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36 | M R EP O RT FEATURE Appraisal Technology Innovation That Maximizes ROI for Mortgage Lenders Rather than focusing solely on the customer-facing portions of the mortgage origination cycle, lenders must also focus on streamlining the unseen backend elements that account for the biggest delays. By Vladimir Bien-Aime T he mortgage industry is typically very slow when it comes to embracing new technology. Its advancements are mostly driven by regulation, GSE policy, or disruptive technology. The latest advances, spurred by the launch of Quicken Loans' Rocket Mortgage, have simplified the application process and have proven to be wildly successful. This approach clearly has mass appeal and has left most lenders scrambling to find technology solutions that provide a better borrower experience. This inno- vation has significantly increased the mortgage lender's investment in technology, although much of their focus has remained on Point of Sale (POS) solutions. The new POS solutions have clearly made an impact reducing inefficiencies on the frontend, driving up the number of mort- gage applications. Unfortunately, this large increase in applications, which was also fueled by low interest rates, has exacerbated inefficiencies and brought to light clear issues within many lenders' back-offices. As a result, lenders have not been able to see their return on investment from technology spend. Rather than focusing solely on the customer-facing portions of the mortgage origination cycle, lenders must also focus on streamlining the unseen backend elements that account for the biggest delays. By accelerating the backend of the mortgage origina- tion process, lenders will become more profitable and greatly improve the borrower experience by reducing the overall number of days it takes to close a loan. Lenders attempting to identify backend inefficiencies that can be addressed with technology often begin with the appraisal process, as the issues surrounding it make it hard to be overlooked. The traditional appraisal process is extremely manual, time-consum- ing, and resource intensive—thus allowing significant opportunity for improvement. This process, if not managed properly, can delay closings, frustrate borrowers, and kill deals. However, the right appraisal management technol- ogy can deliver remarkable ROI by automating manual processes, connecting systems, cutting hard- costs, and reducing man-hours. The time it takes to complete a real estate appraisal is typically measured in weeks and contin- ues to rise. Some borrowers are experiencing delays of over eight weeks, and with the high volume of loans, combined with the diminishing population of apprais- ers, the problem is only getting worse. Today, valuation manage- ment technology companies offer a range of solutions to attempt to alleviate the problem. The goal for lenders in adopting these solutions is to increase productivity, lower risk, and increase profit margins, as many that previously rejected these types of technology innova- tions have become more open to make the leap into the digital mortgage world to ensure they stay compliant and competitive. Most appraisal management systems offer some benefits that can assist in improving internal processes. However, many of these platforms are far from a comprehensive, end-to-end solu- tion—providing limited resources and functionality. Global DMS' EVO platform is revolutionizing the way lenders manage collateral by streamlining the entire apprais- al process through workflow au- tomation, programmable artificial intelligence (AI) assignment, trans- parent communication, and LOS connectivity. EVO also supports key backend processes, including secure automated borrower credit card processing and compliant ap- praisal delivery. When evaluating an appraisal management platform, lenders must ensure the software has the basics met, provides automated delivery to the UCDP, EAD, and the upcoming FHA Catalyst portal, and should settle for nothing less than an enter- prise-level solution that can offer true end-to-end automation—from initial assignment to review to final delivery. Global DMS' EVO appraisal management platform com- pletely automates the entire real estate appraisal process, while providing the industry's only Compliance Guarantee Program. Best of all, EVO is completely user configurable—ensuring a fast, personalized, and pain-free implementation that can be mea- sured in days. Lenders looking for a plug-and-play solution to address their numerous appraisal woes need to look no further, as EVO provides the ability to easily implement and change their valuation process without costly and time-consuming internal IT projects, no matter their business model—whether that's managing several Appraisal Management Companies (AMCs) or their own appraisal panel directly. . VLADIMIR BIEN-AIME is the President and CEO of Global DMS, which he founded in 1999 and built from the ground up. Since that time, he has grown the company into the mortgage industry's leading provider of cloud-based, enterprise-class valuation management software solutions, including EVO™ Global DMS' newest platform. SPONSORED BY GLOBAL DMS