TERANET LAUNCHES PURVIEW TO DLC NETWORK

Teranet is excited to announce a recent partnership with Dominion Lending Centres that will enable all DLC agents across Canada to access Purview For Mortgage Brokers.  DLC head office has made this available to their agents free of charge by covering the subscription costs on behalf of their network.

Getting excited for the CAAMP Mortgage Forum, November 23-25

The annual CAAMP Mortgage Forum is coming up this November in Montreal. The Purview Team is excited to be attending the country’s largest gathering of mortgage professionals. What better way to discover the best solutions to advance your business and gather new industry relevant information than at this amazing event!

Due Diligence: Who Bears this Responsibility - Mortgage Broker or Real Estate Broker?

Many property purchases involve a seller, real estate agent/broker and mortgage agent/broker. The latter are both licensed, regulated professionals who deal with different aspects of the transaction. Each will take some of the same but also different due diligence measures when working on a deal. Even if someone else who is party to a deal indicates that they have performed due diligence, do you take their word for it?

Due diligence has become hugely important, both as it relates to not wasting time and expense on problematic deals but also because it prevents fraud which is rampant today. The question has often been posed: who bears the responsibility to perform due diligence – the real estate agent/broker or the mortgage agent/broker? I think that this question arises from time to time because both real estate agents/brokers and mortgage agents/brokers both have a need to validate information like whose name is on title, what is owed on the home, etc…

The evolution of technology has brought us a number of different online tools that can be used to validate critical information about a property and its owner. Many real estate agents/brokers for example have access to tools like GeoWarehouse that they use to validate home ownership information for example, while many mortgage agents/brokers turn to Purview for this purpose.

Rather than either/or, we tend to take the position that each individual should take their own measures to complete due diligence, both to protect themselves and their partners but also to close more deals and drive up closing rates.

As a mortgage agent/broker, what information should you be seeking to validate at the application stage?

Verify who is on title to the property. It is quite common to work on a deal and verify mortgages registered on title, get an estimate of the property value, view the property’s sales history, etc… This will enable you, if there are other people on title, to determine more or less if the stated value in the application is accurate and also to validate that all mortgages on the property have been disclosed and that there are no discrepancies. It is common in the case of mortgage refinancing for consumers to fail to disclose a second mortgage or home equity line of credit. When this comes up on closing not only can your deal disappear but considerable time will have been invested with your partners too: lender, insurer, real estate lawyers…

Taking the responsibility to perform your own due diligence has so many cost benefits. Time saved underwriting deals, expense underwriting, strengthened relationships with lenders because a higher percentage of the applications you submit will lead to funded deals are just a few examples.

For more about the benefits of performing your due diligence please contact Purview For Mortgage Brokers today by calling 1.855.787.8439.

Myth vs. Fact - What an AVM is and What it is Not!

You may have, on occasion, submitted a deal to a lender who has come back and said that they disagree with a property value stated on an application and either reject the deal or request an appraisal. You may or may not know this, but lenders have access to more tools today than ever before and it has become a very common underwriting practice for lenders and insurers to run an AVM to validate the value stated on a mortgage application. 

An AV… what? An AVM (Automated Valuation Model) is a mathematically based computer program that produces an estimate of the market value of a residential property based on the analysis of public record data, property location, market conditions and real estate characteristics at a specified date. This means that the program generates the estimated value based on official documented records and statistical modeling. 

It should not be confused with an appraisal as there is no human element. An appraiser does not come to the home, nor do they give credit or deduct credit as it relates to interior and exterior property condition, improvements, etc. It is an automated program that a lender, broker or insurer can use, with a couple of clicks of a mouse, to get a general idea as to whether or not the value stated in mortgage applications are accurate.

So, the output of an AVM is not, by itself, an appraisal. With that said, an AVM's output may become a basis for appraisal, appraisal review, or appraisal consulting opinions and conclusions if there are discrepancies. There are instances where AVMs are used by lenders to replace, supplement and/or audit the traditional appraisal process.

It pays to access the same tools and knowledge that lenders and insurers will. As more tools have become available to lenders, they have also become available to mortgage brokers. Purview is a great example of this. Traditionally many lenders have used Purview For Lenders to generate their AVMs, a broker version of this tool (Purview For Mortgage Brokers) released in recent years that accesses the same information. This means that a broker who generates an AVM, if using the same criteria as the lender, will be able to see what value will appear in the AVM once the lender requests one.

Brokers who have access to these types of tools instantly become more competitive. Problem deals are identified at the application stage, greatly reducing deals that go to lenders and then are rejected or fail to close. Higher closure rates = stronger relationships with lenders and other partners.

For more detailed information about the Automated Valuation Model please click here: http://brokers.purview.ca/automated-valuation-model.php or feel free to contact us at 1.855.787.8439.

Game Time!! Important Mortgage Industry Words

This month’s game is a crossword puzzle that includes many common mortgage industry words used today to describe entities, designations and information that matters to a mortgage broker or agent. Take a break and test your knowledge – then forward it along and see if any of your colleagues can beat your time! 

Check out the crossword here: http://justcrosswords.com/Mortgage_Acronyms_custom35298.html.  

Good luck!!!

Want more information about how Purview For Mortgage Brokers can make your life that much easier? Contact us today by calling 1.855.787.8439.