To all our valued clients,

I hope this message finds you well. I would like to introduce myself to you. My name is Rene Rodriguez and as of recently, I took on the position of CEO of MortgageDashboard. I wanted to reach out personally to express my sincere thanks for being a valued client, share some very exciting news, and share my vision as to where MortgageDashboard is headed.

As you are well aware, our industry has been through the ringer over the last four years. We all know many originators, companies and venders that didn’t survive. The word “change” has taken on a whole new meaning and has been, in some cases, forced down our throat through increased regulatory pressure and what can feel like daily changes in compliance and lending guidelines. Whether we agree or disagree with these changes, there is one thing we all have in common: we have all had to completely reinvent and completely overhaul “how” we conduct business.

Over the last 10 years, I have had the fortunate opportunity to wear many different hats in the mortgage industry.

• As an loan originator, I enjoyed the fruits of the refi-boom and learned the importance of having long lasting relationships with referral partners.
• As an owner of a mortgage company, I learned the cost of inefficient processes and the value of fixing them.
• As the chief learning officer of a mortgage bank, I experience first-hand how difficult it can be to keep an organization up to speed on all the compliance changes and how much money can be lost if the 1003 isn’t done correctly or accurately.
• As a consultant and trainer to brokers, I learned that production numbers can increase with the use of some fundamental sales practices and how few systems there were to support such practices.
• As a consultant to small, medium and large mortgage banks and community banks, I saw how much time, energy and money can be spent on things like compliance and hedging if they aren’t managed correctly.
• As a consultant to technology venders in the mortgage industry, I learned that there are a lot of really great solutions out there, but they are still “disparate” solutions.
• As a speaker at industry events, I learned that this industry is full of highly talented professionals that have access to best practices but are searching for tools and help in implementing them into their businesses.

Over all, my biggest learning came in the realization of just how much our industry as a whole, would benefit not only from leveraging best practices that come from outside the industry but also, a solution that would enable them to easily implement those best practices.

That last sentence sounds a bit cliché, but I think we’d all agree that even though many have had a difficult time adjusting to the changes, some, have done it with great success. What made them successful and others not? That is a question that I have wrestled with for these last 14 years and here is what I have learned. Success is NOT an accident. Success is NOT something people stumble upon. Success (in our business) is the result of delivering maximum value to the end customer in a way that maximizes profit to the business or person that delivers it. I would venture to say that anyone reading this letter has been on the same pursuit of best practices as I have. Well, here is the good news. Everything you need to be successful is already with in your reach. Let me explain.

When the first Loan Origination Software programs were created, they were designed to facilitate the electronic management of the mortgage application. They were not designed to warn you if you were doing something that was out of compliance or replace a CRM by letting you manage, track and market to potential clients. I think we’ve all tried to “customize” our different software to work but with all the changes, technical limitations and cost of upkeep, it just wasn’t possible. At the end of the day, any way you cut it, the traditional LOS was simply an electronic 1003 and nothing more.

Your needs have changed along with the increased complexity in the mortgage business and I think it is safe to assume that there are more changes yet to come. In addition to all the other pressures, mortgage companies and banks facing financial pressure which squeezes profit margins very similar to that of other highly competitive industries like manufacturing. Let’s take the automobile industry as an example. 50 years ago after World War II, Japan was devastated and Toyota chose to respond by completely overhauling their business processes through methodologies like LEAN SIXSIGMA and Total Quality Management. General Motors, who dominated back then, chose not to make any changes. The rest is history. That is not to say that Toyota is perfect given their recent issues, but the lesson is in how they responded to that adversity and that they had a business that could quickly adapt once again. We’ve seen the commercials and ads showing that they are spending “$1MM per hour” on improving their business.

I have spent countless hours talking to our clients like you about why you chose MortgageDashboard as your Loan Origination Software. With so many options out there, you chose a web-based solution during a time when most chose the traditional “installed” software. That kind of vision, in and of itself, says a lot about you. It says that you don’t follow the crowd; it says that you are already several steps ahead of your competition (just look at the research) and most importantly, it says that you trusted us with what is absolutely the most crucial part of the entire mortgage business, the data base of record for the 1003 Mortgage Application.

I say all of that because it is time to take and reshape the way we think about mortgage technology solutions and providers. The tech firms of the past will not succeed in the future the same way that mortgage companies of the past will not succeed in the future. Going forward, only true partnerships have a chance of long-term success. That means that technology companies must be more than just providers of a piece of processing code or an occasional webinar. Technology providers need to step up and provide full solutions, not just software.

It is for that very reason that I am excited to be at the helm of a technology provider that fully understands the ramifications of the changes we’ve seen over the past 4 years and has invested in the technology and thought leadership to make quantum leaps forward to address them.

So, what does all this mean to you?

On October 5th, a new and improved version of MortgageDashboard will be released. This new version has been in the works for over one year and is jam packed with features that will revolutionize your business and profitability. You are amongst the very first to hear about it and, because you have been a loyal client, will be the first to benefit from it.

In the days ahead, you’ll be receiving more information from us that will tell you more about a far more intelligent, powerful and flexible enterprise resource than our industry has ever seen before. Look for more e-mails from me as well as our Founder and CTO Jorge Sauri, detailing the many specific improvements we’ve made and where you can get even more information, including training and support.

Again, I want to thank you for being a loyal MortgageDashboard client . It is because of people like you that we are able to be here to bring you state of the art solutions. And that, we will never forget.

Best personal regards,

Rene F. Rodriguez, CEO
MortgageDashboard