Each year, Mortgage Investors Group helps thousands of homebuyers select the home loan program best suited to their needs. Yet, few people outside of the mortgage lending industry understand the hard work happening behind the scenes that leads up to the memorable day when the borrower receives the keys to his or her new home. To commemorate National Mortgage Professionals Month this September, we’re sharing insights into the important roles each department plays in ensuring our borrowers are able to finance the home of their dreams. This week, we focus on the Closing and Post Closing departments.

Working Hard for You

When a borrower “closes” on a home, they become the legal owner of the house. Before our clients go to their closing, our 19 Closers are hard at work organizing all the documents the homebuyers will need to sign at the closing table before receiving the keys to their new home.

In addition to making sure all the details are accurate in the closing documents, our Closing Department creates the Closing Disclosure, which provides the borrower with final closing costs numbers for the purchase or refinance of their home. The Closing Disclosure typically includes the final loan amount, real estate taxes, insurance, recording fees, title fess and other fees a borrower may be required to pay as part of the purchase or refinance of their home.

“One thing that MIG does in closing, and we do it well, is have our Closing Department involved in the process at the beginning,” said Sharon L. Rivers, senior vice president of Closing/Post Closing Operations.

The Closing staff begins collaborating with the title company as soon as the Processors order the title work.

“They touch the file early and work in parallel with the processing of the loan to gather the details for the closing,” Rivers said.

By doing so, we minimize the time our borrowers have to wait for a closing date to be set once the loan is approved.

“At times, there are hurdles along the way that we have to overcome, but we work as a team with the other departments to overcome them as fast and efficiently as possible,” Rivers said. “Our overall goal is to provide the best experience with the borrower at the closing table.”

After our clients complete the real estate transaction at the closing, the 17 people who make up our Post Closing staff get to work.

They register and insure the loan with the appropriate agency, obtain the title policy and make sure it’s recorded at the courthouse. In addition, they take possession of the mortgage note until it’s ready to be delivered to a warehouse bank for safe keeping.

The Post Closing Department also makes digital copies of the entire closing package and audits it to make sure everyone signed everywhere they were supposed to and that the title work is complete and accurate.

“Once those files are scrubbed, they are delivered to the end investor for loan purchase,” Rivers said.

If an investor has a question about the loan, the Post Closing Department will address it.

“Our job is to clear any of those to obtain loan purchase,” Rivers said.

Why We’re A Leader in our Industry

Our Closing and Post Closing departments handle anywhere from 600 to more than 800 loans a month, so we make sure we empower them with the tools needed to do the best job possible.

“We provide our Closers with the best technology, training and knowledge so they can do (their jobs) quicker, faster, better, and that makes for a smooth transaction,” Rivers said. “Our borrowers go to the closing table now much more informed than they used to be.”

We also strive to surpass expectations, delivering our closing disclosures to borrowers sooner than the law requires, eliminating unnecessary documents from closing packages, and staying abreast of technology trends to streamline the process.

“I’m working on the use of eMortgage and eNotes,” Rivers said. “Tennessee passed in April the acceptance of eNotary and eSign. There are some more technology advancements coming soon that we’re also working on.”

Our Post Closing staff also regularly works with state and federal agencies and independent third-party auditors to evaluate quality control measures we have in place, so our borrowers can trust their loans are being well managed.

“We play an important role in the borrower experience,” Rivers said. “And the opportunity is there to create a very positive experience.”

Related Read: Department Highlight: Compliance