Incenter
The Incenter Family is Raising the Bar on Performance in 2022
By Carole Vansickle Ellis
In today’s economy, the ability to turn on a dime while identifying new issues and resolving them using innovative, far-reaching strategies is integral to the success of any company in the real estate industry. The Incenter family of companies, which the group describes as “best-in-class companies” in the mortgage lending, servicing, and real estate sectors, has been specifically cultivated to provide flexibility, efficiency, scale, and the nimble, expedited response times for the critical services that private investors and lenders require.
“We are always looking for ways to work together, streamline real estate processes, and take extremely difficult transactions and make them smooth,” said Mark Walser, president of Incenter Appraisal Management. “We have numerous capabilities and, as a result, are able to develop and offer holistic solutions that cover a full deck – I like to call it a stack – of services to real estate investors and mortgage lenders.”
Incenter currently boasts a stable of eleven companies offering services ranging from title services to appraisals to insurance solutions to capital markets trading and valuation to private student loan origination. Those companies are:
Boston National Title Agency one of the largest independent title agencies in the United States
Incenter Appraisal Management a national appraisal management company with more than 10,000 independent, professional appraisers focused on providing high-quality valuations, appraisals, and data services
Incenter Insurance Solutions an insurance provider offering a broad range of insurance products, including commercial and residential insurance options in innovative combinations tailored to customers’ unique circumstances
Agents National Title Insurance Company a next-generation title underwriter catering to a national base of independent title agents and the fastest-growing title insurance underwriter in the United States in 2020
Incenter Mortgage Advisors which provides trading and advisory services, analytics, risk management tools, and trans-action services for mortgage servicing rights (MSR) and whole loans
Incenter Marketing a full-service marketing agency working across traditional and digital channels
Incenter Solutions a business processing organization (BPO) providing a wide array of fulfilment services
Incenter Agency Solutions a company dedicated to helping independent title and settlement companies grow via access to state-of-the-art technologies and services
CampusDoor a pioneering company providing one of the country’s largest white-label loan origination platforms used by banks, credit unions, and other lending institutions through which undergraduate and graduate students may apply for private student loans and refinancing
Incenter Tax Solutions a service designed to protect homeowners and commercial property owners from over-paying property taxes
EdgeMac a risk-management service designed to help mortgage lenders and servicers practice what Incenter describes as “better-informed risk management while optimizing portfolio and asset performance”
“Investors want the removal of friction,” observed Nathan Bossers, president of Boston National Title Agency. “As part of the Incenter family, Boston National Title is proud to be one of the tools in a toolbox that delivers meaningful value and impact to Incenter clients and customers.” Bossers said that being part of the Incenter family means Boston National Title is able to work closely with other industry leaders in other real estate sectors to deliver a smooth transaction. For example, he said, both real estate investors and lenders want “a quick, easy closing and to get to that closing table as swiftly and smoothly as possible,” but lenders also want highly specific title coverage that adheres to specialized underwriting standards while investors may need unique, reactional insurance products. “You need a provider that understands both sides and is able to deliver,” Bossers said.
Thomas Price, president of Incenter Insurance Solutions, elaborated on the development of a holistic process for Incenter clients. “When we are integrating with any of the companies under the Incenter umbrella, we are often reacting to a specific call for something that is needed that is not commonly available in our industry,” he said. “Every deal needs something slightly different, and our companies are always working together proactively to come up with new strategies that will serve our clients.”
Incenter leverages artificial intelligence to achieve these lofty goals as well. The companies all have access to state-of-the-art, AI-driven instant title decisioning information and other related analytics tools as do independent title and settlement companies working with the Incenter family. “AI is a huge part of developing a frictionless experience,” Bossers said. “It gives us and our clients access to the power of combined aggregation of information sources that is interpreted based on our underwriting standards and those of our clients, when appropriate. It makes a powerful, meaningful difference to both the investor and the lender.”
Filling Very Tall Orders Every Day
The goal of taking a complicated real estate transaction from “A to Z,” so to speak, is a very tall order, and not one that Incenter takes lightly. “We are always looking at the processes within the ‘A-to-Z’ to identify places where there is the most friction,” Walser said. “Then, you ask yourself, ‘How can I apply the technology, the service, the people, the processes against that friction to make things as friction-less as possible?’” For example, in the residential real estate sector at the present time, one of the biggest points of friction in real estate deals is the appraisal. “You can get into the transaction, but then you have to get that appraisal and, preferably, get it quickly,” he explained, adding that today’s appraisal process is complicated not only by a volatile market and national economy but also by the multiple phases of renovation and adding value during the course of an investment.
“After the renovations are completed, the appraiser has to check back in and let the lender know things look good and they can move on to the next phase,” Walser said. “The problem is the paucity of appraisers and the sheer volume of activity in the industry over the last few years.” He noted that appraisals that would have traditionally taken roughly a week to complete may now take multiple weeks instead. By comparison, Incenter’s traditional appraisals still average between 10 and 11 days, “faster than the average by a significant margin,” he said, adding, “Still, we are constantly reviewing the process to identify ways to reduce issues, get updates faster, and act faster in other ways as well.” Incenter’s RemoteVal™ appraisals are averaging between three and four days, Walser said, emphasizing, “The lender gets a full appraisal product, so we have high hopes for scaling the usage of that product to compress timelines for lenders significantly!”
One of the most notable improvements Incenter Appraisal Management has made on the appraisal process since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has been to increase recruitment of expert, local appraisers to its network and to provide them with new technologies, programs, and resources for support. The company offers appraisers “24-Hour Fast Pay” (compared to an industry standard that may require an appraiser to wait on payment for a month or more) and provides them with access to the Incenter RemoteVal™ platform, which enables appraisers to review certain aspects of properties and deals remotely through a custom app designed to take pictures of and verify measurements, repairs, and valuation updates. “This ground-breaking technology enables our appraisers to not necessarily need weeks for their reports,” Walser said, adding that the Incenter goal for the coming year involves bringing the appraisal timeline back down to a three-to-five-day process. “We are putting our technology, our IT teams, our business know-how, and the strength of all our brands toward making that happen,” he said proudly, “and every Incenter company has similar projects and goals related to their elements of the transaction.”
Bringing Knowledge & Professionalism to Bear on Innovation
One of the crucial elements of being part of the Incenter “family” involves a dedication to the company’s culture, which also serves as the Incenter tagline. The pervasive “Attitude is Everything” mindset is what brings all the elements of a real estate transaction together in the Incenter family for Incenter clients, Bossers said.
“It is not just that we have every element of the transaction represented or that we have groundbreaking AI technology and innovative platforms; it is also how quickly everybody comes together to innovate and get what they have created into the marketplace,” he explained. “Technology alone cannot do things fast. You need a high degree of knowledge and professionalism across the board to execute effective processes and solutions.”
Bossers, Walser, and Price all observed that Incenter’s appraisal and inspection expertise, both of which feed into the title and insurance elements of a transaction as well, are a prime example of how the combination of technology, innovation, and determined professionalism can push a concept from workable to remarkable. As an example, they cited Incenter’s new remote appraisal technology, RemoteVal™, which enables appraisers, homeowners, and property inspectors to work together to create a comprehensive, virtual experience that expedites the appraisal process while safeguarding all parties’ health and safety in ongoing pandemic conditions. “One of the things we prioritized was putting professionals – appraisers and inspectors – in charge of that experience,” Bossers said.
Walser elaborated, “When other companies ask the homeowner to run around with their phone trying to take pictures of their property, it usually does not result in the type of photos that inspectors, appraisers, or insurers need to see in order to get a solid valuation.” He explained that this tends to lead to “skepticism” of the process on all sides, with homeowners, inspectors, appraisers, lenders, and buyers all expressing concern about the accuracy of the report. “Incenter’s remote appraisal technology enables the professionals to take control of the homeowner’s smartphone and snap the photos themselves, capturing gross living area measurements while talking with the homeowner,” he said. “It takes everything in a much more productive direction and maintains the critical ‘arms-length’ veracity that lenders need along with the ability to deliver speed in the appraisal and inspection process.”
“We took something that did not exist in mid-2020 [but was needed] and built it,” Price said proudly. “It’s a really good example of how we listen to everyone involved.”
Sidebar
Delivering Consistent Experiences for Investors in 2022 and Onward
As real estate investors begin to look forward into 2022 and beyond, many believe the housing frenzy of 2021 to be unsustainable. Nathan Bossers, president of Boston National Title Agency, has a few words of advice for anyone planning a major strategic shift in the New Year.
“Consistency is the really important thing,” Bossers said, noting that many Incenter clients maintain consistency throughout market cycles by operating in multiple markets depending on which markets fit their strategies and goals at the given time. “As investors, we love our local market and our local service providers just around the corner, but when you cannot operate in just one market you can help maintain that consistency in your transactions by working with service providers and partners who can deliver consistently in terms of product, approach, speed, and accuracy across multiple markets,” he explained.
Because many of Incenter’s clients work in multiple markets and may buy several dozen (or more) properties at once, Bossers said the consistent experience within the Incenter family of companies and throughout the timeline of a transaction helps clients feel they are working with their “local” company even when operating in six or seven states.
“We know our investors, from what strategies they are using to how they are borrowing or lending or selling and what they, specifically, need in a valuation,” Bossers said. “Each time they do a new transaction, it is a frictionless process because we already know who they are, what they do, and how we can best help them get to the closing table.”
Thomas Price, president of Incenter Insurance Solutions, said this specialized customer service affects his company in a unique way as well. “It is our job to find appropriate coverages for each client, and a market correction or any market shift may necessitate a change in coverage in order to continue to provide the appropriate protection,” he said. Price explained that when laws change, as they often have in recent months due to the pandemic and as they tend to do when the housing market changes, investors may not realize that they are subject to new restrictions or other factors that will affect their property insurance coverage. “Whether you are buying new or protecting what you have, it is important we review coverage with every client when changes affect their portfolio and their insurance,” he said.
“The real estate investor community knows there are big opportunities coming [in 2022],” Mark Walser, president of Incenter Appraisal Management, concluded. Walser pointed out that in addition to any looming market changes, about eighty-seven million new potential homeowners are going to “graduate from college, get their first jobs, and start looking for their first real estate investment” [or home] over the next five to seven years. “The question we ask ourselves every day at Incenter and that investors should be asking themselves in their businesses as well is this: ‘What is the market going to do in the next year, and how do I change my business to react to what is coming after that change?’” he said.
Sidebar
Creative Problem Solving with Incenter Insurance Solutions
As the New Year gets underway, Thomas Price, president of Incenter Insurance Solutions, knows that things are about to get very, very busy in his part of the Incenter family of companies. “Insurance is very time sensitive, and January is the time that people decide to review their policies,” Price explained. “It is our job to be ready to work through everything we currently offer with clients and to be familiar with those clients’ goals and experiences in real estate so far so that we can help them select the product that will best serve them.”
While many insurance companies tend to portray themselves as a friendly neighbor or helping hand that will assist when an emergency has already happened or a loss has already been sustained, Price and Incenter Insurance Solutions have a different take on insurance. “At our core, we are creative problem solvers,” Price explained. “We help our clients identify specific risks ranging from cybersecurity threats to natural and unnatural disasters, then offer a product that meets their needs on a granular level.”
Price refers to this approach as “pro-actional,” meaning that Incenter Insurance Solutions is actively working at all times not just to deal with preventable losses but also to help clients make and save money by selecting policies that are the best fit for their endeavors. To that end, Incenter Insurance Solutions also offers portfolio review services, which are essentially “free audits,” Price said, and new commercial policies in the fix-and-flip and rental arenas.
Incenter By the Numbers
11 » Number of companies in the Incenter Family
2,000 » Number of Incenter employees
50 » States serviced by Incenter companies
1,000+ » Clients under management
