Good afternoon —
It is no secret that interest rates are on the rise. Last Thursday, the Freddie Mac PMMS mortgage survey showed that the average purchase mortgage rate touched 4.67%, which is the highest reading since December 2018, according to Freddie Mac.
Over the past few months, as mortgage rates have begun to rise, the title industry has shifted from a more refinance heavy market to a purchase transaction market.
"Rising mortgage rates signals a shift to a purchase market," Doma CEO Max Simkoff said. "With inflation rising, we knew it was coming and expected a heavy purchase market to follow."
In a stroke of brilliant luck, Doma shifted its purchase transactions over to the firm's Intelligence Platform during the fourth quarter of 2021, a move Simkoff said had been in the plan for years, nevertheless he couldn't be happier about the timing.
Through the Doma Intelligence Platform, real estate agents and purchase clients are able to easily track where their title order is in the process. According to Simkoff, the transparency this provides helps the firm achieve its goal of speeding up the closing process, as the real estate agent or closing coordinator immediately knows if there is a snag in title.
"Our key value drivers are being faster and providing our customers with higher certainty," Simkoff said.
In addition, Simkoff said Doma is working on a few other marketing strategies to overcome the challenges posed by the shift in the market as the company works to its goal of being profitable by 2023.
"Toward the end of last year we started bolstering our sales team to focus on selling more to the purchase market," he said. "We have also shifted a lot of our marketing so it is aimed at real estate agents and purchase customers."
How is your company working to tackle the challenges posed by a shifting market? Email me at brooklee@hwmedia.com
Until Next Week,
Brooklee Han
Real Estate and Title Industry Reporter
brooklee@hwmedia.com
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