A few years after its merger with Cleveland-based Smythe Kramer, and with its mortgage business now topping three-quarters of a billion dollars in originations based on last year’s totals, Pittsburgh-based full service real estate services firm Howard Hanna has moved to standardize the mortgage systems its different businesses have been using.

After looking at both systems already in use, as well as new technology on the market, the company went with Mortgage Builder, the system in place at the former Smythe Kramer, as its new loan origination system (LOS), according to Howard Hanna president Mark Steele.

“We hired a consultant to take a look at both operations,” Steele said. “We spent a lot of time looking at the differences and similarities in our workflow processes for each branch. We solicited several mortgage software companies for RFPs and had our team meet with ten of those companies. The management group then met with the three finalists to discuss and demonstrate their products. We ultimately chose Mortgage Builder Software, the company that the Cleveland operation was already using.”

Mortgage Builder was selected for its ability to operate each retail business separately, as well as its ability to operate the wholesale business in a consolidated fashion. The merged company has 120 offices serving Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and West Virginia.

We wanted a platform that worked for everybody and was flexible enough to allow different business processes within the same system while maintaining a common database,” said Steele. “We needed to have a number of customizations made to accommodate the different workflow processes in the two branches, and Mortgage Builder stepped up to the plate and really helped us in a very quick fashion. They analyzed our needs and came up with smart, viable solutions. They gave us a reporting system that would allow us to gather information from all our branches without the need to change processes and workflow to accommodate a new LOS.”

Mortgage Builder supports Microsoft technology and the implementation with Howard Hanna is Microsoft-based. The end-to-end mortgage lending solution is for both retail and wholesale production, and the flagship product delivers everything from pre-qualification and Web integrated services through interim servicing and loan delivery.