DocMagic earned a spot on HousingWire’s coveted 2022 Tech100 list for the ninth straight year. The publisher’s Tech100 list includes the most innovative and impactful organizations in the industry today.

“This year’s list of Tech100 honorees proves once again that innovation within housing is vital in differentiating the organizations who will thrive and those who will be left behind,” said Clayton Collins,

CEO of HW Media. “This list spotlights the innovators that are making the housing sector better and more sustainable by increasing efficiency, improving user and borrower experiences and bringing elasticity and improvements to age-old processes.”

Over the course of 2021, DocMagic launched several new solutions designed to improve the borrower experience and make back-office staff more efficient. One of those solutions was eSign 3.0, a redesigned user interface that dramatically enhances the borrower experience. eSign 3.0 also offers lenders and settlement providers new features that help them more easily initiate remote online notarizations (RON) to enable fully paperless eClosings via its Total eClose™ platform.

2021 also saw the launch of DocMagic’s eDecision™ tool, which instantly determines e-eligibility and provides the most beneficial level of eClosing that a lender can offer borrowers. The automatic decisioning process begins as soon as the first set of disclosures is generated and continues to perform e-eligibility checks throughout the process.

In addition, DocMagic recently introduced AutoPrep™, a solution that applies AI, OCR and machine learning technology to instantly e-enable third-party documents, streamlining electronic document execution within its award-winning Total eClose™ platform. AutoPrep has been gaining steady adoption since being launched in 2020.

“We’re always innovating and enhancing our solutions to maximize customer success as our digital lending ecosystem advances,” said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO at DocMagic.

DocMagic was the first vendor in the mortgage industry to launch a fully paperless eClosing solution, complete with remote notary capability. Total eClose was officially introduced in 2014 and has since become award-winning technology with widespread industry adoption.

Related Content:

• DocMagic’s Michael Morford recognized with 2021 Tech Thought Leader Award (12/20/2021)

• DocMagic's Lori Johnson wins 2021 Elite Women in Mortgage Award (12/18/2021)

• DocMagic's Gavin T. Ales wins Top 40 Under 40 Award (12/17/2021)

DocMagic’s Director of Product Development, Michael Morford was selected as a 2021 Tech Thought Leader by PROGRESS in Lending Association.

 The association says it developed the annual award to identify industry leaders who are out-of-the-box, solution-oriented technology thought leaders that are helping to address industry-wide issues and challenges.

Morford has more than 23 years of industry experience; 17 of those with DocMagic. He joined the company as the Integration Services Manager where he oversaw the development of interfaces with a multitude of third-party software providers. Now serving as Director of Product Development, Morford is directly responsible for DocMagic’s portfolio of solutions and services.

“I am elated to be honored with PROGRESS in Lending’s Tech Thought Leader award,” said Morford. “We’re always innovating at DocMagic and driving the industry to leverage leading-edge technology to gain newfound efficiencies that ultimately benefit our lender clients and their customers.”

As lead coordinator for the design, development and implementation of DocMagic’s web-based suite of digital lending solutions, Morford is at the forefront of innovating and enhancing software applications. He has seen the industry’s drive to adopt eMortgages steadily grow over the years, and in the last five years, he has helped DocMagic develop highly effective solutions while operating in a very fast-paced, dynamic, and constantly changing mortgage market.  

Morford regularly sits on industry technology-based panel sessions, serves as a thought leader in the mortgage media, and attends key conferences to share his ideas and help move the industry forward.

DocMagic’s Director of Client Services, Lori Johnson, was recently given the 2021 Elite Women in Mortgage award from Mortgage Professional America (MPA).

Now in its fifth year, MPA created the award to recognize the exceptional work of women whose efforts and contributions are paving the way for future generations.

Johnson is credited with helping DocMagic’s lender clients achieve a huge uptick in growth – via eClosing technology. The remote implementation model she oversaw during the pandemic was wildly successful in helping lender-clients to go live without disruption to operations. Johnson accomplished this by transitioning her entire team virtually overnight to a work-from-home (WFH) environment where they were able to execute tasks just as effectively as when they were at DocMagic’s headquarters.

“Being recognized alongside other accomplished females that are doing exceptional things for the industry is a huge honor for me,” stated Johnson. “For years, the outstanding team I work with at DocMagic has been moving mountains to help lenders, settlement providers, investors, and other relevant parties automate manual workflows and remove paper from antiquated processes.”

Johnson works tirelessly to ensure that complex and precision-based eClosing and digital mortgage technology implementations are executed flawlessly, delivering a level of customer satisfaction that lenders and partners rave about.

Johnson’s efforts helped DocMagic land on the 2021 Inc. 5000 list, with a 67 percent three-year growth rate from 2017 to 2020. 2021 will be another banner year for the company in sales, new client implementations, solution enhancements, seamless integrations, and more.

DocMagic was recently honored with Mortgage Professional America (MPA) Magazine’s 5-Star Mortgage Technology Provider Award.

MPA’s editors and researchers spoke to lenders and tech specialists across the country, and also considered advancements in innovation, to determine which companies should receive the recognition.

“This may be the year mortgage tech finally breaks through in a big way,” MPA stated.

The award lauds mortgage technology firms that have excelled in their respective fields over the last year, especially with the pandemic ramping up demand for eClosings. DocMagic’s end-to-end Total eClose platform, digital mortgage solutions, eServices and document preparation products were cited as key reasons for receiving the honor.

“Mortgage technology continues to be critical because it’s how lenders differentiate themselves; it’s how they improve their processes and their bottom line,” DocMagic CEO and president Dominic Iannitti told MPA. “Technology enables them to handle a high volume of transactions effectively and not let anything fall through the cracks.”

Even before the pandemic, DocMagic established a dedicated eClosing team “to hand-hold lenders uncomfortable with crossing that chasm to a paperless environment and advising them through that process,” Iannitti said. That kind of support for clients taking on new tech “is where the industry needs to go — and we’re committed to getting it there.”

Related Content:

• DocMagic named to 2021 Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies (8/26/2021)
• DocMagic's Leah Sommerville wins inaugural NextGen Leader Award (4/29/2021)
• DocMagic named to HousingWire's Tech100 list for 8th straight year (3/11/2021)

DocMagic has earned a spot on this year’s prestigious Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S.

“DocMagic has been a market leader for years, so lenders naturally turn to us first when they want to elevate their processes or need to adapt to new circumstances, and that’s exactly what’s happened since the start of the pandemic,” said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. “We’re proud of our market strength, which is demonstrated in our three-year growth rate.”

The Inc. 5000 ranks companies by overall revenue growth over a three-year period. Over the last three years, DocMagic tallied a growth rate of 67%, due in large part to a dramatic increase in lender adoption of its single-source Total eClose solution.

“The 2021 Inc. 5000 list feels like one of the most important rosters of companies ever compiled,” said Scott Omelianuk, editor-in-chief of Inc. “Building one of the fastest-growing companies in America in any year is a remarkable achievement. Building one in the crisis we’ve lived through is just plain amazing. This kind of accomplishment comes with hard work, smart pivots, great leadership, and the help of a whole lot of people.”

In the last 18 months, as lenders faced unprecedented challenges amid the pandemic, they increasingly turned to DocMagic’s digital mortgage advisory services, remote implementation model, and strategic approach to automating new workflows. DocMagic’s subject matter expertise and Total eClose platform helped numerous lenders successfully meet the many demands of a rapidly changing, high-volume market.

“Early on, we invested heavily in R&D to engineer the right blend of digital mortgage and eClosing technologies,” Iannitti said. “DocMagic’s ongoing growth reflects the diligent work and unwavering efforts of our entire company. We’re honored to be named to the 2021 Inc. 5000 list among so many innovative and accomplished companies.”

The first Inc. 5000 list was produced in 1982. Intuit, Dell, LinkedIn, Zillow, Zappos, Microsoft and Patagonia are among the companies that first gained national exposure as honorees on the Inc. 5000.

Related Content:

• DocMagic's Leah Sommerville wins inaugural NextGen Leader Award (4/29/2021)
• DocMagic named to HousingWire's Tech100 list for 8th straight year (3/11/2021)
• Brian D. Pannell honored with HousingWire's 2020 Tech Trendsetters Award (12/4/2020)

Leah Sommerville, DocMagic’s senior account executive, has been named one of 10 winners of the NextGen Leader Award by PROGRESS in Lending Association. This award is specifically for people who have been in the industry for 10 years or less.

“We need new leaders that are not afraid to step forward and blaze a new trail. We need creativity. We need bold new ideas,” PROGRESS in Lending stated in announcing the award.

Sommerville is a member of DocMagic’s eClosing Team, where she has helped numerous lenders form their digital mortgage strategy and implement eClosings. She's no stranger to accolades — last year Sommerville was named one of National Mortgage Professional magazine’s Top 40 Under 40 Most Influential Mortgage Professionals. She's also a respected thought leader in the lending space.

“Being named to this new list of industry professionals who are all striving to make a difference is truly an honor,” she said. “At the end of the day, working for an industry-leading company like DocMagic that is constantly innovating makes it easy to get excited and passionate about introducing digital mortgage solutions to lenders.”

In 2020, DocMagic achieved 128% year-over-year growth and executed the most eClosings in company history, tallying a 724% increase in transactions via its Total eClose platform.

Sommerville has forged numerous partnerships between lenders, settlement agents, attorneys, notaries, investors, warehouse lenders and others in order to further digital mortgage initiatives that benefit the entire supply chain. She has also worked closely with leading loan origination system (LOS) vendors, settlement providers and third-party systems to facilitate automation of the entire eClose process. Her efforts have helped execute thousands of eClosings and increased eClosing adoption among relevant organizations by over 1,000%.

Related Content:

• DocMagic named to HousingWire's Tech100 list for 8th straight year (3/11/2021)
• Brian D. Pannell honored with HousingWire's 2020 Tech Trendsetters Award (12/4/2020)
• DocMagic's Lori Johnson honored with HousingWire's 2020 Insiders Award (9/3/2020)

DocMagic has been named to HousingWire’s 2021 Tech100 Mortgage list, which recognizes the mortgage industry’s most innovative and impactful companies.

HousingWire noted that this year’s winners are revolutionizing the mortgage process.

“After the uncertainty and unpredictability of last year, we expected a greater adoption of technology. However, these 100 real estate and mortgage companies took digital disruption to a whole new level and propelled a complete digital revolution, leaving a digital legacy that will impact borrowers, clients, and companies for years to come,” said Brena Nath, HousingWire’s HW+ Managing Editor.  

DocMagic had a record year in 2020, achieving 128% growth over 2019 and helping more than 130 lending institutions successfully implement eClosing strategies and solutions amid a pandemic and an unprecedentedly high-volume lending landscape. Demand spiked for DocMagic’s eClosing solutions, particularly its award-winning 100% paperless Total eClose™ platform and document preparation solution. The company concluded 2020 having performed the most eClosing transactions in its history, to the tune of a 724% increase in eClosings.

DocMagic has received the honor every year since HousingWire announced the inaugural list in 2014.

“Earning HousingWire’s Tech100 award for the eighth straight year is a testament to the incredibly dedicated team we have here at DocMagic and the passion they hold for continuous innovation,” said Dominic Iannitti, president and CEO of DocMagic. “We are elated to receive this award from HousingWire for digitizing key areas of the mortgage process and creating a superior experience across the supply chain.”

HousingWire Editor in Chief Sarah Wheeler, who has been helping to select winners since 2014, said every year the program becomes more competitive. “These companies are truly leading the way to a more innovative housing market.”

Related Content:

• Brian D. Pannell honored with HousingWire's 2020 Tech Trendsetters Award (12/4/2020)
• DocMagic's Lori Johnson honored with HousingWire's 2020 Insiders Award (9/3/2020)
• DocMagic earns a spot on the HW Tech100 for the sixth straight year (3/29/2019)

DocMagic’s Integration Services Manager, David Garrett, is set to begin a two-year term this month for the Mortgage Industry Standards Maintenance Organization (MISMO) Residential Standards Governance Committee.

Committee members weigh in on the voluntary standards that MISMO develops for the mortgage industry.

Garrett, who was elected in November, says his experience with DocMagic should help him make a strong contribution to the committee’s work.

“The technology we work with here at DocMagic is very cutting edge because we have a wide variety of partners and clients,” he said. “We also have so many different products, processes, and services that touch MISMO in some way, whether its doc gen, eNotes, eVaults, or the whole digital lending process from end to end. Very few organizations have all of those products under one umbrella. I hope that what I see here can help influence industry standards in a way that helps everybody.”

Garrett, who has been with DocMagic for over six years, helps clients integrate their current lending systems with DocMagic products such as Total eClose and document generation.

Before joining the committee, he was involved in MISMO’s Origination and eMortgage workgroups and was previously the co-chair of the Verifiable Profile SMARTDoc Development Workgroup. 

Garrett said the committee’s biggest issue will be trying to convince large swaths of the industry to adhere to a single standard.

“You have many facets of this industry using the MISMO standard in some form that it’s hard to get so many groups and organizations to adopt a single standard and stick to it,” he said. “A lot of the problem isn’t coming up with a standard but how to make it broad enough where we can get greater adoption. Everyone wants to have their own little flavor of it and that only works up to a point.”

The committee comprises 18 people, half of whom were elected at the same time as Garrett. It includes representatives from various mortgage industry sectors, including government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), lenders, service providers, and more. Garrett won the seat for a technology vendor representative.

“We get to hear all kinds of different ways that people are solving problems,” Garrett said. “That’s what’s really nice about the meetings—you talk to your peers and your competitors and your clients and you get a broader view of the current problems the industry is facing.”

Related Content:

• The current state of eClosings: A Q&A with DocMagic's compliance chief (12/17/2020)
• DocMagic's Leah Sommerville named to NMP's Top 40 Under 40 list (12/10/2020)
• An eClosing Q&A with DocMagic's director of enterprise solutions (9/9/2020) 

2020 has been a year unlike any other—and that includes for the mortgage industry, which faced some of the biggest changes the industry has ever seen.

DocMagic has been tracking these momentous changes on our blog. As we say good-bye to 2020, we highlight some of the biggest mortgage stories of the year:

#1: The rise of eNotes

In 2019, there were over 127,000 eNotes registered on the MERS eRegistry. In 2020, through November, the number skyrocketed to over 407,000—a 264% year-over-year increase. At the same time, the number of companies transacting on the eRegistry rose 121%. It’s official: 2020 was the year of the eNote.

Another major event took place in 2020 that also pushed eNotes forward: After years of planning, Ginnie Mae and three members of the 11-member FHL Banks system began accepting eNotes as collateral. The other members will eventually follow suit.

“The fact that both are now accepting eNotes is crucial because it just introduced a whole new level of participants to the eNote world,” said DocMagic’s Chief eServices Executive Brian D. Pannell. “So, between the FHL Banks and Ginnie Mae, there are a lot of advancements in the ability to make those eNotes saleable.”

#2: The rise of RON

At the beginning of the year, 22 states had a remote online notarization (RON) law on the books. In 2020 another seven states jumped on board—Hawaii and Pennsylvania were the latest to enact a law—bringing the total to 29 states.

On top of that, a Senate bill was introduced at the federal level that would have allowed RON use nationwide (though it didn't pass), and several other states permitted RON for the first time ever—albeit via temporary emergency orders that were passed at the height of the stay-at-home orders. Many of the emergency actions have been repeatedly extended as the pandemic drags on.

As a result, RON transactions have increased 547% in 2020, according to a new survey from the American Land Title Association of vendors working in the RON space.

RON had already been increasing—due to a host of reasons that have nothing to do with social distanced-based safety—but the events of 2020 have given the practice a huge boost.

#3: And don’t forget RIN

Even though the demand for remote notarization was high, several states weren’t yet ready to commit to RON. Enter remote ink-signed notarization, a lower-tech and less secure alternative in which borrowers use a videoconferencing program like Zoom or FaceTime to connect with a notary and wet sign a document that is then physically mailed to the notary for their stamp.

Several states passed emergency orders to allow RIN, even ones that already permit RON, like Michigan and Texas.

RIN has several drawbacks, however, and draws its legitimacy solely from emergency orders. In Michigan, some RIN closings were even at risk after the state Supreme Court ruled that the governor didn’t have authority to extend her emergency powers—which allowed RIN—without the legislature’s approval. The legislature had to later pass a law to ensure that RIN transactions were valid.

#4: The new URLA is coming—at last

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac announced back in 2016 that they were unveiling a new Uniform Residential Loan Application (URLA) for all lenders who intend to sell their loans to the GSEs; the mandated use-by date was then pushed back twice, with the latest delay—from November 2020 to March 2021—taking place this year as a result of the pandemic.

It looks like the latest deadline will stick. If so, lenders need to be ready by March 1, 2021, but they can get started now—the new URLA’s earliest effective date is Jan. 1, 2021.

#5: DocMagic employees shine

It was a banner year for DocMagic employees, several of whom were honored with industry accolades. This included DocMagic CEO Dominic Iannitti’s Lending Luminary Award; Lori Johnson’s HousingWire Insiders Award; Leah Sommerville’s Top 40 Under 40 honor; Brian D. Pannell being named a Thought Leader and HousingWire Tech Trendsetter; David Garrett’s appointment to the MISMO Residential Standards Governance Committee; and Chris Lewis’s recent Trailblazer Award by PROGRESS in Lending.

Related Content:

• Survey: Homebuyers adapt to eSignings, remote closings during pandemic (10/29/2020)
• An eClosing Q&A with DocMagic's director of enterprise solutions (9/9/2020)  
• County recorders, eRecording, and RON—by the numbers (7/8/2020) 

DocMagic senior account executive Leah Sommerville, 33, was awarded a coveted spot on National Mortgage Professional (NMP) magazine’s annual Top 40 Under 40 Most Influential Mortgage Professionals list.

The list, now in its second year, seeks to highlight the “up-and-comers across the mortgage world who are actively scanning the profession with fresh eyes, and making it better, with enthusiasm,” according to the magazine.

The honorees, who are voted on by their peers, range from executives at large institutions such as Fannie Mae to presidents and CEOs running their own firms. They span all sectors within the mortgage industry, including compliance, loan origination, FinTech, and more.

Asked by NMP what she considers her greatest success in 2020—a year that presented multiple unique challenges, including the pandemic, social distancing requirements, stay-at-home orders, a refi boom, and new compliance rules—Sommerville said, “I’m proud to have been involved in helping many organizations make the shift to hybrid and completely digital eClosings.”

During the pandemic, she has been especially focused on helping lenders who are rushing to implement DocMagic’s 100% paperless Total eClose solution.

Over her career Sommerville has helped drive the digital processes for over 400 organizations; increased eClosing adoption among relevant organizations by over 300%; and helped execute more than 8,000 eClosings so far. A member of DocMagic’s dedicated eClosing team, her specialty is guiding lenders through the transition from paper to electronic mortgages, so much so that she’s become a subject matter expert on it.

“I was fortunate to begin my journey in the mortgage industry during a time when lenders began recognizing the importance of modernizing outdated paper processes with technology to increase efficiency and improve the borrower experience,” Sommerville told NMP. “My experience as a digital transformation coach has been especially exciting because I truly enjoy helping organizations reap the benefits of these technological advances.”

Related Content:

• Brian D. Pannell honored with HousingWire's 2020 Tech Trendsetters Award (12/4/2020)
• DocMagic's CEO honored with Lending Luminary Award (10/27/2020)
• Remote online notarization (RON) has several benefits beyond safety (10/22/2020)