Powerful business intelligence and analytics tools combines sales and marketing data with LOS and other data sources to provide ROI insight on the entire mortgage loan lifecycle from lead to post-closing.

SEAL BEACH, Calif. – OptifiNow announced today the unveiling of their Insights onDemand business intelligence engine, a reporting and analytics tool built into their flagship OptifiNow CRM platform. BI Insight combines sales and marketing data managed in the OptifiNow CRM with external data sources to provide a 360-degree view of business performance. Insights onDemand is included with the CRM platform and is provided with OptifiNow’s White Glove custom configuration service.

BI Insight transforms the OptifiNow platform into a strategic decision-making tool. By leveraging OptifiNow’s robust API integration capabilities, BI Insight can connect to LOS, POS or other business systems to generate reports and dashboards that augment visibility into business performance and how it impacts revenue generation.

“BI Insight gives mortgage executives clarity on all their business processes and helps them devise a strategy that is well informed,” said John McGee, CEO and Founder of OptifiNow. “Our CRM and sales enablement modules allow mortgage companies to run their sales and marketing processes more efficiently. But at the same time, we’re helping lenders convert these activities into measurable data points so that they can use BI Insight to make decisions that have an actual impact on their bottom line.”

Having the resources and expertise to implement a business intelligence strategy is a challenge for many companies. The lack of training or knowledge to create reports that yield practical results oftentimes leads to higher opportunity costs and lower ROI on business intelligence efforts. OptifiNow solves this problem with their “White Glove” configuration service, which streamlines the time and effort required to implement Insights onDemand.

“Our goal is to get clients to use our solutions effectively and as quickly as possible. That’s why every client receives our White Glove service,” said McGee. "We apply our best practices and inherent system knowledge to configure a BI Insight solution that meets their specific needs. We start by assessing the goals of our clients and then we build reports and dashboards that provide real-time insight on critical metrics of their business. We believe it is our job to ensure clients are getting maximum value out of both our technology and service."

SAN DIEGO, Calif., – January 7, 2020 – Plaza Home Mortgage, Inc^®., one of the nation’s leading wholesale and correspondent mortgage lenders, today announced that Michelle Richardson has joined the company as Senior Vice President of Treasury and Finance.

In this role, Richardson will be responsible for Plaza’s Treasury department, including warehouse relationships, cash management and the company’s Corporate Funding department. She will report to Mike Fontaine, Plaza’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer.

Richardson joins Plaza from loanDepot where she was the Vice President of Treasury for the past seven years. During her tenure at loanDepot, she established the company’s enterprise treasury function and oversaw all settlement and funding activities for the organization. Earlier, Richardson held finance positions with Icon Residential, T-Force, and IMPAC Mortgage.

“We are excited that Michelle is joining our management team,” said Fontaine. “She is a seasoned finance professional with deep experience across the full range of treasury, corporate finance and funding functions. We know she will be a critical contributor to Plaza’s ongoing success.”

Richardson earned her MBA and BA from University of Phoenix. In addition, she is a Certified Treasury Professional (CTP) and Accredited Mortgage Professional (AMP).

WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 7, 2020) — Commercial and multifamily mortgage bankers are expected to close a record $683 billion of loans backed by income-producing properties in 2020, a 9 percent increase from 2019’s anticipated record volume of $628 billion, according to a new forecast released today by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Total multifamily lending alone, which includes some loans made by small and midsize banks not captured in the overall total, is forecast to rise 9 percent to $395 billion in 2020, surpassing last year’s expected record total of $364 billion. MBA anticipates volumes will plateau in 2021, falling slightly to $660 billion in commercial/multifamily mortgage bankers originations and $392 billion in total multifamily lending.

"Commercial and multifamily real estate markets got a shot in the arm from low interest rates in 2019," said Jamie Woodwell, MBA's Vice President for Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Research. "In addition to making mortgage borrowing less expensive, lower yields on a broad array of investment options are buoying the values of industrial, apartment, office, retail and other income-producing properties. This increase in property values is expected to translate into increased sales transactions and demand for mortgage debt in 2020."

MBA updates its commercial real estate finance (CREF) forecast at the beginning of each quarter, immediately after the release of its Commercial/Multifamily Quarterly DataBook, which tracks key indicators of trends and conditions in the economy and CRE and CREF markets.

MBA's commercial/multifamily members can download a copy of MBA's latest Commercial/Multifamily Real Estate Finance Forecast at www.mba.org/crefresearch.