East Texas Title has executed its first remote online closing in Texas since the state’s remote online notarization law went into effect.

The transaction, which was executed using NotaryCam’s eClose360 platform, was performed on behalf of a couple in Colorado, who were selling their property in Longview, Texas.

“We started conducting remote online closings on the seller’s side first because that was something, we could do immediately without having to wait for the lenders to be ready,” said Celia Flowers, owner of East Texas Title. “What was really important to us was to stop mailing documents because when you’re mailing documents to people, they can get lost. They might not sign in all the right places and then send back incorrectly executed documents, which really holds up the transaction. With remote online notarizations and closings, it’s instant, and the documents are signed correctly.”

In accordance with state regulations, documents were signed, notarized and made accessible to East Texas Title immediately, with the full transaction taking less than one hour.

“Historically, we would have had to ship the documents to sellers in Denver and then wait for them to return the documents before we could complete the closing. By closing remotely with NotaryCam, we were able to complete the seller’s side of the process the same day,” said Flowers. “The sellers thought it was great because they didn’t have to find a notary and could do it all online. The husband had some health issues, so it was nice that he was able to be comfortable at home. The wife came in just as we were starting because she didn’t have to leave work to go find a notary. For them, the convenience factor was a huge plus.”

Texas was the third state to permit notaries to perform remote online notarizations, which is a critical component to completing a remote closing. Also, Virginia, Montana, Nevada, Vermont, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Tennessee and Ohio have all passed some form of remote online notification legislation.

Were the remote option not available, the sellers faced hundreds of dollars in extra expenses, and inconvenience, simply to complete the sale of their home.

“Remote online closings simply are not possible without remote online notarization, and we applaud these states in their foresight to allow their notaries to conduct these transactions not just within their individual jurisdictions, but worldwide,” said Rick Triola, founder of Notary Cam. “Given the size of the Texas real-estate market, the state’s adoption of remote online closings could prove to be a catalyst for more widespread adoption throughout the country.”

According to Notary Cam, it has completed 130, 000 transactions.

LoanSnap has raised $4.7 million investment led by Thomvest Ventures and existing investors, bringing the company's financing to $17 million. It offers conventional, Veteran Affairs and refinance mortgages as well as and home-equity lines of credit.

LoanSnap offers what it describes as “smart-loan” technology that deploys artificial intelligence to analyze a consumer's financial situation and determine the best options for them. The technology enables homebuyers to not only find the best home loan for their financial situation, but to understand and manage overall debt to build a more secure financial future.

Smart loan analyzes the complete financial situation of a customer in seconds and offers easy-to-understand options, such as pay off your credit-card debt and save $580 a month. Customers enter just a few pieces of information and LoanSnap sorts through thousands of loan options to identify the best choice for a loan to serve them now and in the future.

[caption id="attachment_9477" align="alignright" width="206"] Karl Jacob[/caption]

The company will use the investment capital to expand its offering and explore additional opportunities with Thomvest Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based financial technology organization.

Also, LoanSnap has in the past received funding from True Ventures, Baseline Ventures, Virgin Group, Core Innovation Partners, Joe Montana's Liquid 2 Ventures, OVO Fund, Transmedia Ventures and angel investors.

"Since our launch last year, we've received widespread positive feedback and we've helped our customers improve their financial situation," said Karl Jacob, CEO and co-founder of LoanSnap. "This financing is a recognition of our strong progress toward helping consumers improve their financial situation. We are excited to have Thomvest Ventures as our strategic partner as we work to make financial stability more accessible to all Americans."

Loan officers can use social media to educate followers about the mortgage market, to be a trusted resource—not just as a way to advertise their services.

To be sure, originators have expertise that consumers need and might not be able to get anywhere else, except through social media.

The key is to generate and post relevant, insightful content that makes the application process less daunting for borrowers. Deployed correctly, social media offers a cost-effective way to get in front of prospects and existing clients—with information that can help borrowers optimize their loan choices. Or to help them better understand the mortgage market.

But too often social media isn’t used correctly, so loan officers’ and followers’ time is wasted.

To avoid that, consider the following steps that are designed to maximize the use, and results, originators can achieved from social media.

• Social media requires users to spend time to understand how it works. Some originators consider social media as an opportunity to create a forum for  personal messages and ignore posts they don’t want to pay attention to. That’s a mistake. Take time to understand how each channel works, the tools they use and how they can be used to advanced your objectives, without ignoring expectations followers have for meaningful content. Examine social networks and determine which ones are best to support the origination business and borrowers.
• Link social media content back to a website the originator owns and uses for his business. This helps ensure control, ownership, over the content that’s created. That means never post to a social media site without a link. One approach that can work well is to create a blog on the site and post a few times a week to it, and then share it to LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networks. That strategy will help generate traffic to the originator’s website.
• Originators have the opportunity to share their content with followers. Before that step is taken, be sure the post—a chart, article, photo and so forth provide value to the reader; remember it reflects on the originator and his business. So, work to make every post strong and analyze, if it meets the following criterion: educational, useful and engages readers.
• Originators need to answer questions and respond to comments from followers they receive through social media channels. Too often, they’re not interactive enough, even if they do have a presence online. That doesn’t mean sitting in front of a computer. It does mean, however, that when a follower “likes” an educational video on LinkedIn, he deserves a thank you for doing so. Be available, active and engaged. Followers will notice and appreciate the effort.

Remember, with strong content that puts the needs of followers first, originators have a chance to become online influencers. To attain that objective, requires content that resonates with users, is educational, engaging and objective. Above all, over time become a trusted resource to followers.