TheMReport — News and strategies for the evolving mortgage marketplace.
Issue link: http://digital.themreport.com/i/1478106
M R EP O RT | 7 MTECH mortgage origination, allowing lenders to reduce costly, inelastic fulfillment operations. "We're excited to welcome Lodestar to the Vesta ecosystem to power a simplified, clear, and highly optimized delivery of clos- ing costs," said Mike Yu, Vesta's CEO. Founded in 2013, LodeStar helps mortgage originators manage their third-party closing costs to save both time and money, as well as maintaining TRID (TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule) com- pliance. "As closing cost experts and curators of an expansive and award-winning closing fee database, we are excited to ex- pand our integration network to include Vesta's LOS platform" said Jim Paolino, CEO of LodeStar. "We share a common vision for the industry, including a need for increased clarity in the mortgage process for consumers and busi- nesses alike. We're thrilled to be collaborating with Vesta in that endeavor." Streamlining Lender Workflow MORTGAGEHIPPO INTEGRATES WITH POLLY ON PRICING ENGINE M ortgageHippo has com- pleted an integration with Polly, a provider of innovative SaaS technology for the mortgage capital markets space, whereby mutual custom- ers can access Polly's Product and Pricing Engine (PPE) and fully customize their price configurations from directly within the MortgageHippo POS platform. "We are impressed with Polly's momentum and with the way the industry continues to embrace its solutions," said Valentin Saportas, CEO at MortgageHippo. "This powerful integration enables our lender users to gain seamless and easy access to Polly's solutions. We are only getting started with the PPE technology, as future inte- grations will follow. We are proud to partner with Polly as they build the next generation suite of capital markets technology." MortgageHippo's platform em- braces a no-code/low-code design to enable lenders to accelerate the time to delivery of tailored, constituent-centered experiences for both borrowers and loan of- ficers. The platform provides lend- ers with the flexibility to originate across all production channels, the agility to quickly adapt to evolving market needs, and the adaptability to keep pace with the accelerating pace of change across the landscape. From workflow automation to intuitive rule management and a fully customizable user experi- ence, Polly's PPE is helping today's lenders keep pace with an evolv- ing mortgage industry. "Judging by the rapid adoption of our cloud-native PPE, it is clear that lenders find significant value in modern technologies and the way Polly has approached innova- tion within the mortgage vertical," said Adam Carmel, Founder and CEO of Polly. "MortgageHippo's modern POS platform and our mutual commitment to customer success makes the company a great partner for us. We are proud to work with Val and his team to offer lenders seamless access to the tools and data they require to do business in this market." Next-Level Virtual Home Shopping ZILLOW'S AI-POWERED HOME TOURS NOW AVAILABLE NATIONWIDE Z illow surfing 2.0 is now available nationwide, allowing home shoppers to get a deeper sense of a home without stepping foot inside, using Zillow's AI-generated floor plan tool. Zillow's AI-generated floor plan—powered by Zillow tech, but available to use for free on listings anywhere—serves as a dynamic guide to give shop- pers digital insight and detail so they can more quickly narrow their search to only the homes they desire and want to see in- person. Zillow uses machine learning to not only generate floor plans, but also imports each listing photo and places it on the floor plan, giving shoppers an in-person perspective of a home's shape, and flow that simply scrolling through static images can never do. "Zillow surfing has always been about imagining all the possibilities a move could bring, and Zillow surfing 2.0 is bring- ing those possibilities to life in a much more interactive, realistic way," said Josh Weisberg, VP of Zillow's Rich Media Experience Team. "Now, shoppers can act more quickly and confidently, whether they're searching in their own neighborhood or hundreds or thousands of miles away. We're pushing the boundaries of what home buyers and renters can expect when shopping for a home online." For buyers and renters, Zillow's AI-generated floor plan means navigating more seamlessly and naturally through photos, a 3D Home tour and other listing information, getting a remarkably accurate sense of a home's flow and space. An hour of teleporting through interactive floor plans on Zillow can replace an afternoon, or longer, of scheduling tours and driving around town to see homes in person. Zillow uses panoramic photos captured by an agent or photog- rapher with the free 3D Home app and a 360-degree camera, and then applies the company's com- puter vision and machine-learning models to generate a 3D Home tour and interactive floor plan. This includes AI-predicted room dimensions, square footage, and the location of the listing photos relative to the other media. And now, it also imports every listing photo and places them on the floor plan to more easily navigate and get a feel for the home. The floor plan, 3D tour, and photos are automatically uploaded to the listing on Zillow and Redfin and can also be added to the MLS, embedded in a web- site, or shared via email or social media. "Immersive floor plans give agents the ability to build a connection between potential buyers and listings prior to any showings," said George Laughton, Founder of the Laughton Team in the Phoenix area. "They give buyers a sense of familiarity and make them feel as though they've