Mid America Mortgage is now using NotaryCam’s integration with DocMagic Inc., a provider of fully-compliant loan document preparation, to conduct remote online notarizations through DocMagic’s Total eClose platform. Mid America will leverage the integration throughout its retail, correspondent and wholesale channels.

“Since 2016, Mid America’s strategy has been digital first. As a result, we have been able to condense our application-to-closing time down to just two weeks and our closing ceremony to 30 minutes or less with our digital mortgage product Click n’ Close,” said Mid America’s CEO Jeff Bode. “Remote online notarizations allows us to double down on our closing efficiency while also providing additional convenience to our customers. The addition of NotaryCam’s remote notary services through our established eClosing partner DocMagic enables us to extend the value we’ve experienced to date through our digital mortgage strategy.”

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According to NotaryCam, the company has completed more than 160,000 remote online notarizations transactions for individuals located across the U.S.

“Until recently, mortgage closings still required participants to physically congregate in a single location to complete the transaction. Today, remote online notarization enables lenders and settlement agents to eliminate the closing table without losing the personal connection of the closing ceremony,” said NotaryCam’s founder and CEO Rick Triola. “The value of the convenience that remote online notarization provides cannot be overstated, and it would behoove mortgage and settlement professionals to incorporate RON into their existing closing process.”

Total eClose is DocMagic’s comprehensive end-to-end eClosing solution. The integration with NotaryCam allows Mid America Mortgage and Click n’ Close to eNotarize documents remotely using NotaryCam’s remote online notarization service, eliminating the need for home buyers and sellers to physically appear before a notary to wet-sign loan documents.

“We continue to focus on implementing seamless digital closing solutions for our customers,” stated Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. “Mid America’s accelerated processes highlight the benefits DocMagic delivers for both lenders and borrowers. The added efficiency of NotaryCam’s remote online notarization solution is the logical next step and a key component to achieving 100% paperless eClosing transactions.”

Dear Brian,

I am struggling to get business from real estate agents and was wondering what you feel the single most effective way to meet new agents would be?

Thanks,
Jane B.
Cincinnati

Dear Jane,

Thanks so much for writing in and asking your question.

Of course, every originator including me have struggled with this question.

[caption id="attachment_7900" align="alignleft" width="300"] Sacks: 'If you are able to control the buyers by getting to them first, then you are able to provide pre-approved buyers to agents.'[/caption]

But before I give you any suggestions, I would like to clear up one big mistake you made in your question. I can’t show you one single way to get agent business because there are many that are effective, so you need to use all of them. Relying on any one strategy, for any part of your marketing efforts, is a big mistake.

Think of your marketing efforts as a building that has numerous entrances. You can come in the front door or the back door or even the side door. Your marketing plan should be built the same way.

I should also mention that these efforts should never end regardless of the success you achieve since you must never take anything for granted.

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Here are a few effective strategies that work for generating agent relationships:

1. Join your local board of realtors and get active on committees, so you can meet agents as peers. This allows you to get to know them and allows them to get to know you--and build a relationship since you have something in common.
2. Teach courses to agents for continuing education credits at the board of realtors. This allows them to instantly see you as an expert. Best of all, this costs you nothing to implement just a few hours.
3. Contact the listing agents on your deals and introduce yourself. Give them status updates each week. Communicate with them during the process. Once the loan closes, they will be impressed with your service and likely agree to meet with you since they already feel like they know you from the communications.
4. Become the expert in a special niche that most of your competitors don’t offer. These could be new construction, grants, renovation programs, or my personal favorite: Working with boomerang buyers that few other originators market to.
   The point is that you want to pick a niche program, or area of expertise, and let agents know you are the expert in this area, so when they have a buyer that fits that profile, they call you.
5.  I have saved the best for last. If you are able to control the buyers by getting to them first, then you are able to provide pre-approved buyers to agents. I do this by sending a three-step mailing to carefully selected renters in my area. They then opt-in for a free report which sells them on using my services. Once they are approved, I connect them to an agent to work with them to buy a home.

Jane, I hope this helps and gives you some ideas you can implement right away. If you have a question for an upcoming column, please send them to me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject line Ask Brian Article.

About the Author: Brian Sacks is a branch manger and originator with HomeBridge Financial in Owings Mills Maryland. He is also the author of 48 Proven Ways To Immediately Close More Loans and the founder of http://toporiginatorsecrets.com

Goodmortgage, the direct to consumer division of First Guaranty Mortgage Corp., and Blend have entered into a partnership with the aim of building a more intuitive online mortgage process.

"FGMC believes in thinking outside the box and is thrilled to embark on this journey to improve the digital mortgage experience for our Goodmortgage borrowers and mortgage loan officers," said Joe Hamilton, chief information officer at FGMC. "We are excited to begin our partnership with Blend, not only to provide our consumers with an improved loan experience, but also to build efficiencies and cost reductions that will translate into savings for the borrower."

Goodmortgage's plans to create solutions that are personalized to the borrower and help them to reach their homeownership goals.

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Blend is an online and mobile-based platform that’s designed to make the lending process easier, quicker, and more transparent for borrowers and loan officers. It is designed to simplify many of the complexities of the mortgage process for borrowers and loan teams.

[caption id="attachment_11270" align="alignleft" width="300"] Kneafsey: The partnership with Goodmortgage is designed to drive efficiency.[/caption]

With its intelligent flow of information and ability to connect the loan officer and the borrower, Blend allows loan officers to meet the needs of borrowers while delivering meticulous and timely results.

Also, it has developed a workflow that gathers a more complete and accurate financial profile of prospective borrowers that accesses the most updated and factual information while cutting down on paperwork and loan-approval timelines.

"Blend's goal is to create a more intelligent, data-driven lending ecosystem where consumers can get approvals in one tap," said Brian Kneafsey, head of client operations for Blend. "Partnering with innovative lenders like FGMC allows us to work together to provide a user experience that borrowers love, while driving major efficiency on the lender side."

By Pat Sherlock

For those unfamiliar with the Dunning-Kruger Effect, it is a psychological phenomenon where certain individuals have a cognitive bias that causes them to over-estimate their abilities--because they can't grasp what they don't know.

In simple terms, these people think they are smarter than they really are.

In mortgage banking, DKE individuals can be frustrating to manage because they are closed-minded when it comes to making changes in their sales models that would enable them to be more successful.

In my recent conversations with experienced mortgage executives, many were in disbelief that their originators didn't want to improve their selling performance by learning something new. Why wouldn't an individual or a group not want to do better? It seems incomprehensible.

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Although much has been written about this topic, current research in psychology has shed new light on it. Carol Dweck, a Stanford University professor, writes in her best-seller "MindSet: The New Psychology of Success" that success is a mental choice made early in life based on how an individual approaches new experiences.

According to Dweck, the good news is that mindsets can be changed. She notes that a fixed mindset is based on fear of failing. Conversely, individuals with a growth mindset are willing to learn and take action. If they fail, they don't take it personally.

[caption id="attachment_9789" align="alignleft" width="300"] Pat Sherlock[/caption]

Individuals with a fixed mindset have an internal dialogue that has them constantly judging themselves in a negative manner. As a result, learning something new presents a risk to their mental state and causes them to feel that if they don't understand what they are learning quickly, or it doesn't come to them easily, they are losers.

As a result, they avoid any circumstances that create this experience of feeling like a fraud.

As a sales trainer, I often see companies putting in a training class for fixed mindset sales professionals that will never properly correct the issues at hand. DKE sales professionals require personal attention by a professional coach to address their underlying problems. Even better, I advise my clients to determine during the interview process whether a sales candidate has a growth mindset before the individual is hired.

This made me think, is it even possible to have a sales organization comprised of fixed mindset individuals Where the environment is such that the sales organization does not accept or encourage individuals to learn and to fail? Where changing your selling techniques is not encouraged or invested in?

The simple answer is yes. I certainly see mortgage groups that are stuck in this holding pattern. They have chosen to stay the course while everything around them is undergoing dramatic change. They make minor adjustments to the group's practices but avoiding making any substantial changes. A perfect example is companies whose policies on social media marketing for their originators do not reflect today's selling methods. They resist social media like the plague and do not recognize that communication tools have changed.

Another example of stagnant thinking is when a company fails to prioritize continuing education and learning new selling skills. I have even seen companies boast to potential sales candidates that they don't have to attend any training, as if that were a good strategy! Their pitch is join them and originate loans, and we won't bother you by asking you to get better and improve your selling habits.

Learning something new by definition requires failing.

No one gets a skill right the first time when putting new learning into practice. As Michael Jordan has often said, the reason for his success was that he kept shooting baskets even when he was missing them initially in a game. He had the mindset to not take failing personally.

I think selling and sports share many of the same characteristics. Both disciplines ask individuals what behaviors they will deploy: Will they have a growth or fixed mindset? Both selling and sports require a commitment to changing and learning in order to win. Staying the same is not an option, even if the individual has been successful in the past.

With the decline of interest rates last week, mortgage bankers will be tested again to see if they have learned anything from the refinance years. At the company level, will the industry hire more originators to add warm bodies or will they chart a better strategy with something new and different? Will originators say they are too busy to learn new sales strategies and improve their results? Will they make social media part of their prospecting efforts even when their pipelines are full of refinancing volume?

In my view, DKE sales professionals won't survive long-term in our world of constant change. This is the ultimate quandary for every company and originator: Are they operating with a fixed-mindset or embracing a growth mindset?

About the Author: Pat Sherlock is the founder of QFS Sales Solutions, an organization that help sales organizations improve their sales talent management and performance. For more information, visit https://patsherlock.com