Hi all and Good Morning!
Thank you for asking about our pricing and process. I have to admit it's an evolving area for us with the mobile application. Please know our intention is not to "lowball" signing agents using the technology, but rather we need to figure out how to utilize the technology to more efficiently assign closings to the signing agents that get the orders usually anyway.
One of the challenges we have had is what pricing is "pushed out" in our emails and mobile applications. In certain parts of the country it is very common for a $90 refinance or lender buyer only closing fee for a "standard refinance" while in other areas the fee is likely closer to $100. This is generally determined by the availability of quality signing agents in the area and our historical pricing in the area (i.e. if we have 5 really good signing agents in your area that work with $90 and you only take $100 then you could be missing out on orders).
At the end of the day, our objective is to obtain quality work while minimizing the cost to us without offering ridiculous lowball prices like $50 or $65 that we see some companies offer. We also are constantly working to provide a fair price when we do see large closing packages. Some clients are more flexible in their understanding (particularly those 200+ page packages) but far more often these days we do see packages of 160-180 pages as "standard" and we only make $125 so if we ask you to stick to a price on those it's not because we don't value your time. Rather, we're just trying to make something on them if we can too.
This all being said, our mobile app / email system has some room for improvements. Today the system will look at the "Base Rate" which is the starting point of pricing for that closing type and most every person will receive the order at that price generally. We are currently in the process of revamping our scheduling internally to improve upon this as we know not every order is scheduled at $90 or $70 for a cash closing so it's inefficient for you to receive a request at $90 and either reply via email "I need $100." or to simply ignore the request. This doesn't benefit anyone.
A few updates forthcoming or available:
1. You will notice a calendar view within your profile. We are going to use this data to determine availability so we aren't sending you order requests or calling you at times you are already booked or have marked "Out of Office". This will improve efficiency at month-end and save your time from phone calls you don't need or want either. I know I have called some of you myself 4 or 5 times on the last day to close about 5 different closings at 5, 6, or 7 PM because we all make hundreds of calls throughout the course of a day at month-end and forget who we've spoken with. This calendar feature will help minimize this annoyance to you 
2. We will be customizing pricing to the signing agents in an area so hopefully these requests will more accurately reflect what you typically make on your closings. We will be doing this by using historical data and looking at availability within an area. This will take some time and tweaking but we believe we can enhance this greatly and refine it as time goes on.
We recognize there is room for improvement. Our challenge doesn't lend itself to simple solutions, but we believe we can build an efficient method to assigning closings by marrying technology, process, and our people.
We've always been willing to "work with you" when we have a longer than usual distance or a larger than average closing package so hopefully you don't see the integrity of our company being compromised. We still have the same goal today as we had years ago, and that won't change no matter how large we get.
Thanks for the questions and feedback. It's valuable to us as we look at how to improve.
Mark
|
