Technology

ELK Software announced last week that users of its Short Sale Commander platform have closed more than $600 million in short sales since the system was launched in early 2009. In addition, the company says more than 22,000 active residential short-sale listings valued at over $3.3 billion are currently employing Commander tools. The software features built-in comparable and automated valuation model (AVM) tools that enable agents to price distressed listings with a single-click.

ZipRealty, one of the largest real estate brokerages in the United States, offers its clients access to more than 290 short sale agents and recently launched a Ziprealty.com microsite dedicated to providing house hunters and home sellers with resources to navigate the complicated short sale process. The company says that while nearly 13 percent of home listings across the markets it serves are currently short sale properties, many clients are confused about how these sales differ from standard sales -- and ZipRealty is working to eliminate that confusion.

LenderLive Network Inc. is unveiling a new employee mortgage benefit program Tuesday that employers can offer as part of their benefits package to provide staff members with homeowner education and mortgage counseling services. LenderLive says the new solution, dubbed iBenefitsPlus, can help employers reduce turnover and build loyalty among their team, while empowering employees to make sound decisions when it comes to homeownership.

CoreLogic Credco, recently introduced Instant Merge LQ and ENCORE LQ as part of its complete suite of compliant Fannie Mae Loan Quality Initiative (LQI) solutions. The company said it created these products to help lenders satisfy requirements under the new Fannie Mae LQI, which was designed to help lenders avoid loan buy-backs.

REO properties continue to flood the market, but the process to submit an offer on one can be extremely confusing. According to industry statistics, more than half of all offers submitted on REO properties never get a response. And many never even get a glance from a decision maker because the system is so clogged and disorganized. In an effort to resolve all this confusion, Woodward Asset Capital created OfferSubmisssion.com, a new technology system aiming to streamline the REO sales process and make sure every offer is viewed and responded to within one day

Banker's Toolbox and van Wagenen Financial Services have teamed up to offer commercial real estate (CRE) loan stress testing software to their real estate customers. Through this partnership, van Wagenen is offering Banker's Toolbox's Crest software as a way for CRE lenders to further mitigate risk by evaluating the impact of market changes on their CRE portfolios.

Veros Real Estate Solutions said Wednesday that its technology platforms for delivering appraisals to mortgage and property investors adhere to the MISMO 2.6 format and meet new industry requirements for electronic appraisal data delivery. The company says this capability will result in new levels of appraisal quality and collateral documentation for all market participants and supports the industry's push for new levels of transparency.

Tranzact Information Services recently announced the launch of Loyalty Assurance, a new program designed to help lenders achieve ""dramatic improvement"" in customer retention rates. According to the company, this program enables lenders to retain incremental customers by leveraging credit inquiries to help lenders identify customers who are actively shopping for a mortgage loan.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have selected Veros Real Estate Solutions as the technology provider for the Uniform Collateral Data Portal (UCDP), which will support electronic appraisal data delivery to the GSEs. Veros will be responsible for building, maintaining, and supporting the UCDP system, and the company will manage all lender connectivity to the portal.

CoreLogic, a Santa Ana, California-based provider of information, analytics, and business services, announced Monday that it has officially launched Partner InfoNet, a new program for sharing revenue with multiple listing service (MLS) organizations. Through this innovative program, an MLS licenses its listing data for use in a variety of new risk management products for mortgage lenders, servicers, and capital markets, the company explained.