Topic:  Newsletter Articles

Appraisers have been on the leading edge of technology and change in valuation at least since a la mode founder and CEO Dave Biggers and his friends started writing DOS programs to automatically populate appraisal forms 20 years ago. Compare the last time you saw a URAR filled out by hand to the last time you saw paperwork from one of your clients filled out by hand, and tell us who's better at adapting to technological change.   Read more...

One of the many things that sets a la mode apart is our Hands On Training (HOT) sessions, held here in our Oklahoma City headquarters. We have a training room built with HOT in mind: 28 workstations with Dell Pentium 1.7 GHz PCs with XP Professional face a whiteboard/projection screen. Coffee, soda, water, lunch and a take-home 101-page outline are provided. WinTOTAL users to a man and woman will tell you they're the most valuable two day investments they've ever made in their careers.   Read more...

Coming in a special update we'll release later this month, you'll find a revolutionary new print engine that we actually developed for the new WinTOTAL 5.0. Rather than hold it for release with WinTOTAL 5.0 - which anyone with a support contract will get for free - the productivity enhancement and time savings this new engine offers was important enough that we wanted to get it to you as soon as possible.   Read more...

We announced last week that we completed expansion of our Oklahoma City headquarters to accommodate a new data center and customer service department.   Read more...

Recently Fannie Mae has released test versions of new iterations of the URAR (1004), 2055, 1073, 1075, 1004B and 1004D. WinTOTAL users with support memberships will have the new forms Thursday evening - for free - as part of an Instant Customer Update.   Read more...

A buzzword in mortgage lending lately is "bundling," often called "bundled services." Companies that make their money from mortgage originators who order ancillary products and services necessary for mortgage production have seemingly all decided that everything they do needs to have a package price now.   Read more...

Mortgages, car loans and business debt should become more expensive after the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve's decision to raise the federal funds rate - the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans - by a quarter point. Mortgage rates, among other things, react to changes in the federal funds rate, which has been cut six times since the disaster of September 11, 2001. This week was the first time the rate has been raised since May 2000.   Read more...

a la mode has completed expansion of its headquarters here to accommodate a new data center and customer service department.   Read more...

Homestore®, owns, or has, licensed trademark rights to the words REALTOR®, REALTOR.com® and operates the REALTOR.com® website. Homestore® maintains that it owns the factual information you upload to the REALTOR.com® site, and not you. Accordingly, we have been told to cease and desist allowing you to enter your listings' MLS number and display your REALTOR.com® listing on your Agent XSite for your prospective buyers. Homestore® requires instead that if you upload your listings to REALTOR.com®, that they be displayed in proximity to your competition's listings on the REALTOR.com® site, and nowhere else.   Read more...

Mortgages, car loans and business debt should become more expensive after the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve meets tomorrow and, as widely expected, raises the federal funds rate - the rate that banks charge each other for overnight loans. Mortgage rates, among other things, react to changes in the federal funds rate, which has been cut six times since the disaster of September 11, 2001. Consensus seems to be that the Committee will raise the rate by at least one-quarter of one percent, the first time the rate has been raised since May 2000.   Read more...