Issue link: http://dsnews.uberflip.com/i/1010054
86 FLORIDA How AI Will Change Mortgage Servicing Florida-based Black Knight Inc. an- nounced the acquisition of HeavyWater, an artificial-intelligence and machine-learning (AI/ML) provider for the financial services industry, through its custom-solution called AIVA. While it will initially be used as a platform to improve efficiencies in origina- tions, Black Knight is looking at integrating its capabilities on the servicing side, too. "We believe that AIVA will be an enter- prise solution. ough we're initially focusing on the origination side, we absolutely foresee AIVA being leveraged across our originations technology business, our servicing technology business, as well as our DNA group," Rich Gagliano, President, Black Knight Origina- tions Technologies Division, told DS News. Black Knight has already started rolling out the solution for its clients and plans to in- tegrate AIVA over the next couple of months. e company has said that AIVA would be integrated into its premier solutions and also make the technology available to clients looking to deploy AI/ML within other parts of their organization to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and accuracy. "With the cost of origination and servicing at, or near, all-time highs, AIVA is poised to help increase efficiencies for Black Knight clients," said Anthony Jabbour, CEO, Black Knight. "AI/ML and neural network solutions are the future of delivering enhanced produc- tivity and capabilities to our clients, and we are very excited about the potential HeavyWater has to offer." HeavyWater's AIVA solution leverages AI/ML to perform operational functions more efficiently and effectively than tradi- tional methods by reading, comprehending, and drawing conclusions based on context to mimic cognitive thinking. "e focus of HeavyWater and their expertise in AI/ML is the ability to take more mundane operations and use machine learning to extract information and assist the operations of underwriters, loan processors, and closers to move those components of the loan-processing task along significantly faster," Gagliano said. e Philadelphia-based HeavyWater has been providing AIVA to help lenders with traditionally manual activities such as verifying income, assets, and insurance coverage. Black Knight said that clients benefited from the accelerated processes and reduced expenses as AIVA gained experience and manual routines were automated. "Our focus has always been on pioneering research in machine learning and artificial intelligence and applying it to the financial services industry," said Soofi Safavi, CEO of HeavyWater. "By using sophisticated neural networks and 'contextual knowledge' to con- tinuously improve AIVA's learning and per- formance, we've helped our clients save money, increase efficiencies, and reduce turn time." 2.7 Million Homes at Risk in Florida Storm Season A CoreLogic report estimates that 6.9 million homes could be at risk of hurricane storm-surge damage in 2018, with more than $1.6 trillion in potential reconstruction costs at stake. According to the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), natural disasters caused more than $300 billion in damages during 2017, a year that encom- passed several damaging hurricanes, as well as wildfires and mudslides in California. e $309.5 billion total for 2017 set a new record, easily surpassing the previous U.S. annual record cost of $219.2 billion from 2005, which included Hurricanes Dennis, Katrina, Rita, and Wilma. Could 2018 be even more damag- ing when everything is finally tallied? e 2018 CoreLogic Storm Surge Report "examines risk from hurricane-driven storm surge for homes along the Atlantic and Gulf coastlines across 19 states, as well as for 86 metro areas." e report sorts homes into five different risk categories: Low (homes af- fected only by a Category 5 storm), Moderate (homes affected by Category 4 and 5 storms), High (homes affected by Category 3, 4, and 5 storms), Very High (homes affected by Category 2, 3, 4, and 5 storms) and Extreme (homes affected by Category 1-5 storms). CoreLogic explains, "Reconstruction Cost Value (RCV) figures represent the cost to completely rebuild a property in case of damage—including labor and materials by geographic location—assuming the worst-case scenario at 100-percent destruction." According to the report, the Atlantic Coast has more than 3.9 million homes at risk of hurricane storm surge, with an RCV of more than $1 trillion. is represents an increase of approximately $30 billion over 2017. On the Gulf Coast, more than 3 million homes are at Florida Minority Certified Business MIAMI-DADE & BROWARD COUNTIES 786-499-6994 www.REOPitStop.com Luis@ContinentalRealtors.com RESNET ID: 106089 | Equator ID: 272261 Luis F. Guzman Broker/Owner Orlando REO Professionals Ronald Gentile rjgentile62@gmail.com 407.247.0849 www.O-REO.net Serving the greater central Florida area. Let Orlando REO Professionals I, Inc., be your choice for property investments in the Florida region. We can help you reach your investment goals. We are a group of REO listing specialists, covering: Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Polk, Lake, and Volusia counties. 10-plus years experience. F L O R I D A ' S R E O S P E C I A L I S T S was the increase in new listings for single- family homes in Florida, according to a year-over- year analysis for May. Source: Florida Realtors Monthly Market Detail - May 2018 STAT INSIGHT 4.8%