Lenders who can’t remove the friction won’t compete in the coming market.

CRANBURY, N.J., April 19, 2022 -- Mortgage Lenders and the Title Companies that partner with them must communicate better if they hope to win business in a purchase money market. That’s the conclusion of a new White Paper published by AtClose, a division of Visionet Systems, the leader in digitally enabled solutions to drive global business with next-generation digital mortgage, title, and escrow solutions.

"To remain competitive in this environment requires lenders to offer higher levels of customer satisfaction, lower costs or both. But to do that, the lender must become much more efficient," said AtClose Senior Vice President, Adeel Ahmad. "The answer is a cost-effective platform that increases efficiencies to lower costs and provides an opportunity for flexible vendor pricing that does not require additional human intervention. The right platform takes over work that previously was assigned to human staff and makes data more accessible to managers. This is exactly what we offer."

AtClose enables faster closings and data-driven insights for better communication and shorter time cycle for both the mortgage lending and title industries. This integration provides AtClose users direct access to X1 Analytics products and services without leaving the platform.

In its paper the company offers a candid exploration of the market’s current challenges and explains why friction in the order management process is still costing lenders too much time, money, and business. The key to higher levels of customer satisfaction is described in detail in the new paper.

The new White Paper titled, “Managing Mortgage Lending Chaos with Better Order Processes” can be downloaded from this link.

Experienced technical support expert moves to the front to work with new clients.

Washington, D.C., – March 31, 2022 – Appraisal Logistics, a leading provider of high quality appraisal management technology and compliance solutions for the residential/commercial mortgage industry, announced today that Jake Ritterpusch, an experienced customer service professional and processor who has served the company since 2019, has been promoted to Sales Executive.

“I always prefer to promote from within when possible because it gives us access to professionals who already know our company and our culture,” said Dennis Ashcroft, Executive Vice President of Appraisal Logistics. “Moving Jake onto the sales team makes perfect sense. He has been working with our customers for years, knows our technology and is a great example of the personal focus we bring to every lender we serve.”

In his new position, Ritterpusch will be responsible for promoting and closing sales for both the company’s Appraisal Management services and its proprietary AIM-Port appraisal management technology platform that lenders use to manage the appraisal process in-house. He will interact with lenders nationwide.

AIM-Port is a single source solution developed to bring management and operations teams, technical tools and vendor partners together seamlessly. The platform improves workflow efficiency and accuracy in a cost-effective manner to support the lender’s own vendor process. The software can be used for residential or commercial valuations and BPO transactions. It is already integrated with many LOS, GSE, FHA and other industry applications.

The company’s Property Vision remote appraisal product saw impressive growth during the COVID years of 2020 and 2021. Now that desktop appraisal and remote appraisal technologies have been embraced by the GSEs, the company expects the product to become even more popular for both lenders and appraisers. As a result, Appraisal Logistics is perfecting its PropertyVision Live product, which will add additional remote appraisal functionality.

“This will definitely be a new challenge that I am excited to embrace,” Ritterpusch said. “I love working with our customers and it’s exciting to me to get the chance to introduce more lenders to the technology and industry-leading appraisal management services we offer. I have a good understanding of the appraisal market nationwide and this role will allow me to see another side of the business, where I’ll have new opportunities to succeed.”

One of the mortgage industry’s most experienced consultants joins the growing firm.

DENVER, CA—March 30, 2022—BlackFin Group, a management consulting firm serving the Banking and Mortgage Industries, announced today that industry veteran Luana Slettedahl has joined the company as a Principal. She brings forty years of diversified experience in Capital Markets, Mortgage Servicing Rights, GSE and Ginnie Mae relationship management and Seller / Servicer requirements to the company. 

“I am so pleased to have Luana on our team,” said Keith Kemph, BlackFin Group CEO. “I don’t know anyone else in the industry that has the depth and breadth of experience that she brings, especially when it comes to Capital Markets, the GSEs and Ginnie Mae. She brings a new level of consulting expertise to BlackFin at a time when the industry desperately needs what she knows.”

Slettedahl comes to BlackFin from Acorn Mortgage Consulting LLC, where she served as President. Prior to that she served as the Manager of Loan Securitization, Post Closing, Investor and Agency Eligibility for Colorado Housing and Finance Authority. Before that she was Senior Vice-President and Senior Transaction Manager for Phoenix Capital and Senior Vice-President of Secondary Marketing, in addition to various Operations oversight roles, at HomeAmerican Mortgage Corp. She started her career at Security Pacific Mortgage Corp., where she was eventually promoted to Vice-President of Trading.

Slettedahl’s background is extensive and includes developing loan pricing models, hedging strategies for multiple product types, best execution analysis, as well as layering of best execution with the value of the MSR asset. Her strength in Capital Markets includes investor contract negotiation, product implementation, loan securitization on a loan production volume of up to $3.5 billion.  

“I already had a great experience working with Keith Kemph and Bill Corbet of BlackFin Group,” Slettedahl said. “I wasn’t looking for a new position, but my conversation with them was so free of clutter I was intrigued. So often, professional women must prove themselves over again and learn about a new pecking order with every new position, but I saw none of this in the BlackFin culture. Seeing an open culture led by positive people who are on a mission to change the business environment through consulting was very encouraging. I’m excited about this next chapter in my career.”

Slettedahl is trained in Lean Six Sigma methods and currently serves as the Programs Committee Chairperson of the Colorado Mortgage Lenders Association.