet, for fear that it could end up

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I could set up a paperless mortgage shop for you if you’d like one. I have all kinds of tools at my disposal. Adobe has made massive strides in the past few years and I can use bar codes, e-folders, iPads, tablets, netbooks, secure document sharing and turning a widescreen monitor sideways is one of my favorites. I can set up your copier/scanner/fax/printer so that never spits out a single piece of paper again … toner is for suckers! Yes, I could do that all for you and yes some of your team will embrace it and use it and probably become mostly paper-free. Year to date, I have only printed 23 pages, an office joke that is kept as a tally sheet near one of our many printers, printers that crank out hundreds, if not thousands, of pages per day. The rest of your team is going to keep printing and printing and printing. Stopping them would be a bad idea for your business. There are two main things preventing you from going paperless. The first is your employees and the second is your customers. Pushing a paperless process on either of those groups if they are not ready will hurt your production. You have to take this slow, and as a techie, I have come to this conclusion the hard way, but I think it is the correct approach. I started going to mortgage industry conferences when I joined this business about 15 years ago and there were sessions talking about going paperless and e-signatures. Fifteen years later, there are still the same sessions talking about how to do the same thing. We are still having this same conversations, in fact, this very magazine is still asking if it’s possible, and asking if e-mortgages are a myth. Make no mistake, going paperless is entirely possible, you just have to do it slowly (and we sure have that mastered as an industry), and you have to do it on an individual basis. You need to gage the willingness of your employees, especially the sales and processing departments, to use the tools that make a paperless mortgage possible. Understand that you might be working against the muscle memory of a 20-year mortgage sales veteran who will only see this as something

in the wrong hands. He also pointed opinion it will make life easier for out the customers need to have access everyone. “The process, once you learn it, is a to a high tech scanner or fax machine lot quicker and more efficient because to get those documents to the right you don’t have to mail or overnight a people. However, Davis isn’t too worried document to a customer and wait for about his day-to-day operations even them to get it and return it,” Flores said. “Ultimately, it will with a paperless system. help the loan get pushed He still believes people through much quicker.” are going to want to meet Ultimately, she thinks face-to-face and have the the reluctant side of this security of knowing who debate will realize that they are dealing with and the customers are getting making sure all of their younger and they use options are explored. He technology much more in explained how our industheir everyday lives, they try is very similar to our will want to work with friends in the real estate someone who will appeal business. Customers can to their lifestyle and orignow go online and look inators will have no at photos of a house and “Make no mistake, choice if they want to see where it is, but in very going paperless is stay in business. few cases will someone entirely possible, you Going paperless is buy a house without just have to do it easy, on paper. As you actually being inside and slowly (and we sure can see, both sides have seeing it in person. We have that mastered pros and cons, which can become very technoas an industry), and make it even harder. Just logically advanced, but in you have to do it on make sure your plans fit his mind, the old school your business model and version of the mortgage an individual basis.” you will have some sucprocess will still be the cess, keep the long-term same. In order to get a complete range of goal in mind, and remember that this opinions on this subject, it’s impor- is a generational change, not a turntant to also talk to the future of this key process that you can drop into industry, those who are just starting place in a short time. in the business. As someone who is new to my company, Teresa Flores is Chris Knowlton is vice president of techalready, as you can imagine, a big nology and marketing of Inlanta Mortgage. He manages all aspects of the supporter of idea of paperless. She believes as the younger gener- company’s IT infrastructure, building the ations start to become homebuyers, company up from four local branches in appealing to their tech savvy ways is 1996 to a regional mortgage company. only going to help in gaining that He manages more than 150 users in 28 competitive advantage. However, she offices in 13 states with a staff of two help does see the obstacle of “teaching an desk analysts. He may be reached by eold dog new tricks” to her fellow sea- mail at chrisknowlton@inlanta.com or soned originators, but stands by the call (262) 672-4575.

Help Clients Go Green With FHA By Jeff Mifsud

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When you think of “going green” with EEM allows either constructing a home or mortgages … you likely wouldn’t think of retrofitting a home, with high-efficiency Federal Housing Administration (FHA) heating and cooling systems, insulation, loans. So it might come as a bit of a surprise windows, doors and roofing, any of which will result in energy that FHA can, in fact, be conservation. used as a great tool, giving This is a truly remarkable your clients a real advantage program for homeowners if they want to be a green who wish to weatherize their homeowner (GH)! home to make it more enerThere are two aspects gy efficient. For example, if to “going green.” The first your clients are purchasing a is with respect to the conhome, they can finance the servation of energy; the cost of new storm windows, second is with the use of storm doors, thermostats non-toxic building mateand insulation. However … rials. The conservation of this program isn’t a free for energy saves on heating “With high forecloall; it has to make sense (and and cooling costs, while cents), and the “energy packthe use of non-toxic sure numbers, the age” must be determined by materials is very impor203k is ‘THE LOAN’ tant for health and envi- which can significant- a Home Energy Rating Systems (HERS) report (this ronmental reasons. On ly reduce the time can be performed by a local the other hand, an energy required to purge the utility company). Though inefficient home increasthis may seem like a complies overall costs, while the market of real estateowned (REO) and cated program, you’ll discovuse of toxic materials can bank-owned stock.” er it really isn’t once you damage health and actustudy the guidelines more ally create serious health problems like asthma, allergies, skin thoroughly and work with an underwriter issues, headaches, eye irritation and with experience reviewing EEMs. dizziness. Needless to say, if these conditions are pre-existing, such materials The 203k Rehabilitation will only serve to exacerbate them. It is mortgage quite synchronistic that, as I was writ- FHA’s 203k Rehabilitation mortgage ing this section on toxic materials, I was allows a borrower to purchase or refiexperiencing a slight headache, irritat- nance a home, while at the same time, ed eyes, lethargy and quite a bit of financing the costs of renovation to the sneezing. I couldn’t figure out why, as I property. While you may not think about clearly didn’t have a cold. When I the “K” as being a green mortgage, the fact opened the door of my office, I discov- is it’s what the investor or homebuyer ered that the building management does with the money that determines its had torn down drywall in the offices status. For example, the renovation can surrounding mine, and the drywall utilize non-toxic building materials such dust was circulating through the vents! as non-VOC (volatile organic compounds) So I can personally vouch for the accu- paints; sealants that contain polyether rather than urethane or silicone bases; racy of those statements! With these two green paths, the FHA plywood that is free of formaldehyde; and has two programs that can assist a GH: natural clay plaster for walls instead of The Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM), drywall (gypsum board). In this way, the and the 203k Rehabilitation loan. The “K” can become the “Green K,” and help a purpose of this article is not to train borrower create a much healthier enviyou in the EEM or the 203k, but rather, ronment for the family living in the propgive you an idea of how these loans can erty. As more research comes to light conhelp your FHA clients go green with cerning the impact of the toxic materials used in building materials, consumers will homeownership. be opting to go greener when the time for renovation comes along. The FHA Energy Efficient The 203k’s potential in this market is Mortgage The EEM is designed to help homebuyers huge. In my opinion, it is one of the or homeowners save money on energy most important products available to costs by allowing them to finance them help the housing industry recover. With high foreclosure numbers, the the costs of installing energy-efficiency 203k is “THE LOAN” which can significantsystems (to a new or existing home) through a purchase or refinance. The ly reduce the time required to purge the

market of real estate-owned (REO) and bank-owned stock. Not only would the REO stock move faster, but the banks could sell their REOs for higher prices. How? The condition of a typical REO property is often quite poor, and the typical homebuyer doesn’t have the cash to fix it up. As a result, the banks need to sell the property for a serious bargain in order to attract investors with the cash to renovate it. Enter the “K.” Now, a homeowner can move into a totally renovated home, the bank gets full market price for their REO, and thus, mitigates the loss they have to take on the current mortgage. (In February 2007, I wrote an article about the 203k loan making the same claim. I realize this is a tangent from the green topic, but I mention it whenever I can to create more awareness among mortgage loan originators and lenders about the potential impact the 203k can have on our housing market!) From a marketing standpoint, imagine if you became expert in these programs. Consider how you would stand out from your competition! You could walk into any real estate office and talk about these

products and create real excitement because of the great benefits these loans offer homebuyers. However, a word of caution! If you want to make this an FHA niche for yourself, do not do this alone; team up with an experienced MLO who can guide you through the learning curve! Most real estate agents and buyers have nightmarish stories to blog about because they worked with incompetent MLOs who had no idea what they doing! If you don’t have someone in your office that knows these loans, then do a Web search for experts outside of your market, and pay them to mentor you in these powerful programs. Your investment will more than likely pay for itself quickly as you establish yourself as an expert in your market. Go FHA! Jeff Mifsud is founder of Michigan-based Mortgage Seminars LLC, a former FHA underwriter with 15-plus years of experience originating FHA loans, an FHA expert for LoanToolbox.com and creator of The FHA Originator, a monthly FHA newsletter. Jeff may be reached by phone at (248) 403-8181 or visit www.MortgageSeminars.com.

Three Ways Your LOS Can Help You Go “Green” By BJ Bounds

As the nation strives to conserve its natural resources, the push for paperless offices has spanned many industries. The mortgage industry is not immune to this push. In the past several years, we have seen the development of electronic signatures along with the technological advances in loan origination systems (LOS) that reduce the need for hard storage. For many of us, losing the tactile comfort of papers in stacks of file folders is like a child learning to go without a treasured security blanket … we just don’t want to let go. But like the initial torture and gradual nodding acceptance of a new healthy diet, going paperless is a smart lifestyle choice. Eventually, even if we are not ready for it, technology catches up to all of us. Just look at the statistics on social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter. Facebook users aged 55 and over were the fastest growing demographic from January 2009 to January 2010. According to an istrategylabs.com report, the growth for that age group was 922.7 percent! At the same time, growth for new Facebook users 25-34 was 328.1 percent.

Like the meteoric growth of social media, paperless loan origination and processing is no longer a vision for the future. It’s happening now. More and more elements of a mortgage loan’s life cycle are relegated to hard drives and cyberspace. The efficiencies of a paperless loan go beyond speed and organization; enabling compliance with constantly changing industry regulations is very important. Become a green mortgage office, or even just a semi-paperless office, is just a few clicks away. Your LOS can help you go green with three significant, yet simple, features that will keep you efficient, compliant and organized.

Electronic document management For mortgage professionals with a current LOS platform, making the move toward the green spectrum can start with using the electronic document management system within the platform. Great advances have been made to make it easier to scan documents or receive them by e-mail and get them assigned to the right loan and in an

you can simply import them into your actually save money, time, and as an LOS and e-mail them to the contacts in added bonus, the environment. your database—also stored within your Often, we think of the upfront expense LOS! Sometimes it is easy being green. of “going green” in our personal lives. The first things that may come to mind are Green saves green solar panels, windmill projects and other Even if the thought of saving trees isn’t initiatives that can be particularly costenough incentive to pursue a “green” prohibitive. With the mortgage industry, office, the financial and business advan- it’s quite the opposite. Becoming a papertages to going “paperless” are undisput- less or semi-paperless office has no ed. Technology has sped up our lives— upfront costs if you already have an LOS. making even the most mundane tasks And most of your clients will appreciate into the merest of annoyances that can the opportunity to do business with you be dispensed within minutes. Think in the manner in which they accustomed about how we used to job hunt. The in all other aspects of their lives. Going days of purchasing expensive linen green with your LOS—it’s simply more paper, trying hard to produce an error- convenient, efficient and cost-effective. free typed history, and buying hundreds of stamps, are long gone. Today, it’s a B.J. Bounds is senior marketing commumatter of hitting the send button on nications specialist for Calyx Software. In multiple job postings on the Internet. addition to media relations and copyNo more paper needed. writing, BJ is a contributing author to the Similarly, running a loan office does- Calyx Software blog, CalyxCorner. She n’t need to be a lesson in office supply has more than 10 years of experience in jail. With an updated LOS, it is no longer sales and corporate marketing with a essential to spend your money on file focus on technology that spans several folders, cabinets, ink/toner, paper, industries. She may be reached by phone sticky notes, and highlighters. Instead, at (800) 362-2599 or visit www.calyxsoftwith a paperless, green office, you can ware.com. 31

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order that makes sense. The ability to ly mandated original signature forms organize and instantly access files at will make audits a breeze. It’s all any time and from any place speaks about efficiency. volumes about the convenience and The efficiency you get from ordering efficiency of a paperless office. services directly from your LOS is twoDocument management within your fold. You are saving yourself time and LOS can be so much more efficient than effort and a few trees. maintaining paper files. When you order through Dragging documents from your LOS, you save the your hard drive, or even same things for your venyour e-mail’s inbox, and dors—and you get everydropping them directly into thing back into your LOS your LOS ensures you have and in the appropriate the most current documents loan file. So you also gain ready to go at a moment’s efficiency in organization notice. Documents can be as well. No filing necesarranged in multiple particsary! Using your built-in ular orders—packaged in interfaces increases the any order for convenience effectiveness of your docuor necessity. Underwriters ment management system “For many of us, loscan flag documents as because your documents ing the tactile comapproved for easy sorting are packaged in one place fort of papers in and processing later. for you to see and Keep up with docu- stacks of file folders is process—and in the order ments already received as like a child learning you need it for each stakewell as documents you to go without a treas- holder who expects to still need from your bor- ured security blanket receive it. The convenrowers using tracking and … we just don’t want ience is amazing. checklist capabilities. You to let go. But like the can then e-mail directly Effective green initial torture and from your LOS to request marketing gradual nodding the needed documents Convenience is the premacceptance of a new and that will be recorded ise behind the third applialso. You always know healthy diet, going cation of your LOS—effecwhat’s going on within tive, green marketing. paperless is a smart your loan pipeline, and Marketing does not have lifestyle choice.” you never have to drive to be time-consuming or back to the office to find a cumbersome. You don’t file—it’s all right there at your fingertips! necessarily need boxes of flyers printed if they’re going to be sitting in your office Third-party service waiting for the right time or opportunity providers to be distributed. Your LOS can be the And whatever is right at your fingertips tool you need for fast and effective maris going to be the most efficient for you. keting. Such is the case with third-party venJust as e-mail communications with dors built into your LOS. They’re right your borrowers and vendors has there; they save you time and effort; become the expected avenue, there is and they require no additional paper! no reason your marketing cannot folWhat more can you ask for? low the same progress. Receiving colorUsing the services providers that ful print materials in this technological interface directly with your LOS is one age is nice, but some generations now of the most “green” things you can do just don’t expect it, or particularly have with your LOS. Besides saving paper, an affinity for it. Green marketing you’re saving countless annual hours begins with a personalized Web site in rekeying data and correcting errors. that offers online applications. Enable Sending loan data from your LOS online applications on your Web site means that you can order your closing that link directly to your LOS and you docs, flood certifications, your tax ver- have paperless 1003 Applications that ifications, and your credit scores— drop directly into your LOS as a new whatever you need—within seconds. loan file. An integrated system also No re-typing loan data; no faxing back allows you to communicate status to and forth; no wasted time; and you your borrowers without the need for have visible documentation within printing or mailing. Bi-directional comyour software that your orders were munication is quick and easy. placed, when they were placed and by For personal and direct marketing whom. Almost all of your loan pro- outreach, all you need is your LOS and cessing can be done through inter- Microsoft Word. You can create your flyfaced vendors without paper. Saving ers or newsletter templates in Word as your cabinet space for the few federal- usual, but instead of printing them out,

The Color of Money is Getting Greener By Dain Ehring

APRIL 2011

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There’s an old joke that nothing generates more paper than plans to take an office—or an industry—paperless. There’s more than a little truth to that cruel irony as the mortgage industry, no doubt one of the world’s most paper-intensive businesses, can attest. Yet at present, the world is aligning in such a way as to suggest that real progress is possible. Today, e-mortgages, wholly electronic and digitally signed loans, are gaining traction. Fannie Mae currently owns more than 150,000 e-mortgages, and while that number is still small in the universe of all outstanding mortgages, there is industry momentum building. In the past two years, four major banks and a host of industry pundits and organizations aside from Fannie Mae have come onboard to support the adoption of the fully paperless mortgage. Not only is it good business, but an absolute necessity in an era where the amount of data being handled is increasing exponentially with each new regulation. But e-mortgages still have a ways to go—not on the technology and consumer demand side—but on the legislative infrastructure side. The fact is that e-mortgages are still not legally recognized in most states. So what are banks doing in the meantime to achieve the transparency, efficiency and lower costs required in a post-meltdown era? There are three significant drivers flowing out of the crisis that provide considerable support for advocates of a mortgage origination process that is, if not paper-free, at least more streamlined. First is the simple matter of efficiency. Banks have seen the margins on many of their products eroded by markets and regulatory reform, and are being pressured on all sides to manage costs. In an era of vanilla loans and increasing transactional complexity, staying in the mortgage lending business is becoming virtually impossible for all but the best capitalized, or the tenacious and innovative. If your margins have been cut in half, but so have your costs, then you are staying competitive. Shave off another halfpoint due to efficiencies, and the lender is not only surviving, but thriving. Less paper equals less overhead and a smoother process from lead to funded loan, all the way to securitization. Fewer warehouses, fewer people, shorter audits—the benefits are significant. Second is the need to look at the big-

ger picture. As the crisis revealed, having divergent risk profiles within the bank can not only take down the house, but the entire world economy. Today, the retail side of the house is going to ensure that mortgage operations are in line with the overall bank in terms of its risk profile. Particularly for the big banks, brand matters and mortgage operations will be scrutinized closely for any practices that could hurt the retail side’s relationship with the consumer. As such, a wholly electronic and paperless process enables not only a faster and easier way to process data and transaction services, but also provides the bank with a centralized and transparent view of what is actually going on in the organization. Add to that the ability to analyze the data on different levels to assess your risk profile, the flexibility to implement regulatory changes through the entire supply chain, and the value of a completely digital process becomes evident and priceless. Third is the increasing globalization of the world’s financial markets and the distributed workforce. Today, a lender can have loan officers and other mortgage agents in all 50 states. Tomorrow, it’s not unreasonable to believe that this same lender will have offices in Canada and in the United Kingdom and beyond where the officers are processing loans into the U.S. market. This scenario means multiple regulations across multiple cultures/languages—a paper pusher’s nightmare or a seamless process in an electronic world.

Benefits of the cloud Smart documents and other technologies that support an electronic transaction world continue to emerge. But the platform by which all of these solutions can be combined seamlessly, served and consumed can only live in the clouds. The sheer scale of the data, analytics and distributed workforce would make any wired solution unworkable. It may seem that cloud-based computing is being held out as a solution to nearly every problem, everywhere. But while there has no doubt been a surfeit of hype in some quarters, the cloud can nonetheless be a powerful tool and has a significant role to play in the greening of the mortgage industry. Moving to the cloud has the effect of increasing efficiencies all along the value chain, from origination through secondary marketing, eliminating paper and improving

workflow, to say nothing of the vastly processes will continue to pay dividends— enhanced fraud detection and con- and save trees—as loans are packaged sumer protection methods that can be and sold in the secondary market. added to a cloud-based system. Moreover, cloud solutions can be con- The next generation of sumed economically by lenders large and borrowers small—in a private cloud model for large The digital generation continues to age banks with custom sysand increase in influence, tems, and in a multi-tendisrupting all manner of ant model for lower-tier business models along the lenders. way. Music, books and Because cloud-based newspapers have all felt data can be made available the extraordinary impact anywhere, anytime, agents of individuals who have are no longer compelled to been raised on computers go into to the office everyand are just as comfortday, cutting down on travel able online as they are off. time. Documents can be A-26-year-old billionaire shared electronically across runs a cloud-based service departments and regions, that is used by an estimat“Less paper equals cutting down on the need ed eight percent of the less overhead and a for faxing and overnight world’s population. Any shipping. business that fails to recsmoother process Further impetus for ognize these trends and from lead to funded dramatic change is providadapt to them will be loan, all the way to ed by the foreclosure probsteamrolled. securitization.” lems currently bedeviling There is no reason to lenders. Here, the benefits believe that mortgage that accrue from creating and capturing lending—or all consumer lending or an electronic audit trail are potentially indeed the entire financial services unihuge. While the headlines surrounding verse—will be any different. While the the foreclosure process have been unre- nature of the purchase—its magnitude lentingly negative, exactly what percent- and its centrality to psychological wellage of foreclosures is afflicted by poor being—makes a home loan unique, paperwork is unclear, though it is likely to future borrowers are likely to be much be relatively modest when all is said and more comfortable with doing business done. Nonetheless, the inability to find electronically than their predecessors original loan documents and to be able to ever were and may, in many cases, view verify signatures is creating major as archaic those lenders that continue headaches for the industry. The present to rely on a paper-based process. process is both paper- and labor-intenWill buyers find a cloud-focused sive, involving boxes of documents and, “green” lender to have a more comin many cases the need to send agents pelling sales proposition than one of its out to warehouses and storage facilities less eco-friendly counterparts? Perhaps to physically retrieve and copy files. not on its own, but in tandem with other Origination systems exist now that actions a lender may be taking it can can generate both time- and role- serve to create a differentiated position stamped electronic documents for the in the marketplace. As noted, this is likelender. This greatly facilitates the ability ly to have particular appeal to the up to reconstruct both the timeline and the and coming generation of borrowers. steps involved in a loan, while assigning That, of course, is where the future lies. individual responsibilities for each phase of the lending process. These doc- Dain Ehring is chief executive officer and uments are stored electronically, rather founder of CoreLogic Dorado. Before than as reams of paper, and, like other founding Dorado, Ehring was director of cloud-based materials, can be accessed market development and strategic sales securely from anywhere by individuals for JavaSoft, Sun Microsystems’ Internet with the appropriate clearance. company. Prior to joining JavaSoft, he There are further, less obvious, poten- was VP of worldwide sales and services tial “green” benefits from moving to the at Lighthouse Design Ltd., an applicacloud. It becomes, for example, much eas- tions developer later acquired by Sun. ier to integrate quality control and other Ehring has also held a variety of senior analytics right into the lending process. management roles at NeXT Computers, Again, this saves time, money, energy, and, IBM and Unisys. He holds a master’s frequently, paper when the lender avoids degree in space physics from UCLA and generating multiple iterations of loan doc- worked at NASA before moving to the ument to correct mistakes. private sector. He may be reached by Once the current foreclosure crisis is phone at (650) 227-7300 or e-mail comput to rest, an investment in cloud-based petitiveadvantage@dorado.com.

new to market

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(BPO) services. Available as an add-on to the BPO, this turn-key tool generates accurate repair estimates in minutes for real estateowned (REO) properties, short sales and other properties. Currently, all BPOs have a section for repair costs, which means that real estate brokers conducting a BPO are expected to have the knowledge to make estimates of repair costs. This results in hundreds of thousands of dollars being lost because of poor repair estimates. The online BPO tool covers the full range of interior and exterior repair cost and maintenance estimates for bankowned properties, including lawn mowing, winterization, board-ups, replacement of appliances, debris removal, and patio and driveway repairs. It creates consistent repair and maintenance reports with prices for labor and materials localized down to five-digit zip codes. The tool meets or exceeds Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) compliance guidelines for local repair cost estimates and is compliant with new governmentsponsored enterprise (GSE) and interagency valuation requirements. “With the repair cost estimate add-on, we can provide our clients with a more comprehensive inventory of repairs that will help them determine accurate short sale and REO pricing,” said Walt Coats, chief executive

officer of BrokerPriceOpinion.com. “REO inventories will continue to swell for many months ahead as more foreclosures emerge from the shadow inventory. Banks, investors and other institutions quickly need to get a handle of their REO repair and maintenance costs that apply to the diverse properties, neighborhoods and markets represented in their portfolios.”

ISGN Integrates Its LoanSifter Product Into MORvision’s LOS ISGN, a provider of end-to-end technology solutions and services to the U.S. mortgage industry, has partnered with LoanSifter, a provider of product and pricing technology for community banks, credit unions, mortgage bankers and mortgage brokers to offer MORvison’s first integrated loan product and pricing engine through the MORvision Plug-In Partner Network. LoanSifter provides lenders with automatically updated, realtime pricing, adjustments and eligibility guidelines on over 160 correspondent and wholesale investors. The unique bi-directional integration enables MORvision customers to set up and maintain loan originator compensation plans, meeting the latest Regulation Z requirements, and obtain loan product and

pricing information directly from within MORvision. The integration results in loan originator (LO) compensation compliant investor product and pricing data, improved efficiencies, and reduced errors. LoanSifter’s product and pricing engine (PPE) ensures that MORvision lenders deliver the most competitive loan offer to borrowers without cutting corners on accuracy. The integrated solution also leverages LoanSifter’s extensive secondary marketing platform to allow for locking loans, applying lock extensions, etc., which is all reflected in MORvision in real-time. Prior to this integration with LoanSifter, MORvision customers faced the challenge of maintaining control of originating, pricing and locking loans in a market that is sometimes volatile, while trying to avoid duplicate data entry between the loan origination system and the loan product and pricing engine. The LoanSifter integration facilitates effective communication between loan officers and secondary marketing professionals with a suite of tools to include a webbased portal, pipeline management, loan eligibility and pricing, secondary lock desk and rate sheet generator for accurate pricing and product information.

DRI Management Systems Releases New REO Management Solution DRI Management Systems Inc., a provider of default process management software, has announced the release of Version 1.4 of

its flagship technology, adding new functionality with several new modules to help servicers achieve increased success in servicing defaulting mortgages. Previously known by its development code name “Rincon” and now officially relabeled “DRI Office,” the platform represents the next level in technology specifically created to relieve mortgage servicers’ workloads and dramatically improve their results. Until now, DRI’s platform had modules providing automation for loss mitigation, bankruptcy, foreclosure and real estateowned (REO) properties. The new version of DRI Office includes: A litigation module and model office workflow; an administration module with the ability to track any process with a servicers’ custom workflows; a services ordering module for automated ordering of credit, valuations (such as AVMs, BPOs and full appraisals), field services, IRS Form 4506-Ts, Social Security Number verifications and other services; an enterprise content management system referred to as the Bulletin Board, which can display important messages and store notes indexed to workflow or specific documents, as well as handling other critical documents and images; and DRI Broker, which integrates an online communications capability with the DRI Office platform to address the needs of both the asset manager and the R/E Broker. “In addition to the current volume of delinquencies and defaults, capacity planning issues have made life continued on page 34

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Olrich, DRI’s founder and chief executive officer. “Fortunately, these technology tools servicers require have evolved greatly, culminating with this release of DRI Office.”

continued from page 33

more complicated for servicers,” said Fred Melgaard, DRI’s executive vice president. “DRI Office takes a huge burden off servicers by accelerating processes and keeping their most experienced people from getting bogged down.” DRI Office is the result of 25-plus years of experience with default management technology, and was engineered to solve real-world problems being faced every day by mortgage loan servicers. To achieve this next-generation level of productivity, workflow processes had to be built based on solid

domain expertise and with robust capabilities for servicer customization. Userdefined business rules and task automation had to be easily crafted to reflect preferred business practices among each servicer, whether handling primary loan service functions or highly niched ones such as those performed by specialty servicers. “Main servicing platforms were never designed to provide specialized default processes, and servicers need sophisticated capabilities to deal with defaults more than ever before,” said Duke

Essent Guaranty Announces New Clarity of Coverage Transparency Program Essent Guaranty Inc. has announced that its mortgage insurance (MI) coverage will be enhanced by Clarity of Coverage. Clarity of Coverage is an endorsement to the company’s new master policy that gives insured lenders and policy beneficiaries unprecedented confidence that mortgage insurance

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claims will be processed in a transparent manner and evaluated fairly. Clarity of Coverage reduces lenders’ exposure to MI claims being unfairly denied for immaterial misrepresentations, underwriting errors, and missing documents. Essent’s Clarity of Coverage is applicable to every loan the company insures for the life of the coverage. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have approved the Essent Master Policy with Clarity of Coverage endorsements for use in connection with loans sold to them. “We’ve listened to lenders’ concerns that they want to be confident that their mortgage insurance claims will be handled fairly and paid timely by Essent. Our fresh approach to doing business includes early identification of risk issues, an exceptionally strong capital base to stand behind our policies, and now Clarity of Coverage,” said Mark Casale, president and chief executive officer of Essent Guaranty. “By offering Clarity of Coverage as an endorsement to our master policy, we have made a binding commitment to fair practices in mortgage insurance. With Clarity of Coverage, lenders can be confident that the benefits of Essent insurance will be there when needed.”

United Mortgage Services Expands Its Offerings With New Collateral Valuation Report

APRIL 2011

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Pulling your hair out with other lenders?

REMN’s Sales and Operations team gives you - and your loans - the time and attention you deserve. Even better, at REMN, same-day approvals are guaranteed.* You can rely on us to get the little, yet vital, things taken care of on time. When you have REMN to send your loans to, why pull your hair out with other lenders? *Same-day decisions guaranteed if file is received by 11 a.m. EST.

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United Mortgage Services (UMS) has announced that it will be offering its clients the new Collateral Valuation Report (CVR). The CVR, developed by Bradford Technologies, is a unique valuation product that is as accurate as a traditional appraisal, but can be produced quicker and at a lower cost. Expanding its service offerings to include the CVR allows United Mortgage Services’ franchise affiliates to further expand and diversify their client base, in addition to better meeting their existing clients’ on going needs of reducing risk and expediting overall process times. “Lenders are beginning to realize the financial risks of using real estate agents and brokers to provide property valuations,” said Mark Megehee, chief executive officer of UMS. “The CVR doesn’t carry those risks because it is performed by rigorously trained, independent, state-approved appraisers with thousands of hours of local experience. This product will be a big risk reducer for the lending community.” The CVR is a statistically supported property appraisal report that incorporates regression analytics. Up to 500 sales with a three-year sales history may be analyzed during this process. The report may only be completed by a licensed and trained appraiser using Bradford Technologies’ new computeraided appraisal software. The most recent version of the CVR, to be released in March, now includes an interior inspection option. It is a fully compliant with the Uniform Standards continued on page 39

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We picked a company who shared our "core values" of ﬁnding the best mortgage solutions for our clients. Frost has what we need. - Roxanne Baggett, Lake Charles, LA

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“In my 7 years of Branch Management I have never seen such a well oiled management team as I have working with Frost. I can’t wait to see my team’s production numbers in 2011!” - Mark Sipe, Cincinnati, OH

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Foundation Financial Group www.ffg.com Going green isn't an option—it is a responsibility and a moral requirement. We believe that our environmental footprint isn't just ours. We have a moral responsibility in our actions that are inclusive to everyone around us. By going "green," we'll do our part. We're not completely paperless in our green efforts, but we're diligently making many efforts to become so.

VanDyk Mortgage Corpor ation strives to be paperless and allows some employees to work remotely from hom e further helping their ind ividual footprints. Paper is used minimally as all transactions are web based and many offices are 100% paperless.

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We have go ne green to be good corpor ate citizens and improve effic iencies. In an effort to en sure that w e are 100% pa perless, we are developi ng our LOS system for loan applications to be taken and signed electronically on an iPad.

Total Mortgage Services www.TotalMortgage.com Total Mortgage has transformed itself into a paperless operation. We replaced all incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient and environmentally friendly fluorescent light bulbs. All electronics, such as computers, monitors, printers and cell phones are responsibly recycled.

APRIL 2011

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Green Internet marketing allows us to reach a targeted audience with little to no cash investment. Many assume that to be "green" means you're some environmental activist. Being green in our case means embracing technology and cloud computing to streamline our business. Sure, we save plenty of trees being paperless, we are also faster, more efficient and more effective serving our clients.

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forward on reverse

continued from page 26

should discuss it at the loan interview. How should you begin this delicate yet necessary conversation? Let’s try this question: Mrs. Akuna, at FreeFloat Bank, helping you think through financial issues is a priority. The FIT paper from counseling says out-of-pocket healthcare expenses will eat up your cash. How about looking into ways to stretch cash from your reverse mortgage so that you can stay at home longer?*

This question could get a reality-testing conversation going and give the prospect and the loan officer opportunity to revisit how out-of-pocket healthcare costs could burn-through her cash, as well as solutions to the out-ofpocket problem. Let’s say the prospect came to the loan interview leaning toward a fixedrate product for its promise of interestrate stability. The conversation could help both prospect and loan officer to look at the growing-creditline/variablerate HECM option, where the growth feature might act as a cost-inflation hedge. While health or ill-health is not a factor in reverse mortgage underwriting, there are ill-health-related financial risks that seniors and lenders

should be aware of. Out-of-pocket healthcare costs burn-through risk is one of them. *Please give me your feedback on the strengths and weaknesses of this question as well as your suggestions for improvement. You may post your comments or send me an e-mail to atare@thinkreverse.com. Thanks, Atare … Atare E. Agbamu is author of Think Reverse! and more than 140 articles on reverse mortgages. Since 2002, he writes the nationally-distributed column, “Forward on Reverse.” A former director of reverse mortgages at Minneapolisbased AdvisorNet Mortgage LLC, Agbamu has years of hands-on experience marketing and originating reverse mortgages. Through his advisory, ThinkReverse LLC, Agbamu advises financial professionals, institutions and regulators across the country. In a 2007 national report on reverse mortgages, AARP cited Agbamu’s work. He can be reached by phone at (612) 203-9434 and e-mail at atare@thinkreverse.com. Visit author Atare E. Agbamu’s blog at thinkreverse.com for his thoughts and insights on the reverse mortgage marketplace.

Bay Equity celebrates a record 2010! Named by Mortgage Professional Magazine a “Top 30” Wholesale Lender

APRIL 2011

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Bay Equity is “Your Lending Home” for: Agency FHA VA High LTV with MI

lykken on leadership

continued from page 27

ers of management), the greater that challenge senior “C-level” executive leadership has in communicating and transferring down through the rest of the organization the convictions of the top executives. The level of effectiveness in communicating/transferring convictions from the top of an organization to the “rank and file” of an organization is a way to measure leadership levels in an organization. It is essential that deficiencies be addressed and changes be made in order for an organization to survive in the days ahead. I do a whole seminar on this topic.

“While there is a time and place for vetting things out and trying to gain a consensus, there also comes a time when a decision has to be made and that decision has to be executed with conviction and confidence.” True leaders have core convictions that guide them in times of uncertainty … and nothing could be more uncertain than the state of the mortgage industry after the LO compensation rule takes effect after April 1st. Again, I repeat my prediction that the success or failure of any LO compensation plan rolled out by a company will have more to do with leadership ability and skills than the comp plan itself. It is for this reason that I made the decision to write a series on leadership. I outlined the seven characteristics or

the “7-Cs of Leadership” which serve as the framework for this series of articles. The “7-Cs of Leadership” are character, conviction, confidence, charisma, clarity, communication and compassion. Last month, I wrote about the importance of character, and if you didn’t read that article, I would encourage you to go online, download and read it. The bottom line about character is that with character, you’re on a solid foundation, and without character, you’re ultimately doomed to failure. This month, I wrote about leading with “conviction” and next month, I will be writing about leading with “confidence.” While the two are closely related, they are distinctly different. As always, I welcome your feedback, comments and ideas for future articles. David Lykken is president of mortgage strategies and managing partner with Mortgage Banking Solutions. He has more than 35 years of industry experience and has garnered a national reputation, and has become a frequent guest on FOX Business News with Neil Cavuto, Stuart Varney, Liz Claman and Dave Asman with additional guest appearances on the CBS Evening News, Bloomberg TV and radio. He may be reached by phone at (512) 977-9900, ext. 101 or e-mail dlykken@mortgagebankingsolutions.com. To listen to author David Lykken’s online radio show, “Lykken on Lending,” log on to www.lykkenonlending.com.

SAVE THE DATE

Now lending in 10 western states and growing, Bay Equity offers brokers the programs, technology and service to prosper in today’s mortgage environment.

Call 888-810-6671 to get started with Bay Equity Check us out at www.bayeq.com

2011 Mortgage Leader Cruise Sets Sail Oct 13th-17th

Bay Equity is hiring qualified, experienced and motivated Account Executives and Sales Managers. Email cover letter and resume to hr@bayeq.com Currently lending in: California, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico and Montana. Soon to lend in Texas.

Visit NMPMag/mlc for details.

new to market

continued from page 34

of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) summary appraisal report. “The CVR is a game-changer in that it offers speed and accuracy at a lower cost and is produced by an appraiser with local market knowledge. There is no other product like it on the market today,” said Jeff Bradford, chief executive officer of Bradford Technologies.

Mortgage Contracting Services Launches REO Check Inspection Service

National Mortgage Professional Magazine invites you to submit any information promoting new “niche” loan programs, new products or any other announcement related to the introduction of a new program, to the attention of:

New to Market column Phone #: (516) 409-5555 E-mail: newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com Note: Submissions sent via e-mail are preferred. The deadline for submissions is the 1st of the month prior to the target issue.

Complete Mortgage Solutions

Introduces Our

REVERSE MORTGAGE WHOLESALE PROGRAM • For Licensed Mortgage Brokers in: NY, NJ, CT, PA and FL • No HUD Approval Required • 72 Hour Broker Approvals • Great YSP Pricing • Will Provide State of the Art Training at Our Location or Yours

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Call Samara Gabbay 201-529-1401 or email: samara@nwecorp.com “Work for yourself, not by yourself” Equal Housing Lender. © 2010 Nationwide Equities Corporation. Trade/service marks are the property of Hamilton Management Group and/or its subsidiaries. Some products may not be available in all states. NMLS Company ID:1401, Licensed Mortgage Banker: CT: License# 12304, FL: License# ML0701076, NJ: License# L046060, NY: License# B500883, PA: License# 22104

APRIL 2011

DepotPoint Inc., a provider of Webbased default management, short sale and real estateowned (REO) workflow solutions, and Code Violation Services Inc. (CVS), a provider of code violation disclosure

Your turn

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

DepotPoint to Offer Code Violation Checks on Defaulted Property

CVS. “I know we share DepotPoint’s commitment to reversing this trend, and look forward to working together.”

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS) has announced the availability of REO Check, an inspection service to assist servicers with ongoing, independent on-site assessments of their foreclosed inventory throughout the REO lifecycle. REO Check provides real-time, on-site inspections of bank-owned properties, which can be performed from the time of asset acquisition until it is sold to a third party, including properties already entered into the portfolio but perhaps are still in an eviction or redemption status. Whether done on a monthly, bi-weekly or weekly basis, MCS’ REO Check provides information about each property’s overall interior and exterior condition, noting such things as the presence of any hazardous conditions or posting of code violations. The service ultimately ensures clients that each property is kept secure, well maintained and readily marketable to show prospective buyers. MCS’ REO Check acts as a dual quality control mechanism for the real estate agent and field services provider. Many servicers will rely on the assigned real estate agent to coordinate all inspection services. However, growing REO volumes leave some agents unavailable to inspect every property as often as they would prefer. REO Check serves as an additional and independent review of the services provided by the assigned listing agent and current field services company. “Routine REO inspections are the ideal preventative measure to avoid incurring significant structural damage, threats to safety and expenses for repairs or fines,” said Caroline Reaves, chief executive officer of MCS. “One of our goals with REO Check is to educate this industry on the value and relevance of implementing a regular inspection procedure on their REO portfolios. We strongly believe that this inexpensive, upfront investment far outweighs the alternative.”

reports and vacant property registration services, have entered a strategic partnership through which users of TrackPoint, DepotPoint’s technology platform for managing default transactions, will be able to perform code violation checks on their properties. “Unresolved code violations are a huge obstacle to distressed property sales,” said Joe Filoseta, president and chief executive officer of DepotPoint. “Our partnership with Code Violation Services will help banks, asset managers and other parties find and resolve cur-

rent violations, as well as work proactively to prevent new ones. The result is a reduction in loss severity and distressed sales that move forward unimpeded.” Code Violation Services will analyze and identify unrecorded, municipal code violations on defaulted property managed through TrackPoint, saving TrackPoint users costly fines from unresolved violations and reducing the timelines for the sale of REOs and other distressed property. “The skyrocketing foreclosure rate over the past several years has resulted in an extraordinary number of code violations nationwide, which has made it extremely difficult to return nonperforming properties into homes for deserving families,” said Rudy Krupka, president and chief executive officer of

Appraisal Management Company

Coester Appraisal Group 7650 Standish Place, Suite 107 • Rockville, MD 20855 www.coesterappraisals.com (888) 485-1999 Ext. 2 We are a premier National Appraisal Company since 1970. We have a complete product line for your entire organization. We guarantee HVCC and FHA regulatory compliance. Let our experience work for you. The way valuations should be.

HVCC Appraisal Ordering National Appraisal Management Center www.HVCCAppraisalOrdering.com Please call 866-396-6260 We help you Meet & Exceed UMDP enforced by the GSE’s We Improve your evaluation of collateral with “REALviewTM” Appraisals submitted in a MISMO/XML or PDF format. We’ve raised the bar for Appraisal Management Services!

Branch Manager

Church Financing

GSF Mortgage 15430 W Capitol Dr. Brookfield, WI 53005 1-877-494-4448 www.gsfprobranch.com

CONCORD CHURCH FINANCE NATIONWIDE FINANCING FOR CHURCHES ONLINE Pre-qualify@ConcordAcceptanceCorp.com 800-926-0399 • Fax: 858-756-8108

Be in business for yourself, but not by yourself. Join GSF Mortgage's Professional Branch Network. Enjoy freedom and stability and reap the rewards. Signing bonus for Branch Managers, retain 100% of your commissions. Absolutely NO files fees, NO splits

Guaranteed Home Mortgage Company, Inc. 108 Corporate Park Drive, Ste 301 White Plains, NY 10604 888-329-GHMC • www.joinguaranteed.com

Cruise4Two-Loan Incentives 1-866-541-8077 www.Cruise4Two.com Increase your Loans,Get the Edge & Generate More Referrals! Offer your clients a 5 Day 4 Night Cruise certificate for Two to Mexico, the Bahamas or the Western Caribbean (up to a $1798.00 value) only when they close a loan with you. Only $159.00 per certificate!!

StreetLinks Lender Solutions (800) 778-4920 www.streetlinks.com sales@streetlinks.com

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

StreetLinks Lender Solutions provides an innovative and comprehensive suite of valuation services and lending technology solutions used by lenders and appraisers nationwide to improve everyday business operations.

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

Closing Gifts

Find out what Guaranteed can do for you. Branch Program for Professionals. It's what we do.

APRIL 2011

• Church Purchase & Construction • $100,000 to $2,500,00 • Church Refinance & Cash Out • Churches all 50 states • 75% of Appraised Value • 20 Yr. Fixed Rate

StreetLinks industry-leading products include LenderPlus™ full-service appraisal management, LenderX™ lender-executed appraisal management software, BPOs, SCORe™ appraisal validation reviews and more. Our commitment to quality and service, embodied by our partnership approach to clients and appraisers, continues to set us apart as the nation’s premier lending solutions partner. For more information, visit www.streetlinks.com.

Inlanta Mortgage W229 N1433 Westwood Drive, Suite 103 Waukesha, WI 53186 www.inlanta.com • 262-513-9853 Established in 1993 and headquartered in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Inlanta Mortgage is a multi-state mortgage banking company committed to delivering superior service to our branch clients. For more information, call 262-513-9853 or visit www.inlanta.com.

iServe Residential Lending www.iservelending.com afriedman@iservelending.com 415-298-2500 iServe offers a complete product mix - aggressively priced, with hassle-free service & turntimes. Branching & Loan Officer opportunities available nationwide. For a change, focus on production, quick closes & a good night's sleep!

Compliance Consultants

LENDERS COMPLIANCE GROUP 167 West Hudson Street - Suite 200 Long Beach | NY | 11561 | (516) 442-3456 www.LendersComplianceGroup.com The first full-service, mortgage risk management firm in the country, specializing exclusively in mortgage compliance. Pioneers in outsourcing solutions for mortgage compliance.

United Northern Mortgage Bankers......888-600-8808

Branch Manager

Limited room available for established Team Leaders and Licensed Mortgage Originators. Become part of an established 30-year Mortgage Banker with a proven track record and success.

Brokers United ........................................877-710-0948 Consulting & Branch opportunities. Exclusive opportunities with a top Federally Chartered Bank, Mortgage Banker and/or Mortgage Banker/Broker Platform. Email Jeff Flees at jeff@brokersunited.net.

Branch Recruitment

Our Compliance Team Will: Leverage your existing employees. Improve your productivity. Collaborate on projects. Make the most of your current technology. Bring innovation to your company. Be a strong cultural fit. Free you to focus on your core competencies. Give you access to world-class expertise. Lower your total operational costs.

RealEstateBestJobs.com ....................201-489-0256

Freedom Mortgage Corporation www.fmbranch.com info@fmbranch.com 800.220.9498 Freedom Mortgage Corporation, The BEST Branch Solution, Period.

Currently working with various bankers & federally chartered banks. Seeking established, new branches & Loan Officers Nationally. We are a top recruiting firm handling all types of mtg positions.

Contact Management/CRM

Call 888-409-9770 ext 4. to register your company.

WorkCenter CRM ....................................877.498.6888 A CRM & contact management solution designed for mortgage professionals. Automated campaigns & LOS synchronization make WorkCenter an intuitive timesaver for staying in touch with clients.

Continuing Education

Abacus Mortgage Training and Education PO Box 780 Summerfield, NC 27358 888-341-7767 • www.GetYourEd.com NMLS approved 20 hour Prelicensing Education NMLS approved Continuing Education Live Classroom Instruction, Web Delivery and Private Events The SAFE-Smart ExamCram, Powerfully Innovative Test Prep

MSS Learning Center (800) 963-1900 www.MortgageSuccessSource.com Email: info@MortgageSuccessSource.com

Doc Management

DocVelocity www.docvelocity.com (877) 362-8356 sales@docvelocity.com DocVelocity is an end-to-end paperless solution designed to simplify the loan origination experience. Imagine having all your documents in the loan process as electronic files, all online, from pre-approval to closing. DocVelocity provides: Fast and easy loan delivery to any lender … Automatic doc sorting, naming and filing … Real-time online document sharing for anyone you choose … Friendly and intuitive user interface … No start-up fees, and free training and support. DocVelocity addresses important compliance issues while giving your office the competitive advantage of being paperless. It streamlines all aspects of the mortgage process and most important, it does so in one easy-touse and inexpensive package. DocVelocity is the flagship product of Paperless Office Solutions, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Flagstar Bancorp. Visit www.docvelocity.com to find out more.

Education

North Lake College 5001 North MacArthur Blvd, Room T-231-C Irving, TX 75038 (972) 273-3467 • http://www.northlakecollege.edu/ North Lake College - Specialized Education In Mortgage Banking. Earn An Associates Degree in Mortgage Banking From the First Fully Accredited Mortgage Banking Degree Program in the U.S. For Information About Our 30 Year Program email:kbaker1@dcccd.edu.

Errors and Omissions Insurance CB Malaga Insurance Services LLC ......877-245-5887 Insurance broker providing errors & omissions (E&O) insurance to mortgage brokers and bankers. All loan types. Available in 22 states. www.CBspecialty.com

Time is running out...are you ready? Pass the S.A.F.E. Act Test, meet your 20 hours of Pre-licensure, and complete the 8 hours of Continuing Education you need • The Ultimate Test Prep Kit and Test Prep Boot Camps – Cover everything to pass the S.A.F.E. Act Test — on your first try.

Events Document Preparation 41

• 20-hour Pre-licensure - Packed with everything to successfully complete your pre-licensure requirements. • Continuing Education - Exciting, NMLS approved courses that meet your Continuing Education needs and build your business.

Mortgage Banking Systems - ProClose 1360 Beverly Rd. Ste 200, McLean, VA 22101 800-783-2283 · sales@proclose.com www.ProClose.com ProClose provides compliant closing documents and software for Residential Mortgage Lending. Created with closers in mind, we help make a lender’s staff more efficient and supported.

NYC Real Estate Expo LLC Anthony Kazazis - Director apkazazis@optonline.net • www.nycrealestateexpo.com

646.210.2545 • 914.763.8008 “The Expo for Real Estate Professionals" For ongoing Networking Events throughout the year please visit www.nycnetworkgroup.com.

Direct Mail Hard Money/Private Lending

Mortgage marketing company with decades of combined experience providing quality leads, mailers, lists and dialer products. www.bestratereferrals.com & www.mortgageleads.org

Robertson | Anschutz 800-343-7160 sbertrand@radocs.com www.radocs.com/info.html

• Specializing in Official Snap Packs for Greater Open Rates • Envelope Mailers, Business Reply, Postcards and Much More • Targeted Mortgage Lists with Many Selects • Complete Design, Printing and Mailing Services

Bookmark this!

We are doing traditional subprime lending, fix & flip lending and hard money lending.

Document Preparation (SaaS)

Windvest Corporation ............................877-285-0777

Docs on Demand 800-343-7160 stephen.bertrand@docsondemand.net www.docsondemand.info

Does Advertising in the Resource Registry Work? It just did! Call 888-409-9770 ext. 4 to Register your company.

Mortgage Loan Closing Document Preparation & Compliance Software Loan Documents and Compliance – Web-based/SaaS – Easy to Use Intuitive – Secure and Reliable – Integrates with Leading LOS Free Setup and Support – Extensive Compliance Audits

Specializing in rehab loans for property investors in So. CA. Up to 60% ARV, 12.99% fixed rate, 3.5-5 points, 1 yr. term. Fast & professional service since '94! Visit windvestcorp.com!

APRIL 2011

Access these listings online at nmpmag.com/directory_list

ACC Mortgage, Inc. 932 Hungerford Drive #6 • Rockville, MD 20850 240-314-0399 • 240-314-0336 fax WeApproveLoans.com

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

Your Complete Mortgage Marketing Solution. Call Us Today! (800) 922-9860 www.envisiondirect.net/catalog/mortgage.htm

Mortgage Loan Closing Document Preparation & Compliance Services Fulfillment Services Including Pre-Funding Review & Post-Closing Interfaces with Leading Loan Origination Software Systems Foreclosure – Loss Mitigation Services

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Best Rate Referrals ............................................800-811-1402

Income Verification Services

MortgageLoan.com Advanced Data (800) 537 - 0458 www.advanceddata.com verifications@advanceddata.com Advanced Data is a leading national provider of data services, streamlining income and employment verification with proprietary software. Clients can submit 4506-T directly through Encompass360. Also ask about our AVM and flood services!

Mortgage Forms

Leads

www.mortgageloan.com • 877-390-4750 MortgageLoan.com is the largest online directory for mortgage professionals and a favorite of consumers shopping for mortgage loans. Our network attract over one million visitors per month. Our paid lead program as well as our free lender directory will help you connect with targeted new consumer traffic from with high-intent consumers searching online for the right mortgage lender.

www.LendingForms.com Same Day Shipping (orders placed prior to 3pm et) 24/7 Secure e-Commerce Site Save 33-50% • • • •

HUD Settlement Cost Booklets CHARM Booklets Uniform Residential Loan Applications HUD Case Binders

Platinum Credit Services, Inc.................631-299-2084 Tax return vertification (4506 tax transcript done in less than 24 hours in most cases). Call Lorenzo Pugliano, President and CEO at 631-299-2084.

Jumbo

Sign up with the Premier Jumbo Lender www.ingloans.com 877.464.0555, option 2 Move your Jumbos to a better neighborhood. ING Mortgage is your home for Portfolio loans up to $3,000,000. We offer aggressive pricing and simple guidelines in all 50 states. Big Loans. Low Rates. Great Value.

Loan Incentives

Regulatory/Compliance

Cruise4Two-Loan Incentives 1-866-541-8077 www.Cruise4Two.com

Comergence Compliance Monitoring, LLC 630 The City Drive South, Suite 205 • Orange, CA 92868 Office: 714-740-9000 www.ComergenceCompliance.com

Increase your Loans,Get the Edge & Generate More Referrals! Offer your clients a 5 Day 4 Night Cruise certificate for Two to Mexico, the Bahamas or the Western Caribbean (up to a $1798.00 value) only when they close a loan with you. Only $159.00 per certificate!!

Comergence Compliance Monitoring is the mortgage industry’s only Complete broker desk management software and outsource solution for TPO management and monitoring. We can supplement lenders inhouse management and monitoring resources departments.

Loan Management Systems

Retail Branch

Xetus ....................................................877-GO-XETUS XetusOne is a powerful, easy-to-use loan management system that streamlines loan processing. Our affordable SaaS applications are lenders #1 choice for origination, subordination & modification.

APRIL 2011

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Leads AAA Refi Leads.....AAA Refi Leads.....AAA Refi Leads Learn how I went from failure to success by mailing cheap refi letters from home, closed 71 loans & made $248,954.62 last yr. I’ll show you exactly how I did it. Go to: www.Refi-Leads.NET

Internet’s Leading Consumer Mortgage Marketplace Attracting over 7 million unique consumers every month www.Bankrate.com • 561-630-1257 Reach affluent and creditworthy consumers who are in-market and ready to transact. Bankrate is a consumer direct Web site, NOT a lead aggregator. Qualified leads for every sized budget, and pay only for performance. No set up fees! No contracts! No risk! • Reach self directed, highly qualified consumers that are actively searching for mortgage loans • Geo-targeting – reach the right consumers in the right markets • Our proprietary Advertiser Portal gives you complete control over your campaigns, budgets, and performance reports. • YOU determine your daily/weekly/monthly budget • Pay only for consumers who click on your listing • NO cancellation fees Try us risk-free! Call 561-630-1257 or visit www.bankrate.com/cpcprogram/ for more details.

Loan Origination Systems

(800) LOANS-15 www.usmortgage.com Are you a broker/owner or current branch manager looking to expand your business into Mortgage Banking with FHA capabilities? Then our PARTNER BRANCH ADVANTAGE© program is perfect for you. We are offering you all the benefits of partnering with an established lender while still enjoying your independence. US Mortgage Corporation is a nationwide FHA Direct Lender with a 16 year long reputation of excellence.

Calyx Software 800-362-2599 sales@calyxsoftware.com www.calyxsoftware.com Calyx Software, the #1 provider of mortgage solutions is dedicated to offering reliable and affordable software that streamlines, integrates and optimizes the loan process. Find out how PointCentral can streamline your business and create compliant processes today.

YOUR SUCCESS IS OUR SUCCESS! For more information contact THOMAS R. SIRICO, Vice President of Business Development at (917) 923-1472 or email at tom.sirico@usmortgage.com. We look forward to sharing our services with you!

Secondary Marketing Consulting Mortgage Builder Software 24370 Northwestern Highway, Suite 200 Southfield, MI 48075 800-460-5040 • www.mortgagebuilder.com End-to-end LOS system for multi-channel lending. PreQual thru Interim Servicing. Includes all back-office functionality; Underwriting,Secondary Marketing,Post Closing and much more SaaS, ASP and Client Server delivery options.

Broker to Banker Services.com ..........(951) 746-3075 We complete your applications for approval Save the time and hassle contact: brokertobankerservices.com

Title

Wholesale/Residential

Intracoastal Abstract Co. Inc.................516-358-0505 Privately owned & operated full service title insurance agency in NY, NJ and FL, with affiliates throughout the US & Canada. Escrow Agent in Florida. www.intracoastalabstract.com.

Wholesale/Correspondent BankFinancial ..........................................800-894-6900 We have money to lend for apartments, $250M to $2MM, up to 75% LTV. We offer competitive rates, fees & terms. We’re committed to helping you and your clients close the deal. Call us.

Wholesale/Residential

Flagstar Wholesale Lending www.wholesale.flagstar.com (866) 945-9872 WLSC@flagstar.com Flagstar Wholesale Lending, a division of Flagstar Bank, is one of the nation’s largest wholesale and correspondent mortgage lenders, providing the technology, products, service and support that independent mortgage brokers, correspondents, and bankers need in today’s mortgage arena. In the ever-changing environment of mortgage banking, Flagstar takes pride in accommodating the specific needs of each customer. At Flagstar, we understand that you need every available advantage to stay ahead of the competition. This is why we provide multiple technology options to meet your needs to register, lock, underwrite, close, fund and deliver your loans. Our wholesale website (wholesale.flagstar.com) and the loan processing tool Loantrac provides our customers with the functionality that make it easier and faster to close loans, saving you time and money! Visit wholesale.flagstar.com to learn more.

TMSfunding Wholesale Lending 326 W Main Street • Milford, Ct. 06460 888.371.2989 • WWW.TMSFUNDING.COM Your Partner in Success! • • • •

Paperless! Quick and Easy! Top Tier Account Executives Committed to Wholesale Operations that Earn Your Business

Wholesale Reverse Mortgages

NATIONWIDE Equities

88 Kearny Street, 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94108 Phone: (415) 632-5150 • Fax: (925) 226-1938 www.bayeq.com Now • Arizona • California • Colorado

Wholesale Lending in: • Nevada • Texas • New Mexico • Utah • Oregon • Washington

Nationwide Equities Corporation 201-529-1401 www.nwecorp.com Terrace Mortgage 4010 W. Boyscout Blvd., Suite 550 Tampa, FL 33607 866-934-4631 • www.terracemortgage.com We offer competitive pricing and fast turn-times for FHA, VA, Conventional, and USDA programs without having a retail presence in the industry. We are a wholesale lender with 22 years of experience and believe in exceptional service.

For Licensed Mortgage Brokers in NY, NJ, CT, PA and FL No HUD Approval Required – Live Help Desk Will Provide Training at Our Office or Yours 48 Hour Underwriting - Get Paid Within 48 Hours of Funding

Call 888-409-9770 ext 4. to register your company.

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE APRIL 2011

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.95

Plus Postage & Handling

Think Reverse! Table of Contents

“When I first began reviewing the contents of this book, I became quite jealous ... Atare Agbamu has set down an impressive amount of information ... And he delivers it in an easy-to-read, simple-to-understand style that will make this book essential reading for all reverse mortgage professionals.” —from the Foreword by Jim Mahoney, Co-Founder and Former Chairman, Financial Freedom Senior Funding Corporation, and former four-term Co-Chair of NRMLA’s Board of Directors “The stories [Chapter 15: Profiles in Satisfaction] are the best vehicle to increase understanding and acceptance of reverse mortgages among us laypeople. They are very compelling ...” —Therese Cain, Executive Director, Minneapolis/St. Paul Chapter of Little Brothers—Friends of the Elderly “This book should be required reading for all new loan consultants originating reverse mortgages and is recommended for experienced ones as well. This book provides excellent insight and information on preparing ahead to provide the service our seniors deserve, to ensure a smooth loan process and shorten the time to closing. Most of the problems caused in the processing and closing of reverse mortgages come from inadequate preparation.” —Deanne Opstad, AVP, Senior Underwriter, Generation Mortgage Company

JUNE 2011 Monday-Wednesday, June 13-15 CRE Finance Council 2011 Convention “On the Road Again” The Waldorf Astoria 301 Park Avenue New York, N.Y. For more information, call (212) 509-1954 or visit www.cref.org.

MAY 2011 Sunday-Wednesday, May 1-4 Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Secondary Market Conference & Expo The New York Marriott Marquis 1535 Broadway • New York, N.Y. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org.

JULY 2011 Wednesday-Saturday, July 20-23 Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals 2011 Convention “Reel in Success” Orlando World Center Marriott Resort 8701 World Center Drive • Orlando, Fla. For more information, call (850) 942-6411 or visit www.famb.org.

Sunday-Wednesday, May 1-4 Mortgage Bankers Association’s Loan Production Conference The New York Marriott Marquis 1535 Broadway • New York, N.Y. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. Monday, May 9 Tennessee Association of Mortgage Professionals 2011 Annual Convention & Trade Show “Prepared for Change Ahead” Hotel Preston (Briley Parkway South of I-40) 733 Briley Parkway • Nashville, Tenn. For more information, call (615-) 302-0001 or visit www.tnamp.com. Sunday-Wednesday, May 15-18 Mortgage Bankers Association’s Commercial/Multifamily Servicing & Technology Conference Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile 540 North Michigan Avenue • Chicago, Ill. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. Sunday-Wednesday, May 15-18 Mortgage Bankers Association’s Legal Issues/Regulatory Compliance Conference Boca Raton Resort 501 El Camino Real • Boca Raton, Fla. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. Monday-Tuesday, May 16-17 Mortgage Bankers of Alabama 27th Annual Spring Convention “Extreme Makeover” Wynfrey Galleria 1000 Riverchase Galleria • Birmingham, Ala. For more information, call (334) 260-8197 or visit www.mbaal.org.

SEPTEMBER 2011 Thursday, September 8 Iowa Association of Mortgage Brokers 2011 Annual Convention & Education Location to be determined For more information, call (515) 210-4675 or visit www.iowamortgagebrokers.org. Thursday, September 15 2011 Minnesota Mortgage Association Convention & Exhibitor Showcase Sheraton Bloomington Hotel, Minneapolis South 7800 Normandale Boulevard Bloomington, Minn. For more information, call (952) 345-3240 or visit www.themma.org. OCTOBER 2011 Sunday-Wednesday, October 9-12 Mortgage Bankers Association’s 98th Annual Convention & Expo The Hyatt Regency 151 East Wacker Drive • Chicago, Ill. For more information, call (800) 793-6222 or visit www.mortgagebankers.org. Friday, October 14 Kentucky Association of Mortgage Professionals 2011 Annual Convention & Trade Show Location to be determined Lexington, Ky. For more information, call (270) 929-2836 or visit www.kyamp.net. MO

RTGAGE PRO

NMP

SSIONAL

APRIL 2011

“Atare Agbamu is one of only a handful of people in the reverse mortgage arena who possesses a commanding understanding of the reverse mortgage industry. As an originator, he has hands-on experience educating seniors and their advisors. As author of the “Forward on Reverse” column in The Mortgage Press since 2002, Atare Agbamu communicates nationally with the housing finance community, bringing the unique insights and experience of an ardent reverse mortgage expert into a wider business context. “This book combines Atare’s keen insights and know-how with extensive research to create a first of its kind resource for the reverse mortgage industry. It offers a comprehensive overview of the industry plus detailed information on marketing and originating reverse mortgages. “Present and future reverse mortgage professionals and senior advisors will profit from decades of experience skillfully woven into this book. If you plan to succeed in this industry, this book is the place to start.” —Sarah F. Hulbert, President, Senior Financial Corporation and former four-term Co-Chair of NRMLA’s Board of Directors

APRIL 2011 Thursday, April 28 Florida Association of Mortgage Professionals Miami Chapter 2011 Trade Show “Only the Strong Survive” Don Shula’s Hotel & Golf Club Ballroom 6842 Main Street • Miami Lakes, Fla. For more information, call (305) 491-1433 or visit www.fampmiami.org.

NATIONAL MORTGAGE PROFESSIONAL MAGAZINE

NationalMortgageProfessional.com

Part I: The new pillar of retirement security Part II: Marketing reverse mortgages: It’s all about education Part III: Originating reverse mortgages Part IV: Enhancing freedom: The essence of reverse mortgages Part V: A new frontier in mortgage lending

To submit your entry for inclusion in the National Mortgage Professional Calendar of Events, please e-mail the details of your event, along with contact information, to newsroom@nmpmediacorp.com.

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Nationwid e FHA Lend er Looking fo r: TO P P R O D U CER

Call for De tails!

T h e B E ST B r a n c h S o l u t i o n , P e r i o d .

www.Fmbranch.com 800.220.9498 Info@Fmbranch.com This information is provided to assist business professionals and is not an advertisement extended to the consumer, as defined by Section 226.2 of Regulation Z. Freedom Mortgage corporate office is located at: 907 Pleasant Valley Ave. Suite 3, Mount Laurel, NJ 08054. Lender NMLS ID: 2767. Licensed by the NJ Department of Banking and Insurance, License #9100861. All Rights Reserved.

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