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92 CALIFORNIA Where Will California's Hard-Won $331M Go? As California faces a housing crisis, Cali- fornia Governor Gavin Newsom is planning on spending $331 million from a settle- ment with mortgage lenders on legal aid for homeowners and renters, The Orange County Register reports. However, courts have stated that the money must be spent on housing as- sistance and consumer protection programs. "e middle class, and those that aspire to get in it, are being slammed because we have been unable to produce enough housing, to prevent evictions and foreclosures," Newsom said. Newsom's plan is to give the money to nonprofits that help Californians facing fore- closure or evictions, keeping in line with the court's decision. Despite being less affordable than its long term norms, a report from Black Knight earlier this year revealed that California affordability has improved significantly. It now requires 34% of the median income to purchase the average home in California, down from 38% in November. Black Knight notes that California went from having one of the top five home price growth rates of any state (8.6%) one year ago to second-to-last as of June 2019, at 1.3%. To combat the ongoing affordability is- sues, some California cities are considering an "empty homes penalty," also known as a vacancy tax. Voters in Oakland, California re- cently approved Measure W, a tax of as much as $6,000 per parcel and $3,000 per condo unit on properties occupied fewer than 50 days per year. e tax is expected to bring in around $10 million per year, which is intended to go toward homeless services and new affordable housing, Capital and Main reports. Proponents of these vacancy taxes say that they will improve access to affordable housing by keeping speculators from sitting on them until they can rent them for a higher rate, or sell them at a greater profit when prices inevi- tably increase. Opponents say that the key to affordable housing isn't taxes, but the revising of zoning to build more housing. A Strategic Alliance Docutech is partnering with Black Knight to bundle its advanced ConformX document generation engine as part of Black Knight's comprehensive Origination Suite of solutions. Including ConformX in the Black Knight Empower Now! loan origination system (LOS) implementation process not only further optimizes the loan process for custom- ers and providers, but helps lenders eliminate the time and resources needed to search for and contract with a separate loan document provider. "Docutech is dedicated to providing lend- ers with solutions that enable them to manage their document needs more efficiently while maintaining the highest level of compliance tools and offering their customers a more modernized loan experience," said Amy Brandt, President and CEO of Docutech. "We are proud to work with BlackKnight to include ConformX with an Empower Now! implementation for faster, more efficient data integration and document exchange to en- hance a seamless, secure onboarding process." By integrating ConformX with Empower Now! implementations, lenders can now generate dynamic loan documents, auto-pop- ulated from data stored in Empower. Using rules-based intelligence and pre-configured automation capabilities, data is imported and systematically populated on the required documents generated by the lender to stream- line onboarding. e Empower Now! implementation model is designed to allow lenders to benefit from the capabilities of the Empower LOS, but with a 50% reduction in implementation time, resulting in faster timelines and lower implementation costs. Additionally, the Em- power LOS scales to support business growth, so lenders can remain on the same origination system as their loan volumes increase. "In forming this strategic alliance with Docutech, Black Knight is building a premier, all-in-one origination solution for our clients," said Rich Gagliano, President, BlackKnight Origination Technologies. "Bundling state-of- the-art document capabilities with Empower Now! will help our lender clients reduce loan transaction times, save on operational costs, and quickly customize documents for acceler- ated speed to market." Expert Opinions First American Financial Corporation, a global provider of title insurance, settlement services, and risk solutions for real estate transactions, announced the launch of the First American Innovation Center, an online information resource designed to provide a glimpse into the initiatives and people driving innovation within the company. e Innovation Center will feature thoughtful posts from First American experts examining the market forces and technology reshaping the process of buying and selling property in the United States. "e real estate and mortgage finance industries are undergoing dramatic changes as technology and consumer demand for an enhanced experience create opportunities for innovation," said Dennis Gilmore, CEO at First American Financial Corporation. "First American and our people are at the forefront of these changes, driving innovation to improve the customer experience, enhance security, and accelerate the real estate transac- tion process." Real estate, title, and mortgage lending professionals, as well as investors and others, can subscribe to First American's Innova- tion Center for updates when new articles are published. First American's Innovation Cen- ter currently features articles offering fresh perspectives on some of the industrywide innovations poised to improve the real estate transaction for all parties involved. More Access for Risk- Based Pricing Tools National Mortgage Insurance Corpora- tion (National MI), a subsidiary of NMI Holdings, Inc., announced that lenders using Tavant VELOX's FinConnect integration platform for the financial services industry can now access Rate GPS, National MI's unique risk-based pricing tool, when pricing private mortgage insurance products. e FinConnect intelligent data and ser- vices hub connects more than 120 product and service providers in the mortgage production cycle to provide lenders with a digital-mort- gage production experience. Over the past few months, Tavant and the California-based Na- tional MI collaborated to build new features within FinConnect's private mortgage insur- ance rate connector that support risk-based mortgage insurance pricing. As a result, lenders using FinConnect can now access Rate GPS, National MI's risk-based pricing platform, which assesses a variety of loan characteristics to more closely align NationalMI's premium rates to the risk associated with individual loans. "National MI is very pleased that Rate GPS is now an option for lenders on the FinConnect platform, which gives lenders a seamless, digital experience when pricing mortgage insurance," said Mike Dirrane, Chief Sales Officer and Senior Managing

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