The Title Team identified early on the business opportunity that digital closings with remote online notarization (RON) presented the organization.
As early adopters of RON, The Title Team saw initial success, setting them apart from competitors during COVID-19. However, after the height of the pandemic, the company recognized that it needed an agile, intuitive platform to help them deliver a remarkable customer experience and impress its lending partners.
The organization’s RON task force sought an easy-to-use, industry-specific product that could enable them to become more operationally efficient, deliver a desirable (and repeatable) closing experience, and grow its RON service business. Stavvy proved to be a perfect fit with its eClosing solution, hands-on customer support, and RON readiness training.
“People really enjoy the simple aspect of a RON closing. They can close at home. They can close from their office. They can be on vacation. The flexibility Stavvy offers is pretty impressive. I would say that 99% of the people I close digitally with RON are super happy with us and would love to do it again,” said Stephanie Radloff, Executive Closer at The Title Team.
To reach its business goal of becoming the top title service and closing provider in the Midwest, the Title Team needed to get comfortable with eClosings and RON. It also needed a simple platform backed by an accessible support team to ensure an exceptional digital closing experience.
“We’re cutting closing times in half. It also helps to eliminate Power of Attorney (POA) requests because people generally have an easier time attending a remote closing. Eliminating the POA alone saves a signer $92 in Minnesota by simply not having to record an additional document,” said Jim Milinkovich, Operations Director at The Title Team.
Continuing their digital mortgage journey with Stavvy’s eClosing solution enabled The Title Team to offer compliant, cost-conscious, and speedy RON closings at scale.
Offering RON isn’t a silver bullet for business growth. The Title Team needed an easy platform before pitching this efficient closing method to lenders to earn and retain referral business.
After switching to Stavvy in April 2022, The Title Team has closed over 350 RON transactions, many of which were second mortgages, HELOCs, and construction loans, due to deepened relationships with lenders.
“The banking and lending world isn’t quite ready for full RON because of hesitancy around eNote acceptance in the secondary market. It’s slow, but we saw this situation as a business opportunity. How do we go to a bank that’s going to portfolio loans, like a second mortgage, HELOC, or construction loan, and use RON as a win for them and a way to show them they can do closings differently? During these conversations, we found that lenders understand that RON gives them 30-40 minutes back per closing, which is revenue back in their pockets,” said Milinkovich.
Since 1956, The Title Team has achieved decades of success through innovation, expertise, and staying laser-focused on customer service. Stavvy’s eClosing solution allows The Title Team to meet its lenders and customers exactly where they are, regardless of digital mortgage tech competency, geographic location, or career path.
“We’ve closed a lot of service men and women around the world. It’s really great that we get to support our heroes. We’ve had people close in other countries. We’ve done a bunch in Japan, and we’ve even invited sixteen different family members in various states to a single closing because Stavvy allows unlimited participants during a closing session,” said Milinkovich.
Providing customers with the best experience is not always easy in the Midwest. In addition to the slow manual processes brought on by in-person, paper closings, The Title Team’s service area is no stranger to inclement weather and long drives on rural roads.
“Stavvy eliminates the risk of storms interfering with a scheduled closing. We can have people sign online. They didn't have to leave their house, and closings go off without a hitch. We no longer have to uproot everything and start from scratch. It’s a great tool in our toolbox for solving problems for our customers, especially those we can’t control, like Mother Nature,” said Radloff.
Since completing product onboarding and RON training, The Title Team’s experience has been incredible compared to similar tools used in previous years. Radloff shares
“I honestly enjoy RON closings more than actual in-person closings now. I think they’re more fun because people are just so excited to be able to close wherever they are located.”
The team also shared the positive experience they had onboarding with Stavvy. The Title Team has over 90 active users (20 of which are remote notaries) on the platform who conduct eSign and RON transactions daily.
While well-versed in the platform due to robust training efforts, from time to time, they call on Stavvy’s Customer Support team for help. “Your customer service is way better than any I’ve had with other platforms,” said Radloff.