Case Study
CrossCountry Mortgage (CCM)
Product Offerings:
- Renovation loans
- Construction to permanent loans
Goals:
- Replace manual processes with a digital solution
- Robust reporting capabilities
- Automate operations
Land Gorilla Solutions:
- Draw management software
- OneSite app
- Inspections
Results:
- Decreased draw turn times
- 24/7 availability via automation
- Consistent inspections turn times
“It was clear that Land Gorilla was not only the best option for us, but could also be a partner that we felt comfortable with, that would continue to be innovative”
Keith Stracensky
SVP of Operational Development,
CrossCountry Mortgage
600+
Branches Nationwide
+7,000
Employees
50
Licensed in all 50 states
CrossCountry Mortgage was founded in 2003 with a vision to become a nationwide full-service lender that could provide customers with clear, fast and transparent mortgage experiences. Through superior customer service and a full range of loan products and programs, CrossCountry Mortgage has been able to achieve that vision and build upon it by helping more people each year buy the homes of their dreams.
Visit CrossCountry Mortgage at https://ccm.com
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Introduction
CrossCountry Mortgage is currently the nation’s third-largest retail mortgage lender and one of the few top national lenders to offer both renovation and construction loan products. CrossCountry Mortgage historically offered renovation loans and then launched a construction product in 2019.
The Problem
CrossCountry Mortgage’s renovation team used spreadsheets and manual reporting to administer and track the draw progress. They relied on labor-intensive processes and procedures that included repetitive email communications.
As the volume grew and plans for a construction program were in the works, it was time for CrossCountry Mortgage to evaluate its operations and focus on ways to become more efficient and automated. With a company objective of maintaining high volume while using the least amount of company resources, it was imperative to CrossCountry Mortgage to find a partner and a solution to help meet this objective.
The Solution
“When we were originally vetting out possible draw management solutions, we heavily researched what we felt were the top three systems at the time,” said Keith Stracensky, SVP of Operational Development at CrossCountry Mortgage. “We did a thorough gap analysis and it was clear that Land Gorilla was not only the best option for us, but could also be a partner that we felt comfortable with, that would continue to be innovative.”
It was important to CrossCountry Mortgage to use construction loan management software that would continue to grow and evolve as they did. With price, features, and functionality also being on the top of their list when evaluating a system, CrossCountry Mortgage decided Land Gorilla met all their requirements. Most importantly, Land Gorilla continues to be innovative with consistent new feature releases and product updates that continue to fit CrossCountry Mortgage’s needs as loan volume increases. “Land Gorilla is constantly updating the system and adding features that enable us to stay efficient,” explained Stracensky.
“Land Gorilla is constantly updating the system and adding features that enable us to stay efficient”
Keith Stracensky
SVP of Operational Development,
CrossCountry Mortgage
Feature Highlights
Inspections
Maintaining a great reputation, especially amongst builders and contractors, is critical in the construction lending industry. Stracensky highlighted a feature that is very useful to their team to help achieve a stellar reputation. “Without a doubt, the automated ordering of inspections and title updates through OneSite, without a CrossCountry Mortgage representative being involved, is a game changer,” stated Stracensky. “We were able to cut our average draw times down by 24 to 48 hours through this implementation and create the impression to our builder and contractor partners that we work 24/7! The functionality to automate the inspection order through the Land Gorilla Platform is a must-have.”
In conjunction with the automated ordering of inspections, the quality of inspections was also highlighted by CrossCountry Mortgage. “With the large number of inspections that we order, we see very few issues,” said Stracensky. “The turn times are always consistent, and the report is easily digestible.”
“The automated ordering of inspections and title updates through OneSite…is a game changer”
Keith Stracensky
SVP of Operational Development,
CrossCountry Mortgage
Project Reviews
Another service CrossCountry Mortgage utilizes is the ordering of project reviews through Land Gorilla. According to CrossCountry Mortgage, the process has been quick and easy. They have also had the opportunity to request custom data that is required by their internal procedures to be on the project review report. CrossCountry Mortgage was impressed with the report turn times and details the reports provide. With the help of Land Gorilla’s project reviews, under-bidding and forgotten costs were identified early during the loan process and managed as needed.
Land Gorilla APIs
For their specific use case, CrossCountry Mortgage needed an enhancement made for Land Gorilla’s APIs, so a request was made. “The Land Gorilla team is always helpful and responsive,” said Bryan Telford, Data Engineer at CrossCountry Mortgage. “When I sent this enhancement request, I received a fast response and a timeline of when the feature could be implemented. We needed this API operation to help quantify the final draw date turn time in an external system.” Land Gorilla not only listened to CrossCountry Mortgage’s request but also launched the API enhancement. In addition, CrossCountry Mortgage uses other API operations to easily extract meaningful data for display in various Business Intelligence tools. “Land Gorilla’s API benefits CrossCountry Mortgage Mortgage by providing data necessary to build dashboards and reporting, which the construction team relies on every day for pipeline management,” said Telford.
The Results
When the decision to partner with Land Gorilla was made, CrossCountry Mortgage was up and running quickly with the assistance of training sessions and a dedicated customer success manager. Years later, Land Gorilla continues to provide outstanding customer service and support. “The ongoing support from Land Gorilla and our Customer Success Manager has been exceptional,” said Stracensky. “They have listened to our feedback and implemented some of the ideas into their system.”
A Long-Standing Partnership
CrossCountry Mortgage’s consistent leadership in construction and renovation lending has been supported by cutting-edge technology and a long-standing partnership with Land Gorilla. “It has been a huge lift for CrossCountry Mortgage that we have not had to worry about our technology falling behind other systems in the market,” concluded Stracensky. “Land Gorilla has been our partner from the very beginning, even when we weren’t closing any loans yet.”
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