TheMReport

MReport July 2017

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TH E M R EP O RT | 5 MTECH interdisciplinary studies with a concentration in business and psychology after completing coursework at Judson University and the New York Institute of Technology. In her new role as Director of Finance and Accounting, Nicholas will manage the accounts receiv - able and loss management teams at Safeguard. Previously, Nicholas served in the accounting departments at Forest City Realty Trust, Avery Dennison, and Barnes Distribution. She oversaw strategic process improvement initiatives, operational efficiency, and stan - dard process and internal control frameworks. Nicholas graduated from Franklin University. Perfect Practice, Affinity Consulting Partner for Streamlined Offerings AFFINITY WILL SELL PERFECT PRACTICE AS A VALUE-ADDED RESALER, AND IT WILL ADVISE PERFECT PRACTICE CLIENTS ON THEIR FULL-TECH SUITES. P erfect Practice, an Orlan- do, Florida-based pro- vider of legal management services technology, announced in late May a partnership with Affinity Consulting Group, which offers technology and management solutions for law firms and legal departments. "The partnership will create a streamlined array of services," ac - cording to Perfect Practice. Affinity Consulting will of- fer its clients Perfect Practice's product suite in the capacity of a value-added reseller, and Affinity will help Perfect Practice clients maximize their efficiency with their full suite of technologies. "With this partnership, we will be providing clients the soft - ware solutions they need to stay organized and the expertise they need to streamline operations," said Monty Helin, Chairman of Perfect Practice. Helin also said, "At Perfect Practice, we honestly can't think of a better match than Affinity Consulting." Debbie Foster, a partner at Affinity Consulting Group said of the partnership, "Perfect Practice has always been a well-respected case management solution in the indus - try. Our dynamic consulting and training solutions are a great match and we're really excited to work with the Perfect Practice Team." "This will be a win for both of us, but it will be an even bigger win for our customers," she added. Perfect Practice has provided technology for legal professionals for more than 30 years. Affinity Consulting Group leverages the experience of former attorneys, law firm administra - tors, paralegals, law firm trainers, and legal IT professionals to offer strategic technology solutions to maximize efficiency. Elm Street Technology Acquires Consolidated Knowledge THE ACQUISITION IS THE THIRD RECENT ACQUISITION FOR EST. E lm Street Technology (EST), which offers a port- folio of real estate tech- nology and marketing services companies for agents, teams, and brokerages, announced in May the acquisition of Consolidated Knowledge, a technology plat - form provider to the residential real estate and multifamily industries. The acquisition is the next step in EST's ongoing ef - forts to consolidate the real estate industry's leading technology and marketing service providers. EST made a number of stra - tegic moves in recent months in order to create a portfolio of marketing and technology products and services that, when integrated, offer a single technol - ogy solution. This will provide lead generation to client retention services for agents, teams, brokers, and others. So far, the company has acquired Listingbook, a lead - ing MLS data-powered CRM platform, and RLS2000, a premier provider of IDX websites and social media marketing services. "Our team is excited to join the portfolio of EST's companies and I'm personally looking forward to joining such an experienced and well-respected leadership team," said Lucas Haldeman, Founder and CEO of Consolidated Knowledge. "The current vendor landscape in the real estate indus - try is way too fragmented, causing extra work and unnecessary time investments from real estate professionals. EST is devoted to developing or acquiring all prod - ucts and services under one roof that today's real estate professional needs to grow their business." HouseCanary Goes Mobile with Appraisal Software HOUSECANARY APPRAISER IS NOW ACCESSIBLE IN THE FIELD, AND INFORMATION BECOMES INSTANTLY ACCESSIBLE ON ANY DEVICE. H ouseCanary, a provider of real estate valuation and appraisal products, adapted its appraisal software, which was previously only available via web browsers, for use on mobile devices,. HouseCanary Appraiser is a cloud-based program that is known for its ability to simplify the complex process of appraisals. The software utilizes easy-to-use features that eliminate data entry and that generate comparables with small gross adjustments. It is also the only software of its kind that does not require plugins, which are an extra expense. "We've seen appraisers finish appraisals in under two hours using this single software—a com - plete game-changer," said Steve O'Brien, HouseCanary's Director of Real Estate Analytics. O'Brien has over 35 years of experience as an assessor and chief ap - praiser and believes integrating the software with mobile devices makes the technology "even more groundbreaking." The software contains real-time data sync that allows information to transfer easily from a computer to a mobile device. Now appraisers can access that information directly from their phones or tablets without transferring it from their browsers. "By drawing on its unique core competence in data, HouseCanary has been able to make some truly unique and powerful enhance - ments to appraisal technology," said Michael Dresden, President of Dart Appraisal, an independent appraisal company. HouseCanary is a California- based company that collects real estate data and creates products to help professionals in the industry perform. The appraisal software utilizes HouseCanary's proprietary algorithms that draw on more than 1 billion historical home transactions in the United States as well as the hundreds of current demand inputs collected at the block level. The integration of a mobile application allows appraisers to complete reports from start to fin - ish while on site, ultimately cutting down on time and costs. Black Knight Launches Municipal Lien Search THE NEW SEARCH TOOL DELIVERS INFORMATION ON LIENS OFTEN LEFT OUT OF TRADITIONAL TITLE SEARCHES . B lack Knight Financial Services launched its Mu- nicipal Lien Search solution in May to help uncover property debts and reduce risk associ- ated with liens not included on property reports or outside of the scope of title insurance coverage. County debts; code and force vio - lations in waste, water, and sewer are examples of these liens. Undiscovered and unrecorded municipal liens become the responsibility of the new property owner upon closing. Black Knight said its Municipal Lien Search solution is a faster and simpler way to help identify unrecorded property liens through access to more property and tax data than can be pulled from a traditional online title search. Black Knight explained that they can help iden - tify outstanding property liens, violations, assessments, and more that fail to show up in a standard title search. The search presents findings in a clear, concise report

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