""eMortgage Logic, LLC"":http://www.eMortgageLogic.com is celebrating its 10th year in business. The company provides residential real property valuations, data, analytics, and customized solutions, serving the needs of mortgage lenders, servicers, and investors nationwide.
[IMAGE]The idea for eMortgage Logic (EML), headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, originated with Ralph Sells during his tenure at Freddie Mac, after Sells revived a struggling internal broker price opinion (BPO) company acquired by the GSE's HomeSteps division in 1997. Sells, along with his colleagues at the time, transformed the floundering company into BPOdirect and grew it to manage 100 percent of Freddie Mac's internal BPO needs as well as those of third-party national servicing clients.
Sells, now CEO of eMortgage Logic, recalls the early days of EML. ""By 2001 I realized there were endless opportunities in the BPO market with the use of technology, the web, and advanced algorithms. That's when I convinced Chris Santore, a system programmer and now partner that we could develop better technology that was web-based and tailored to align better with clients' specific needs. I was also looking for a way to spend more time with my two sons, hoping not to travel as much if I had my own business â€" (so I thought).
""The original concept for EML was designed on napkins while sitting at Taco Bell with Chris,"" Sells went on to explain. ""We had hands-on experience managing risk from the client perspective, so our goal was to leverage that knowledge with the education we received while managing BPOdirect. From day one, Chris and I knew that
[COLUMN_BREAK]if we designed the system, maintained integrity, and treated our broker network with the same respect we treat our clients, it just might work.""
Today, Sells says EML continues with its mantra of ""exceeding client expectations and remaining flexible"" by anticipating the needs of the industry. ""It's all about maintaining a solid broker network, having the most accurate and complete data available, and the staff of dedicated, seasoned, and determined professionals behind every BPO,"" he says.
The focus for the last three years has been on the multiple listing service (MLS) and integrating the information into internal and external processes to ensure clients receive the best selection of comparables, rather than the subset of just six comparables offered by the broker, Sells explains.
He notesthat the company has also been working on a complete rewrite of its Valuation Management System (VMS) that will be used internally, in addition to offering it as a full valuation management system for clients.
""These are two major initiatives for 2012 that you will be reading about soon, or may already have with respect to our national MLS coverage,"" Sells says.
He also points out that a recent system change now allows brokers and appraisers to access MLS data directly through the eMortgage Logic system, which automatically populates the selected data input fields.
""This automated data entry…will not only expedite the…process for the brokers and provide data validation to dramatically reduce or eliminate errors incurred from the manual data entry process, but it will also act as a data validation source â€" further ensuring that the information we provide our customers is as current and valid as any available,"" according to Sells.
The automated data entry is just one of the many initiatives in development at EML, but regardless of how far it's come, the basic fundamental that serves as the company's foundation ""is making sure we are recognizing what our clients need and working together to deliver products that help manage risk. The enduring core values we built the company on 10 years ago remain intact while we focus on predicting what clients want for tomorrow,"" Sells says.