Business

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My Technology Lawyer Radio – December 18: Patrick Egger returns to talk with Co-Hosts Scott Draughon, Dave Biggers and Marco Ruiz about Fannie Mae’s 08-30 Announcement and the release of the 1004MC. Click to view..

My Technology Lawyer Radio – December 11: Woody Fincham (FM & Associates) talks with Co-Hosts Scott Draughon, Dave Biggers and Marco Ruiz about the HVCC. Click to view..

My Technology Lawyer Radio – November 13: R Patrick Egger joins co-hosts Scott Draughon, Dave Biggers and Marco Ruiz. Click to view..

My Technology Lawyer Radio - November 6: Richard Ferris joins co-hosts Scott Draughon, Dave Biggers and Marco Ruiz to discuss the inequities of appraisal standards. Click to view..

In speeches, articles, and memos over the years, I've frequently pointed out one of my pet peeves: Appraisers tend to think only about filling out forms, and not about running a real business. It's like the business is a passive activity. A couple of years ago, to help our customers take those blinders off, we developed what we call "the wheel". Click to view..

Some companies keep sailing while others run aground on the same rocks that others have before them. Why? It's all in the basic lessons learned, or all too often, ignored. I'd like to share some of my past lessons, and how they shaped the culture of our company, and therefore affect you. Click to view..

It seems these days that all the news on the TV, the web, and in the paper is focused solely on charts and graphs. Unfortunately, they all point down. Incomes, consumer spending, credit, home values, the Dow, the Standard & Poor’s, and probably your 401(k) and checking account, all are headed in the same negative direction. The only charts headed the other way are most likely your blood pressure, credit card balances, and past due billings from clients. Click to view..

Collateral management platform provider FNC, Inc. has been battling appraisers on a number of fronts lately. From federal court, to state appraisal boards, to the court of public opinion, the company behind appraisal delivery system AppraisalPort has been on defense against appraisers concerned about the integrity of their work product and their potential legal liability. Click to view..

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On October 20th, 2002 at the Mortgage Bankers Association's 89th Annual Convention & Expo, a small group of us from a la mode rolled a wicked looking stainless steel Harley Davidson V-Rod into the convention hall of the Hyatt Regency in Chicago. Click to view..

Ready to go paperless but don't know where to start? Here are a few tips. Click to view..

The holidays offer a great opportunity to reach out to contacts and prospects to drum up more orders. Click to view..

It’s been my experience that originators look at the process of ordering, reviewing, and receiving appraisals as inefficient. The problem isn’t appraisers, however, who are on the leading edge of mortgage technology. Lenders don’t seem to take advantage of technology to decrease the inefficient, often manual, processes. Despite readily available technology, many originators and AMCs do it the hard way — fax or e-mail the appraiser an order, call daily for status, request the appraisal via e-mail and hope it gets to them, call again if it doesn’t, call again if there are questions about the report, and then manually type the information from the appraisal into the loan software. Later, if there’s a question and the originator can’t find the PDF, they call the appraiser again for a copy. Sound familiar? Click to view..

"What is Exact and how do I use it to archive my databases and signature?" Exact is a product included with your Vault or Elite system purchase, and it archives your databases, signatures and software settings, like your column headings in the File Cabinet or MLS import settings. After installing Vault, click Start, Programs, a la mode Vault, and then choose Configure Exact. Like Vault, you can configure it to run automatically, as well as specify what you'd like to have archived. There are numerous backup methods available today, but Vault and Exact are the only ones designed specifically for appraisers. Click to view..

It makes virtually no difference to us whether you use the fourth generation WinTOTAL Athena, or fifth generation Aurora. But it does pay to know what the other roughly 75% of WinTOTAL users have available to them in Aurora to help make their job easier, save money and help with marketing that Athena can’t. Click to view..

Patrick Egger summarizes new FNMA appraisal guidelines. Click to view..

Upgrade to DaVinci Desktop Pro for only $23 and convert all your old sketches to DaVinci. Click to view..

New form for appraisers using Mercury takes important step toward HVCC compliance. Click to view..

Jim Westman's unique approach to getting new orders with trend analysis and graphing. Click to view..