25 Experian Forms a Mortgage Data Powerhouse

Imagine having a mortgage application and being able to punch in the applicant's name and home address, then instantly getting a credit report, title, tax history, and appraisal.

OK, it's not quite a reality yet, but the formation of an as yet un-named, St. Petersburg, FL-based company that merges the property database information of the Experian Group with the real estate and mortgage services of First American Financial Corp. "could be a big step towards (such) automation," says Barbara Smiley, research director at Meridien Research.

Experian maintains the nation's largest database of property information. First American is the nation's largest provider of mortgage credit information, and the second largest appraisal provider. Their combination will form "the nation's largest provider of information technology for the real estate industry," claims First American spokeswoman Kathy Snyder. Smiley adds that the biggest impact on the industry will come from advancing automated appraisals.

"The new company will affect the adoption rate of mortgage technologies," says Dave Ross, vp of marketing for Experian Real Estate. Ross contends that because the mortgage industry is "policy intensive," there "is widespread skepticism that you can take time and cost out of the process. The industry as a whole doesn't totally trust and embrace automation." Change, he cautions, "is going to be evolutionary, not revolutionary." M.Dahir

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