Tag Archive for: technology

Do Some Loans And Lenders Require More Work From Borrowers?

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MASSIVE TECH SPEND – FOR BORROWERS We spend about $750,000 per year on various technology applications with the primary goal of making the mortgage process as simple and as efficient as possible for our clients. This technology includes our point of sale/application system (Blend), our elaborate CRM buildout (Salesforce), our electronic document reading systems (Candor, […]Read More

Why Hiring Recent College Grads In The Digital Age Is SO Necessary And Valuable

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We have a large “Technology Committee” that meets every Friday to review and discuss all of our tech issues, opportunities, and solutions.  During last Friday’s meeting, two of our newer team members went on at length about some new thingies they were looking at that would not only improve many of our old thingies but […]Read More

When Getting A Loan Is As Easy As Buying A Fridge At Best Buy

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In 1999, I needed a new car. Not being particularly into cars, I asked a buddy, who was into cars, what kind of car he recommended. At that time, he said the best buy on the market was a Lexus GS400, and he gave me a detailed list of options and specs I should look […]Read More

Economies Of Scale; Competing In A Post-Boom World

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Last Friday, I blogged about how Ford Motor Company dominated the auto industry in the 1910s by cutting costs so much that they could sell cars for less than 1/4 as much as competitors could. I pointed out how this was likely to happen in the real estate and mortgage industries too at some point, […]Read More

WWI General Court-Martialed for Bucking the System/Recommending Better Tech!

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General Billy Mitchell is one of the more fascinating stories in American military history. He was a WWI combat hero who ended up in charge of airplane and tank development in the 1920s. He quickly saw that all future wars would be won or lost by the combatants with the best airplanes and tanks. As […]Read More

Excessive Worrying About Tech Disruptions

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JVM WILL DIE (or change) (a lot) 10 years from now JVM Lending will not exist… in its current form (or anything even close). The same holds true for ALL of the major real estate brokerages we work with. AI, 5G, Cloud Storage, Bots, and every other aspect of tech will without a doubt massively […]Read More

Charles Schwab No Longer Charges Commissions for Trades

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Charles Schwab started to offer discount brokerage services (low commission trades) way back in 1975. Much of the financial industry paid little attention to the upstart firm but it nonetheless continued to grow and capture more and more market share. And then finally, 44 years later, Schwab announced that they would charge no commissions at […]Read More

Only 12% of Clients Use Their Agent Again! How To Stem the Loss

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I recently sat on a tech panel where some fascinating survey results were shared. 88% of all homeowners surveyed said they would use their real estate agent again if they bought or sold a home. AND….. Only 12% of homeowners actually did. In other words, most agents are not tapping into their most valuable resource […]Read More

Technology Working – Finally! Small Businesses Can Compete With Big!

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SOFTWARE FIRM HONORS PROMISES – 20 YEARS LATE I frequently tell a story about a huge mortgage software company (now the biggest in the industry) that came to me in the late 1990s, offering me online app tools, drop-down fee schedules, awesome user-interfaces, customer portals, and everything else. And – 20 years later, they finally […]Read More

Only One In Five Willing To Apply for a Mortgage Online

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We recently spent $26,000 on a new “point of sale” platform (Blend) to make it even easier for our borrowers to apply online. This was a lot for us as a small business, but it is nothing compared to the $80 million that Loan Depot spent to develop their online application and related technology. But, […]Read More

What Homebuyers Really Want In A Lender

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The lender you refer your clients to is a reflection on you. I repeat that often because it is true and because we meet so many agents who are having issues with their lenders. In light of this, JD Power’s recent survey of borrowers should be of particular interest, as it illuminates what borrowers look […]Read More

JD Power’s Mortgage Lender Survey – What Borrowers Want

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The lender you refer your clients to is a reflection on you. I repeat that often b/c it is true and b/c we meet so many agents who are having issues with their lenders. In light of this, JD Power’s recent survey of borrowers should be of particular interest, as it illuminates what borrowers look […]Read More

Marketing Person or Someone in the Trenches On Your IT Team?

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FINTECH COMPANY FORGETS TO ATTRACT CUSTOMERS A close friend of ours was the Chief Product Officer at a prominent fintech mortgage lender in Silicon Valley. The firm was very impressive, consisting of about 70 people, 28 full-time engineers and a war-chest full of VC money (about $70 million). They used all that money and all […]Read More

Our “FAST 14” Returns! 14 Day Closes! What A Difference A Day Makes

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RETURN OF OUR 14 DAY CLOSE! Closing in under 15 days is hard! Files need to be pre-underwritten, appraisals have to come back in five days, systems need to be airtight, and everyone needs to be on board! This is why we were amused to see some of our competitors tout 15 days closes when […]Read More

Predicting the Future, and Happy New Year!

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PREDICTING THE FUTURE In 1893, Chicago hosted a hugely successful “World Fair” where governments, companies and individuals showcased the most promising technologies of the time. Scientists and inventors were asked in a poll to name the technologies that would most influence the next hundred years. And – not one person named the automobile. They simply […]Read More

Life Way Back… in the 1990s Was So Hard! Can’t Believe I Endured It

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There has been a slew of articles and podcasts lately about America’s complacency and lack of innovation. And, it all might be true at some level. But – from my perspective, we have been riding a wave of innovation that makes life 1,000x better than it was even 20 years ago. In fact, I can’t […]Read More

Technology & Easy Doc Uploads Does Not A Mortgage Make

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More than ever, lenders are introducing and touting new technology and client interfaces as huge breakthroughs and the solutions to all mortgage problems. One of our competitors recently spent $80 million on new technology, leaving us to wonder … how? and on what? We too are on the technology bandwagon and are in fact getting […]Read More

When Technology Fails…Somebody Actually Has To Think

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It took me two and half hours to take an Uber from Manhattan to JFK airport last week. The reason? My Uber driver had moved to NYC four days earlier and he relied entirely on his Waze app to navigate. And Waze does NOT work in Manhattan (too much traffic and too much data, and […]Read More

Technology’s Not Replacing Realtors or Loan Officers; Warren Buffet & Fintech

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We have all heard time and again over the last ten years how technology will totally disrupt real estate and mortgages, and replace Realtors and Loan Officers outright. Technology is changing the way we all do business, but it is far from replacing us. One huge vote of confidence for Realtors remaining a major part […]Read More

1/4% = $14 per $100k; Can Refi Guys Do Purchases? Automation?

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Another reminder: a 1/4% increase in rates from 3.75% to 4.0% only increases payments about $14 per $100,000. One of the biggest boons to my personal business over the last 20+ years was the advent of automated/online lenders in the late 1990s (E-loan was one of the first). The reason? They couldn’t do purchases. And […]Read More

10 Bold Predictions for the Future of the Mortgage Industry!

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Normally, we are loathed to share other peoples’ content, but this is worth an exception:  10 Bold Predictions for the Future of the Mortgage Industry (link to the full article is below) The big takeaways include: Subprime and expanded guidelines are coming, so a lot more buyers can get financing. Technology will replace underwriters and loan officers.  And appraisals […]Read More

Kids Are Now Steph Curry, Not LeBron; Embracing The New

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There are a lot of budding basketball stars who practice incessantly at a park I walk or ride through several times per week near our home. What is interesting is how their style of practice has changed in recent years. They were all wannabe LeBron Jameses and Kobe Bryants for years and years, practicing their […]Read More

Waze – Must Have App; Technology At Companies

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Yesterday as I was driving back to Walnut Creek from SFO, the primary freeway (US 101) was a parking lot. But fortunately, I had the “Waze” app on my phone, so I was re-routed to the 280 and I cut 25 minutes from my trip. The Waze app checks traffic volume everywhere (using data from […]Read More

Best “App” for Payments, Closing Costs & Net Sheets; Invaluable

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I have been using my HP 12C Calculator since my first job at an investment bank in the late 1980s. With so many years of practice, I am extremely good at employing it to yield any and all numbers I might need. About four years ago, however, I found an app that rendered my skills […]Read More

CRM Software Is an Absolute Must; Pays for Itself Very Quickly

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In 2008, we spent $65,000 on a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software program and it paid for itself within a year. The CRM program allows us to (1) organize ALL of our client contacts and data in one source; (2) contact ALL of our clients constantly with a single click; (3) track all of our […]Read More