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M R EP O RT | 5 MTECH Zillow Hits Pause on iBuying ZILLOW PAUSES BUYING NEW INVENTORY UNTIL 2022; CITES BACKLOG OF RENOVATIONS AND OPERATIONAL CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS AS KEY FACTORS. Z illow, a Seattle-based real estate and financial services company, has announced that it is suspend- ing signing new contracts with homeowners who use its iBuy- ing service Zillow Offers until the end of the year. However, the company will continue buy- ing homes that were already in its pipeline as the pause impacts prospective sellers yet to sign home sale contracts. "We're operating within a labor- and supply-constrained economy inside a competitive real estate market, especially in the construction, renovation, and closing spaces," said Jeremy Wacksman, COO of Zillow. "We have not been exempt from these market and capacity issues, and we now have an operational backlog for renovations and clos- ings. Pausing new contracts will enable us to focus on sellers al- ready under contract with us and our current home inventory." Zillow Offers is a service to homeowners to sell without hav- ing to coordinate repairs or host open houses or showings. After buying a home, Zillow prepares it for sale by doing the same type of projects a typical seller would, then lists it on the open market. For prospective sellers, Zillow Offers is now connecting them with a local premier agent partner. iBuying created 1% of all U.S. home purchases last quarter for the first time as homeowners increasingly used these services to sell more than 15,000 homes nationwide. Instant buying, or iBuying, hap- pens when real estate companies use algorithms to evaluate a property's worth based on com- parable market data and purchase houses, directly from the seller, in quick cash transactions. Those companies then quickly list them for sale on the open market after making light repairs and updates. Benefits to the seller include cash offers, flexible move dates, and the convenience of preparing and not showing the home. For those same reasons, iBuyers tend to charge sellers a higher fee than traditional agents. Sprout Unveils Non- QM Offering NEW AI-BASED IANALYZE JOINS A LINE DESIGNED TO STREAMLINE LOAN PROCESSES FOR MORTGAGE BROKERS AND CORRESPONDENTS TO MEET THE DEMANDS OF NON-QM FINANCING. S prout Mortgage has re- leased its third originator- focused mortgage tool, iAnalyze, an AI-based non-QM bank statement analyzer tool designed to help mortgage bro- kers and correspondent lenders receive immediate analysis of a borrower's qualifying income. iAnalyze examines up to two years of bank statements to determine a potential borrower's qualifying income in a process that can take less than an hour. iAnalyze digitally consumes bank statements that are easily and securely uploaded. Its proprietary machine learning algorithm reads the statements and produces an automated income calculation from the transaction history. "Once again, Sprout Mortgage technology is making it easier for mortgage brokers and cor- respondent lenders to grow their business by helping them meet the needs of their clients with less effort," said Michael Strauss, CEO of Sprout Mortgage. iAnalyze was designed for third- party loan originators to eliminate the time-consuming process of income analysis required for bank statement-based loans, a staple of the non-QM market. "iAnalyze is an easy-to-use, secure, AI-driven analysis solu- tion that replaces a process which until now could involve a team of analysts and require a day or more to receive the results," said Henry Santos, Sprout's EVP and CIO. The third and newest addi- tion to Sprout's growing suite of technology, iAnalyze joins iQualifi and ACORN to streamline loan processes for mortgage brokers and correspondent lenders. iQualifi enables mortgage brokers and bankers to determine the most appropriate loan program and instantly price scenarios for customers. ACORN is Sprout's proprietary automated underwrit- ing system (AUS) used to origi- nate prime jumbo and non-QM loans with DU and LP. New Snapdocs Program Assists with Adoption of eMortgages THE NEW EMORTGAGE QUICKSTART PROGRAM, WHICH IS SUPPORTED BY FREDDIE MAC, WILL PROVIDE TECHNOLOGY, IMPLEMENTATION FRAMEWORK, AND SUPPORT TO HELP LENDERS SCALE. S napdocs has announced the launch of its eMort- gage Quickstart Program, designed to empower lenders to more readily adopt eMortgages by providing them with turnkey technology, combined with eMort- gage implementation and change management support. As part of its continued efforts to promote eMortgage adoption, Freddie Mac will work with Snapdocs to help lenders with their digital imple- mentation and delivery efforts. "Freddie Mac is a leader in eMortgage," Snapdocs Head of Industry and Regulatory Affairs Camelia Martin said. "They've paved the way for industry adop- tion through forward-thinking digital closing acceptance policies and support for lenders. We look forward to building upon Freddie Mac's investments in eMortgage adoption by expanding access "We now have an operational backlog for renovations and closings. Pausing new contracts will enable us to focus on sellers already under contract with us and our current home inventory." —Jeremy Wacksman, COO, Zillow