– In 2022, forward-looking clients are investing in automation and workflow enhancements to work faster, smarter and more cost effectively –
What will 2022 look like for the title industry? The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) expects origination volume to reach $2.6 trillion this year, which would rank as the fourth best year for origination volume in the last 15, but not quite the frenzy experienced in 2021.
As we shift to a more normalized housing market and transaction volume, title companies will need to elevate the priority of initiatives that were stalled during record-setting 2021. During boom times, business priorities often emphasize building capacity over cost control, and major reengineering projects and tech implementations may be reprioritized until things slow down. In 2022, title companies may have the opportunity to accelerate initiatives that were pushed to the side to focus on closing transactions and enhancing customer service in 2021.
The past two years have demonstrated the resilience and innovative spirit of the title industry. Despite the pandemic and its challenges, the title industry hit new production milestones through the adoption of innovative processes and technology. As we enter 2022, the opportunity exists to leverage technology, data and partnerships to reduce costs, optimize efficiencies, improve performance and further accelerate the digital transformation of title and settlement.
Committed to Data Leadership
DataTrace is the industry leader in title information. Last year, more than 15 million title searches per month were conducted on our platform and we added more than 1,000 new title plants - tripling our coverage to more than 80% of the U.S. population and bringing our total network of plants to more than 1,600. These new plants were built using the latest artificial intelligence and automation technology to help accelerate the digital transformation of title and settlement. They are an investment in the future of the title industry, and their value to our customers will only grow as the historical depth of their data increases year after year.
In addition to title information, DataTrace also captures and curates 100% of recorded U.S. property and tax data. DataTrace’s industry-leading network of regional title plants property ownership databases contain more than 7 billion recorded land record images and we currently scan, index and post over 2.6 million document images per month.
State-of-the-Art Technology & Integration Investments
DataTrace continues to make major investments in technology and integrations to broaden the solutions we offer our clients. Today, we are redefining title, evidence, workflow, decisioning and delivery by combining our data, technology and integration advantage.
On the solutions side, DataTrace has invested in new technology like TitleIQ™ Enterprise and DataTrace TaxSource™ solutions that take time, cost, effort and errors out of various steps in the title process.
- TitleIQ Enterprise, for example, is a single-source platform that accesses our vast nationwide data sources and provides unified title search workflows, automation efficiencies, a robust examination workbench and direct integration to leading title production systems. TitleIQ Enterprise increases accuracy, standardizes workflows, enhances adherence to underwriting guidelines and helps mitigate risk by allowing examiners to focus on more complex underwriting activities.
- Similarly, TaxSource automates the labor-intensive and time-consuming process of obtaining tax status information. TaxSource standardizes hundreds of different tax reporting formats used by more than 23,000 taxing authorities in the U.S. The solution produces a single, easy-to-read report that is integrated into leading commercial and proprietary title production systems through robust API integrations. Nearly three quarters of all requests are filled within four hours and most of these within minutes.
Finally, our data and solutions are integrated with leading third-party processing systems like Qualia®, SoftPro®, ResWare and RamQuest.
In 2022, forward-looking clients will recognize the opportunity invest in automation and workflow enhancements to work faster, smarter and more cost effectively. And DataTrace will be there to help as the industry’s trusted provider of nationwide data, technology and connectivity.