Proptech companies and investors now have the option of embedding a digital closing platform into their applications using a new suite of application programming interfaces (APIs) from Endpoint, First American Financial Corp.’s digital title and settlement services subsidiary.
The suite of APIs provide a scalable, enterprisewide solution for title and settlement needs capable of automatically opening orders, tracking transaction status, exchanging documents, and providing custom reporting features and notifications, Endpoint announced Tuesday.
Paul Hurst
“At its core, Endpoint is digitizing and automating the title and settlement process, and has built a national platform that delivers consistency, security and cost savings by leveraging technology and the experience of seasoned closing specialists,” First American Chief Innovation Officer Paul Hurst said in a statement. “Now, with the ability to operate at scale, Endpoint offers proptech companies, investors and other tech-forward organizations the advantage of embedding a purchase-centric platform into their applications, without the challenge of building or purchasing a title company.”
Speaking at Connect Now in June, Hurst acknowledged that with mortgage rates climbing and the Fed still battling to tame inflation, proptech companies that managed to go public during the pandemic-fueled real estate boom have lost about 65 percent of their value.
But Hurst said that the opportunity that proptechs are trying to capitalize on — eliminating inefficiencies in real estate transactions — remain.
“Anybody that goes through a real estate transaction or real estate experience — I mean, you can see how many opportunities there are for improvement,” Hurst said.
Founded in 2018 as a collaboration between First American and venture capital firm BCG Digital Ventures, El Segundo, California-based Endpoint has raised $220 million to date, including $150 million provided by First American last fall.
Endpoint uses artificial intelligence to streamline document submissions and expedite processes, backing up its technology with local teams of escrow and title experts.
Scott Martino
The company’s technology helps free up its local escrow and title experts to handle exceptions, and to spend more time with the customer, Endpoint CEO Scott Martino has said.
“The combination of our proprietary technology built specifically for the purchase transaction, centralized team of closing experts and expanded nationwide reach makes Endpoint the right partner for proptech companies and investors,” Martino said in a statement.
In addition to proptech companies and investors, Endpoint provides services to lenders, real estate agents, and buyers and sellers.
Currently licensed in 36 states, Endpoint plans to be in 43 by the end of this year.
Doma, a rival digital title insurance, escrow and closing provider, announced layoffs affecting 310 employees in May as the company adapts technology it pioneered to provide “instant underwriting” of title insurance for mortgage refinancings so that it can also be used to underwrite title insurance on more complex purchase loans.
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