00:00I'm Alison LaForgia, Managing Editor of HousingWire's Content Studio and today I'm with Leah
00:10Summerville for today's episode of 10 Minute Talks. Yes, thank you Alison. I'm so excited to be here.
00:16I'm so excited to have you and first I want to congratulate you on your recent award for being
00:21named a HousingWire rising star. Congratulations. Thank you so much Alison. I'm really excited.
00:26It is very well deserved and I want to start with a little backstory into your industry. So
00:32you are now the Director of Sales at DocMagic but let's start with what got you into the mortgage
00:38industry. Yes, I've always had a passion for business and so when I graduated college I walked
00:43into this industry like a wide-eyed little dove. I had no idea what to expect and it has not stopped
00:49surprising me since the beginning. I will admit I'm a millennial so I expect to use technology in
00:55every aspect of my life and so it's really was eye-opening to enter the mortgage industry and
01:01realize that there were a lot of paper and outdated processes and so it's really been kind of a natural
01:06one foot in front of the other as we make change with that. Now you joined DocMagic in 2019 and since
01:13then every time I see you you've been a driving force behind e-closings and e-signature and digital
01:21workflows. Can you talk to me a little bit about what motivated you to help lenders or even the
01:28industry at large transition to a digital close workflow? Yeah, absolutely. You know I kind of
01:35mentioned that I do use technology in my day-to-day life and so I guess I thought everyone pushed button
01:41got mortgage but that wasn't necessarily really the case and so because I'm a people person and a
01:46good problem solver it just seemed like a natural fit for me to help lenders make that digital
01:51transformation from those outdated paper processes because I mean if you think about it the closing
01:56table is the last touch point these lenders have with borrowers and it blew my mind to realize that
02:00that's a critical bottleneck. And it's what they're left with and that paper signing process is their
02:07last impression right? Absolutely. When you're at that table. Yes and it goes more than just the paper
02:13signing process let's think about all the compliance that goes into that why would we have you know in
02:17house compliance teams when you can have partners that have the compliance expertise generate documents
02:23in seconds have your borrowers review them at their convenience and then you have a 15 minute closing
02:27that's error proof. Now 2019 it's been a minute we've I feel like we've moved leaps and bounds since then
02:36how hard was that for you when you first started? Um it was a great growth opportunity because I
02:42certainly learned empathy okay um you know the borrowers couldn't go anywhere lenders didn't know
02:47what to do and so really that was the prime opportunity to implement digital closings that are possible
02:53from virtually anywhere so I think it was kind of a great I hate to say it but if I find like a rainbow
02:59after every storm it was a good launching pad for a digital close experience. Now I've known you for
03:06years at this point and I feel like whenever we talk there's an emphasis between a consultative
03:13approach but also white glove service. Now you've adopted that approach and what are the but what are
03:21the biggest challenges that you see outside of that service that you're delivering to lenders
03:25for lenders to actually adopt a paperless process? Hmm I do love white glove service because I like doing
03:33things well and like I said I'm a people person and so I really think the biggest thing with the digital
03:38adoption has been change management. We know the technology works the technology is built it's patented
03:45it's there it's just the adoption piece and so that's why I think like that hands-on white glove treatment
03:50is important because it's not just about selling technology having a great idea to implement it
03:55it's about actually successfully adopting it with internal teams and partners. So when you go to
04:03look at that adoption process how often after you get through showing use cases are people like oh do
04:10you have that like moment after you take them through things where it clicks and they're like
04:14I see the vision now? Yeah at every but it happens time and time again at every different level of the
04:18organization because the c-suite has the great idea to implement something new they can see the ROI in it
04:24but you've also got to get the buy-in of the people that are using it every single day and
04:28that are speaking with those borrowers and working with them because it's those people that are on
04:31the ground with the borrowers that really make the biggest impact I think. Let's talk about the
04:35borrowers for a minute how much do you see this impacting their experience when they actually go
04:43to close their mortgage or when they're in the process of even getting to the table? Drastically
04:48I mean when's the last time you shopped for anything unexpected to get it quickly and you weren't online
04:53so consumers have a digital expectation from the start of their home shopping process so I really
05:00like that e-closing allows them to you know not only shop for the homes online before it gets
05:05you know to the closing table but then review those documents at home in their slippers and then show
05:11up to a closing table from virtually anywhere and they feel more confident and it's a 15 minute experience.
05:17Let's say you're a nurse or a firefighter and you just came off of a 24-hour shift and you only have 12
05:25hours or however many hours before your next shift and you have to look at documents you don't have to
05:31go into an office you can sit you can take your shower sit in your pajamas and actually review something
05:37I mean to me that we weren't there as an industry is so crazy because I mean even today
05:42I ordered something and had it delivered here on site and was able to see where it was the whole time
05:51went out got it no problem and it's crazy I think sometimes that there's some still some people who
05:55want to hold on to that paper. Yes and I have so much respect for the people and processes that came
06:01before me but I think we have to be agile and continue to grow with our environments and so when you
06:06mention you know frontline workers things like that I have to take it a step further because it has been so
06:12impactful for everyone in the military that's stationed overseas and so that's an even more
06:17difficult situation to come to a closing table and so this absolutely solves that problem and it's
06:22more than just solves the problem makes the situation better. I hadn't even considered that avenue and you
06:29know I'm feeling very guilty that I haven't but I love that you have and that this is an opportunity
06:35that really brings everyone into the home buying process and affords that opportunity I think most
06:40importantly to everyone because it's already stressful enough right uh-huh we don't need to
06:44make it any more complicated or any more stressful. I agree and I loved Housing Wire's introduction today
06:50to the mortgage banking summit where it was all about the homeowners American dream I mean this really
06:56is the dream the convenience and the confidence when you're buying a loan or your home. Absolutely and
07:02I want to read this part because the this is a significant testament to your leadership
07:08under your leadership DocMagic has achieved significant adoption milestones including 850
07:15million e-signatures and 3 million e-closings those numbers are insane. What strategies have been the
07:22most effective in driving this level of transformation? Thanks. I am very very fortunate to stand in front of
07:28amazing technology that's absolutely the foundation of our success but I think it also comes with the
07:34expertise and the hand holding because even after a lender has implemented something new any new
07:40technology that technology has to be able to grow with that lender and so when we talk about e-signatures
07:45that's almost I mean I'm not even impressed by e-signatures that much anymore because it's an expectation
07:51but if we continue to take it further and further we now have electronic helox is our newest thing that's been
07:57registered with MERS this year. We're also very excited about how AI can help the entire mortgage
08:03origination process so it's growing and scaling with our partners I think. I think that that's fantastic
08:08I think the pace of innovation that we're at in an industry is just incredible I feel like we're moving
08:14faster than ever before just striving to provide that optimal borrower experience because at the end of
08:21the day you're putting people in homes which I feel like is what resonates from that message earlier in
08:25the video that we showed at the beginning of the summit we're talking about all of these really
08:30technical aspects of mortgage but at the end of the day like all of these processes put someone in a home
08:36which I think is so special so I want to take a beat and I want to go over and switch gears a little
08:42bit and talk about you and how you mentor and advocate for women in lending how do you approach leadership
08:49and team development and what advice would you or do you give to your team to succeed in like I said
08:56a very fast evolving industry? Yeah this is a great question I think it's important to identify your
09:03strengths and weaknesses be honest with yourself and in my colleagues I certainly try to once we
09:09identify what they're good at put them in those positions build their confidence and then give them
09:14room to grow because a leader is only as strong as their team. Now I love that I love being able to
09:21reflect on your strengths and weaknesses and clearly it's something that you excel at you are a rising
09:25star winner this year and you've had a very successful career what is one accomplishment that you are most
09:32proud of and what lessons from that experience have guided your leadership style? Gosh okay it's probably
09:40going to be our e-mortgage adoption at DocMagic just because I have been tracking that since the beginning
09:46of my career my entry into this industry so that's post right after college and I have seen it creep and
09:53creep and creep but it continues to grow but what really makes me proud and where I know my name is on
09:59there somewhere um is that DocMagic's um e-mortgage adoption continues to be about 20% above the industry average
10:07so that's within my hula hoop of things I can control what an accomplishment 20% above industry average
10:14that is incredible congratulations so ending it on a note I don't know how we follow that up but what
10:21are you most excited about for the future and why do you think are the biggest areas for innovation?
10:25Gosh um I hate to not be you know novel here but it's going to be AI it's going to be continuing to
10:35implement digital solutions to make our workforce stronger and and our processes for our borrowers
10:42better what a place to leave it Leah thank you so much for joining me today on this episode of 10
10:48Minute Talks and congratulations again on your rising star award thank you Allison I appreciate it
10:53I can't wait to see what more you do in the industry more to come more to come
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