Richard Nacht's The Daily Mortgage

Telephone apps taken by computer

Voice2Form has introduced a patented voice recognition system that integrates with NetByTel’s telephone self-service system.

”Voice2Form is pleased to be working with NetByTel to make filling out forms easier for everyone,” said Ken Barash, CEO.  “NetByTel’s self-service solutions support our unique VoiceForm(tm) technology, a voice recognition system for interactively gathering information to generate a document, form or application, such as mortgage and loan requests.”

Voice2Form will be showcasing their patented voice recognition system at the upcoming Mortgage Technology Conference, which will be held at the Hyatt Regency in Miami, January 30 - February 1, 2005. Voice2Form’s mortgage application system collects applicants’ voice entries, converts the answers to text and enters the information into most popular LOS systems to create a 1003 for exporting into DU / LP and other underwriting formats.

Hal, give me my money now.  Hal….

Bankrate and Yahoo continue partnershp

Bankrate, a banking information marketplace, has announced that it has renewed its operating agreement with Yahoo Finance.  Bankrate will continue to produce personal finance editorial content and rate table listings of banking products including mortgage loans. 

The agreement which runs through 2007 continues a relationship which has been in place since 1997.  Bankrate has similar agreements with over 75 other media companies.  Bankrate provides survey information on more than 4,800 financial institutions in all 50 states.  The company provides interest rate data on over 300 financial product categories.

MD mortgage industry - “More regulation please”

The Maryland Association of Mortgage Brokers has, for the second year in a row, drafted a bill which would increase state regulation of the mortgage industry.

The proposal would require education and licensing for mortgage originators.  Currently, mortgage lenders must obtain a lending license from the Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation, but individual loan originators do not need a license.

”The bill would help customers and mortgage brokers assess whether they are dealing with reputable loan originators,” said Tom Shaner, executive director of the Maryland Association of Mortgage Brokers.  “People see a need for us to improve professionalism within the marketplace and see how this will actually help protect consumers,” said Shaner.  He expects there to be some kickback from mortgage lenders but believes the effort will help the industry’s image.

The association estimates there are as many as 12,000 active mortgage loan originators in the state.

One curious item here -Tom Shaner is listed as the contact on the Maryland Real Estate Commission’s Division of Occupational Professional Licensing website as an “Approved Education Provider” for several approved providers.  It’ll be interesting to see what firms or people get approved to provide the loan originator educational program.

Real estate marketing in the digital age

From the Inman Blog

Fidelity launches web based bundling

Fidelity National Financial and RealEC Technologies have created a new tool for Fidelity’s agencies called FNF.net which includes the RealEC Exchange, iSelect and iBundle.  These services will allow the Fidelity title agencies to create bundles of services such as appraisal, credit, AVM and flood.  Jason Nadeau, CEO of Real EC calls FNF.net a one stop shop for Fidelity agencies to review vendors, define the guidelines needed for selecting vendors and creating the bundles of services.

”For each transaction, users simply log on and select their bundle preference, such as home equity bundle, resale bundle or construction bundle,’ said Nadeau.  “From there, the system automatically orders the various services defined for that bundle.”

FNF.net will lauch later in the 1st quarter.

Inman News Flix

Not sure what Inman is up to here but this first video from their new “Living in America” series sure presents a gorgeous New York condo.

Living in America: A mini-documentary series that captures a unique perspective on American life - how we live through our homes, apartments and communities.

Never miss another website lead!

Here’s an interesting online service which was developed for the real estate industry but seems equally valuable for mortgage lenders.

Leadphone.com calls you on your cell-phone (or any other number) each time a consumer uses a web form which you use to collect information from the prospect.  Assuming your form collects the prospect’s phone number you can make an instant return call; while they are still sitting at their computer, perhaps still on your website.

Leadphone works with any website that uses a form to collect information.  How much?  Only $15 per month, regardless of how many sites you have or how many leads you receive.

Here’s a sample.

Inman’s 10 rules for online lead generation

1. Internet leads are abundant, with companies who’ve been at the online lead game for some time saying they have much more than they can handle, and those who aren’t already in the lead game scrambling to get in.
2. The $11 billion spent annually on real estate advertising is just beginning what is expected to be a massive shift from print classifieds to online channels.
3. However, three quarters of consumers now start the home search process online, while only about 11 percent of advertising dollars current are on the web.
4. Search engines have emerged as leaders in online real estate lead services, with paid advertising services through Google and Overture significantly increasing in usage.  These two will continue to play a huge role, as their local search features grow more sophisticated.
5. Brokers and agents who entered online lead generation early are drilling down to more specific issues such as lead-response time, lead management and conversion tracking.
6. The innovative lead and technology companies are adapting to broker and agent needs, rather than trying to disintermediate them from the real estate sales process altogether.  Online lead companies and brokers offering leads to agents are taking more steps to qualify leads before handing them off.  Looking ahead, lead buyers will dictate how qualified they want their leads before purchasing them.
7. Sources for online real estate leads are endless.  Mix it up, just as you would with offline marketing - using search, affinity partners, advertising and private labeling.  Affiliate marketing programs, which use marketing affiliates or a virtual sales force specialize in driving traffic to agent and broker Web site.  There are groups, software and Web sites dedicated to helping manage a whole network of these folks.  Linkshare is one example.
8. In the hunt for Web leads, experts advise realty professionals to try everything, track effectiveness and immediately dump what’s not working.
9. The Web is pulling more brokers into the lead process - previously, many took a more hands-off approach.  Technology is empowering brokers to turn online lead generation into profits.
10. There’s a fine line between managing a long-term prospect through e-mail campaigns and spamming them.  Always give the opt-out option and pay attention to removal rates.

Source

Soccer’s David Beckham’s home on sale on eBay

David Beckham’s first home as a Manchaster United player, eventually shared with his current wife Victoria, is on sale on eBay - listing here.

Only 4 more days to bid.

Credit to Alex of Behind The Mortgage who notes:

It’s only ten minutes from the ‘football’ stadium, so if you like the idea of drunken soccer hooligans dropping by at all hours demanding a tour, bidding on the 3 bedroom Manchester home starts at £450,000.00. (Roughly $850,000)

Answers.com

Answers.com is a new type of search engine.  This search service is devoted to providing direct answers to search queries.  Using a variety of reference sources it attempts to present a well layed out organized page of relevent information about your query without the unending list of links.

A search for “mortgage” at the site results in the following type of entries:

1. Dictionary entry
2. Encyclopedia entry
3. Thesaurus entry
4. Investment category from Investopedia.com
5. Legal from Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law
6. Economics from Houghton Mifflin Company
7. Lexicon from Wordnet
8. Translations from Wizcom
9. Wikipedia entry
10. Best of the Web such as money.howstuffworks.com