Title & escrow companies are the real estate super connectors. As the most connected player in the real estate transaction, title & escrow companies faced a responsibility to adapt to rapid changes brought about by COVID-19.

Qualia listened to customers to understand their evolving needs and developed several new features within Qualia Core. These features enable greater efficiency while also enabling title & escrow companies to meet emerging consumer demands. 

Advanced functionality so businesses can scale, optimize operations, provide more consistency, and exceed consumer expectations

Last year was a record-breaking year for the housing market. According to data presented at the Future of Real Estate Summit (FORES21) by Marina Walsh, VP of Industry Analysis at the MBA, refinance volume topped out at $2.3 trillion in 2020 while the purchase market reached $1.4 trillion.

In addition to greater transaction volume, the pandemic also brought about greater consumer demand for remote and hybrid closings. According to Qualia’s 2021 Homebuyer Sentiment Index, 62% of recent and future homebuyers want a digital closing, yet only 13% of recent homebuyers experienced one.  With a surge in closings and always-present market competition, title & escrow companies needed to adapt and scale to stay ahead. 

Qualia invested heavily in building out advanced functionality within Qualia Core to enable title & escrow companies to scale their businesses, optimize their operations, and exceed client expectations. These new features enable title & escrow companies across the country to perform the following tasks:

  1. Build out more customized, tailored workflows with a new set of Smart Task Triggers based on various types of loan and purchase types & amounts.
  2. Execute split closings by designating the party you’re representing in Core, creating distinct transaction types and tasking for each flow, and tailoring your automatic Connect communication to correspond.
  3. Enable construction draws to increase accounting efficiency and grow into new markets.
  4. Collaborate more effectively with underwriters with new policy editing tools and dual CPL support.
  5. Leverage new user experience enhancements including enhanced search results, email drafts, and the ability to render chain of title to further boost processor productivity.
  6. Gain further control over accounting operations with 1099 K-1 pass throughs and premium splits.
  7. Stay aware of audit red flags and proactively address accounting issues with the Significant Audit Findings Executive Reports (SAFER). 

New features to address regional needs

It’s well known that real estate operations differ at a state and even county level. Qualia recognized that different parts of the country required unique functionality layered onto Qualia Core. To address the continuously changing local, state, and regional regulations, Qualia further customized Core to conform to new requirements. 

A few of the recent regionally focused updates include:

  1. California: Qualia rolled out sub-escrow accounting support and escrow ledgers to conform to Southern California’s accounting standards.
  2. Texas: Now, Texas agents can pull title evidence directly from title plants such as Integrity Title and East Texas Title into an order. They can also number and format any of the exceptions added to a commitment according with Texas documenting procedures. 
  3. Northeast: Qualia recently launched integrations with Charles Jones and DataTrace, allowing title companies to order title services from these providers directly from within the Qualia platform. 

More updates ahead

At FORES21, Qualia’s Director of Product Management laid out Qualia’s agile product development strategy. With consistent feedback loops from customers and regular release cycles, new features are always on the horizon to meet the demands of customers across the country.

As we all settle into the new routines and ways of doing business, stay tuned for more product releases from Qualia coming out in the near future.