Solving Appraisal Turn Times and Workflow Inefficiencies with Reggora
Hundreds of mortgage lending executives joined #NEXTWINTER21 conference to learn about the latest developments in the housing finance industry. The event was packed with amazing content and speakers over three days of virtual sessions (all available on-demand here), covering topics such as the economic landscape, diversity and inclusion, digital transformation, and more.
Reggora hosted a session featuring CEO Brian Zitin, the COO of Planet Home Lending, Suzy Lindblom, and valued customer Jan Valencia from Alpha Mortgage. In their discussion, the three tackled the big challenges in the valuation process and how Reggora can help.
Appraisals can cause anxiety for borrowers
Moderator Suzy Lindblom kicked off the discussion noting that she loves hearing updates from “luminaries in the tech world,” before introducing Reggora CEO Brian Zitin and his guest Jan Valencia. Lindblom then noted that traditional appraisal processes are generally fragmented and turn-times are unnecessarily delayed, and challenged Zitin to tell her more about the Reggora solution.
“I don’t think there’s anyone who says ‘I love appraisals,’ and I think everyone knows it’s one of the more difficult parts of the mortgage process, especially for the borrower who’s going through this huge transaction. Appraisals are just these anxious moments,” he said. “Everything’s going digital and appraisals just take so much time.”
How Reggora puts borrowers at ease during the appraisal process
Zitin added that traditional appraisals create additional “friction” to add to that borrower anxiety, including scheduling and payment. Borrowers who are getting a traditional appraisal are more likely to have a more delayed date to closing, when compared to borrowers who use lenders who implement Reggora.
Zitin then described the end-to-end system at Reggora as operating similar to the "Domino's Pizza tracker" which follows the customer’s pizza from order, through the pizzeria, and all the way to home delivery. And there’s even a mobile app for that, too, Zitin said.
“I love that! I love that!” Lindblom said. “We aren’t following our pizza, we’re following our appraisal!”
Lender visibility into appraisal orders
Lindblom then asked Valencia to discuss her experience using Reggora as a lender:
“The reaction for us has just been phenomenally positive. We just feel like this is no longer in a black hole for us. We've got that full communication.” She added that “The implementation was very well-organized. The workflow discovery was easy. There wasn't a rock unturned to make sure we had our workflow lined out. I really felt like there was not a heavy lift.”
When asked to talk about some of the benefits her team has experienced thanks to Reggora, Valencia explained, “the automation alone for all of our staff, it's hard to quantify it completely.” Valencia and Alpha Mortgage have since been able to revisit the savings experienced thanks to Reggora and found automation reduced costs by $70 per loan file.
“One of the best things that we've seen as it relates to efficiencies is that we're able to order all of our appraisals on one platform, and we can order it through our LOS. It's a totally user friendly, easy couple of clicks. The appraisals are ordered and the communication is updated in our LOS, but the ability to order conventional FHA, USDA, and VA loans, all in the same portal, all in the same place through your LOS, [is] our biggest efficiency save.”
"Loan officers are just thrilled with Reggora"
“I think the reaction that’s been the strongest is from the Loan Officers,” Valencia explained. “With all the manual process, and not knowing where the appraisal is at [with traditional systems], versus [with Reggora], when they're out in the field, they're visiting a realtor office or a builder office, they can pull it up on their phone. ‘Hey, your appraisal is scheduled. They're coming out Thursday. That's great.’ And that between the loan officer, the agents, and the builder, keeping those people updated on the appraisal — because it's kind of a major part of the process — and getting it to the closing table. The loan officers are just thrilled.”
Valencia wrapped up the session by sharing her belief “that [Reggora is] going to be able to bring innovative technology to the market very quickly,” concluding that she’s “really looking forward to [their] partnership with Reggora in that respect.”
We’re excited to continue our partnership with Jan and the Alpha Mortgage team too! If you’d like to learn more about how Reggora might be able to help you or your team, reach out to us today!
All #NEXTWINTER21 sessions are digitally available here.
