Source: http://www.google.com/patents/US8095457?dq=6377161
Timestamp: 2014-09-01 21:35:34
Document Index: 253290006

Matched Legal Cases: ['Application No. 60', 'arty 20', 'art 500', 'art 500', 'art 500', 'art 500', 'art 500']

Patent US8095457 - Communication system and method between a home buyer, seller, strategic ... - Google PatentsSearch Images Maps Play YouTube News Gmail Drive More »Sign in<nobr>Advanced Patent Search</nobr>PatentsA computerized system and method are presented for exchanging information between a buyer, a seller, a lender, and a strategic business source. The system permits sellers, lenders and strategic business sources to input buyers that are then submitted for activation. The buyers use the system to obtain...http://www.google.com/patents/US8095457?utm_source=gb-gplus-sharePatent US8095457 - Communication system and method between a home buyer, seller, strategic business source, and lenderAdvanced Patent SearchPublication numberUS8095457 B2Publication typeGrantApplication numberUS 11/999,299Publication dateJan 10, 2012Filing dateDec 4, 2007Priority dateDec 4, 2007Also published asUS8332312, US8719152, US20090144128, US20120116952, US20130080211, US20130085952, US20140156546Publication number11999299, 999299, US 8095457 B2, US 8095457B2, US-B2-8095457, US8095457 B2, US8095457B2InventorsStephen M. Polston, Aaron Matthew Vennie, Jeffery Matthew Colville, Michelle Patrice Hiller, Ronald J. Steele, Joan Marie SkallmanOriginal AssigneePreferred Home Buyers Network, Inc.Export CitationBiBTeX, EndNote, RefManPatent Citations (34), Non-Patent Citations (6), Classifications (13), Legal Events (2) External Links: USPTO, USPTO Assignment, EspacenetCommunication system and method between a home buyer, seller, strategic business source, and lenderUS 8095457 B2Abstract A computerized system and method are presented for exchanging information between a buyer, a seller, a lender, and a strategic business source. The system permits sellers, lenders and strategic business sources to input buyers that are then submitted for activation. The buyers use the system to obtain information about items, while the sellers, lenders, and strategic business sources make consistent contact with the buyer in order to work with the buyer. Information about the buyers is shared with the sellers, lenders, and strategic business sources. A business plan is input into the system for the financial institution employing the lender while another business plan is input for the seller institution employing the seller. Activity on the computerized system is calculated for compliance with the business plan. Feedback is provided to management relating to whether the business plan is being met.
RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is related to application Ser. No. 11/403,385, filed on Apr. 12, 2006, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/187,207, filed on Jul. 1, 2002 and which itself claimed priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/359,804, filed Feb. 26, 2002. Each of these related applications is hereby incorporated by reference.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to the field of automating real estate sales contacts. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system for managing loan officers and lending institutions that participate in an automated system for communicating between a buyer, a seller, a lender, and a strategic business source.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Typical real estate related web sites of the prior art provide for real time home searches based on a set of input search criteria. When such sites are used to manage contacts with a potential home buyer, the site is designed from the point of view of the agent. The agent is in charge of the relationship with the customer, and is responsible for recommending to the customer other professionals who may assist in the home purchase transaction. In other words, prior art web sites that allow customer development and communication focus on the agent. No effort is made to integrate the lender.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present disclosure is directed to a computerized system and method for exchanging information between a buyer, a seller, a lender, and a strategic business source. The present system and method permits a seller to enroll buyers and easily focus sales efforts at buyers who might not yet be ready to purchase. The system also provides opportunities for lenders and strategic business sources to enroll buyers. The system and method seamlessly integrate lenders, permitting lenders to participate earlier in the buying process. Also, the system and method helps educate and develop buyers, and provides for more personalized contacts with the lender, the seller, and any strategic business source during the earlier stages of the buying process. Finally, the system and method allows managers to track the performance of those entities and individuals that they manage against the business plan.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the computerized system of the present invention and its communications with a buyer, a seller, and a lender.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Basic Configuration
The computerized system 10 is capable of storing information about all of the parties 20, 30, 40 that use the system 10. In the preferred embodiment, this information is stored in a database system operating on one or more computers. The information stored about the parties 20, 30, 40 can be set according to pre-defined fields in a database table (or database objects in an object-oriented database environment). In the preferred embodiment, the type of information stored about each party 20, 30, 40 (i.e., the system �profile� for each party) is flexible, and can be varied depending on the needs of the users. For instance, a particular lender 40 (or lending institution) may wish to track particular information about their buyers 20 that is not desired by another lender 40. For example, one lender may wish to track a buyer's current interest rate on their existing mortgage loan for the purpose of future advertising campaigns, while another lender may not desire to track this information. The system 10 is flexible enough to allow these variations.
The person responsible for the contact can choose how to make the contact�whether by phone, by e-mail, or another way. If the contact is made by e-mail, the sender of the e-mail can choose to send a copy of the e-mail to the other parties responsible for communicating with the buyer 20. In addition, form e-mails can be provided to aid in the creation of the e-mail. When the e-mail is sent, the system 10 automatically updates a communication history log, saves the e-mail for future reference, and removes the prompt. In the preferred embodiment, the prompt 15 is a symbol that appears next to a buyer 20 in a buyer listing. This symbol is changed once the contact has been made, such as by placing a check mark over the symbol and by causing any animation (such as pulsing) to cease. If the contact 16 is made with the buyer 20 by phone or by other means, the system presents an entry screen in which the contact particulars (date, time, location, etc.) and notes about the contact 16 can be stored. This information is used to update the history log, and the prompt 15 for that buyer 20 is then removed.
While searching the item information 11, the buyer 20 will likely desire to store certain items or properties in a notebook for later review. The notebook contains a subset of the items available through system 10 that the buyer 20 has individually selected. The buyer 20 uses the notebook to store items or properties that are of particular interest so that the properties can be reviewed in detail at a later time. The notebook can notify the buyer 20 about changes to any relevant information concerning the selected items. Consequently, if the price for an item in the buyer's notebook were to change, the system 10 could immediately notify the buyer 20. The system 10 can also track these types of changes over time, allowing the buyer 20 to see a log of all relevant changes to an item as tracked by the system 10. It is contemplated that the buyer 20 can create several notebooks to store more than one subset of items. The buyer 20 can delete a listing from the notebook at any time. In addition, the buyer 20 is able to add personal notes 17 to any item in the notebook. In fact, the preferred embodiment allows the buyer 20 to add notes to any item in the system 10, whether or not the item is currently within a notebook. The seller 30 and lender 40 are able to review the notebook, as well as any buyer notes. 17 Strategic Business Sources
The lender 40 will next select whether to reject, amend or submit the buyer 20 for activation. This decision can be based on financial information, price range, or both. If the buyer 20 is financially unable to purchase at this time, the lender 40 can cancel the buyer 20 thereby preventing any further access to the system 10 by the buyer 20. Alternatively, the �cancel� step could simply leave the buyer 20 pending until financial issues are resolved or further information is received. The lender 40 can also amend the search criteria stored in the buyer specific information 12, such as raising or lowering the maximum price of the item based on the buyer's financial information. After amending this information, or after choosing not to amend such information, the lender 40 can submit the buyer 20 for activation. The lender 40 then saves the activation submission and awaits official activation of the buyer 20 by system 10.
In FIG. 3, Loan Officer 1 works for the Second Branch 330 of the Third Region 320 of the North Division 310 of the Lender Institution 300. This Loan Officer 40 works with three real estate agents, who are the sellers 30 of the above examples. The third seller 30 (labeled �Seller 3� in FIG. 3) has signed up three buyers 20 to be associated with that seller 30 in the computerized system 10. Each of these three buyers 20 is also associated with Loan Officer 1. The financial institution 300 will encourage all of their lenders or loan officers 40 to actively use the system 10 to work with sellers 30. If each lender 40 works with numerous sellers 30, and each of the sellers 30 encourages multiple buyers 20 to use the system 10, the financial institution 300 will soon have many prospective buyers 20 using the system 10, with each buyer 20 being consistently reminded of the financial services provided by the institution 300.
The present invention also is able to track new income in the first unit 360 that is associated with new affiliates or strategic business sources 50 using the system 10. If a financial institution 300 were able to attract a large number of strategic business sources 50, these strategic business sources 50 will naturally bring with them additional buyers 20 into the system 10, which will in turn lead to an increase in closings done by the financial institution 300. For example, if a home inspector can typically bring four potential buyers 20 into the system 10 every month, it may be reasonable to assume one out of the four will lead to a closing using the lender 40. Consequently, this first unit 360 includes not only additional closings associated with new sellers 30, but also additional closings associated with new strategic business sources 50 using the system. The number of new closings expected for each new affiliate (box �A� in FIG. 4) is assigned based on the type of affiliate and the experience of the financial institution 300 (or alternatively upon the experience of all financial institutions using the system 10).
The second unit 370 relies upon �re-leveraging� sellers 30 that already do business with the financial institution 300. The value obtained by re-leveraging sellers 30 is calculated by having the lender institution 300 estimate a number of additional �hot closings� per re-leveraged seller 30 that would otherwise have been lost, and multiplying this by the number of sellers that will be re-leveraged and the income to the institution 300 per closing.
The third unit 380 reflects the fact that each lender 40 using the system should be able to create more closings (�incubated closings�) by encouraging buyers 20 to use the system 10. The theory in this unit is that the percentage of buyers 20 that use the lender 40 for closing will be higher when those buyers 20 use this system 10 than the percentage would be if the buyers 20 are informed about the lender 40 (such as through a business card provided by a seller 30) but do not use the system 10. To calculate this value, the number of participating sellers is multiplied by the number of buyers each seller 30 will enroll, which in turn is multiplied by the improved conversion rate estimated by the lender institution 300 and by the income received by the institution 300 per closing.
A manager of the local branch 330 is generally assigned the responsibility for inputting certain values into the various units 360-390 of the planning model 350 as business objectives or goals. These four goal items are shaded on FIG. 4, along with item �F� which is the sum of items �B� and �E�.
The present invention allows a manager to track the goals found in the four units 360-390 directly against real-world values relating to the use of the system 10. Feedback on meeting plan goals can be provided every time a manager logs into the system 10. In addition, the present computerized system 10 allows individual business plans for branches 330 to be aggregated together to form a plan for regions 320, divisions 310, or even the entire institution 300. Information from all branches 330 in a region 320 is �rolled-up� for the benefit of the manager of that region 320. This information is made available not only to the manager of each region 320, but also to the manager of each division 310, as well as to those individuals that are responsible for the performance of the entire institution 300. By rolling this data up to the different levels of the institutional hierarchy, a powerful management tool is created that allows managers to see live performance data for the hierarchy levels and individuals that they manage.
Hiring of new loan officer
Meeting goal in any unit of financial plan
Linking with new seller
Linking with ten new sellers
Bringing $10,000,000 of loans into the institution
Hit 60% of goal in hiring new loan officers
All branches have completed financial plan
The organizational chart tool 500 is designed to provide the manager an overview of their portion of the institutional hierarchy. The organizational chart 500 shown in FIG. 5 includes data about the entire institution 300, including all four divisions 310 and all regions 320 and branches 330. A manager of a particular division 310 would likely be allowed to see only data related to their division 310. The organization chart 500 is presented in the manner of a collapsible outline, starting with the highest level of the institutional hierarchy visible to the manager. In this case, the entire institution 300 is at the top of the tool 500. Underneath this are listed the four divisions 310: East, West, South, and North. In the preferred embodiment, it is possible to expand and contract each level of the hierarchy so as to show only the data of interest to the manager. Collapsed items may include a plus (�+�) character next to them. Clicking on this character will expand that item. Expanded items may have a minus (�−�) character, which is used to collapse that item. In FIG. 5, the East, West, and South Divisions 310 are collapsed, while the North division 310 is expanded. The North Division 310 includes two regions 320 (First and Second), both of which are collapsed. A non-hierarchical view of the organization chart 500 is available by following link 506. This view lists all levels of the hierarchy, and allows the levels to be sorted according to the data columns found in the organization chart 500.
The reason that the numbers are divided in this way is that it lets the manager distinguish between people who are new to the financial institution 300 and those existing loan officers 40, sellers 30, and strategic business sources 50 who have started to use the system 10. The distinction between new and existing sellers is important in determining whether the goals of the business model 350 are being met. This is because element �B� relates to new seller and strategic business source relationships and element �E� relates to sellers that already work with a lender 40 or the institution 300 but have just begun to use the system 10. In addition, item �J� relates only to new loan officers 40 that are now using system 10 and not to pre-existing loan officer employees who have started to use the system 10.
As seen in FIG. 5, the organizational chart tool 500 is a useful tool to reach other information about the performance of a financial institution 300. By clicking on the �Lenders,� �Sellers,� or �SBS� labels 502 in the organizational chart 500 (FIG. 5), the management page 400 will switch to a filterable lender list 510, seller list 520, or strategic business source list 530, respectively. The relationship of these lists 510, 52, 530 to the organizational chart tool 500 is shown in FIG. 6.
Each of the lists 510-530, 580 includes the ability to filter the lists according to filter criteria that relates to displayed data columns and is entered at fields 512, 522, and 532. In addition, the preferred embodiment includes the ability to send broadcast e-mails to selected members of any list. This is accomplished by providing a checkbox next to each entry on the list. The manager checks the desired recipients (or the �select all� button 514, 524, 534), and then sends a broadcast e-mail to all checked parties by clicking on button 516, 526, or 536. The content of the e-mail can be chosen from a stored message database, or can be custom created.
The planning model tool 600 also includes a worksheet 640 that is designed to determine the maximum income available without increasing overhead expenses. The worksheet asks each branch manager to estimate the maximum number of closings in a time period that can be accomplished at the branch based on existing operations and costs. When this is compared with the current number of closings at the branch, the difference can be multiplied by the income to the institution per closed loan (item �C� in FIG. 4) to calculate the branch's shortfall from the maximum income amount available. In the preferred embodiment, this worksheet is presented to the manager on the main portion of planning model tool 600. Alternatively, this worksheet 640 can be accessible by a link from the planning model tool 600. Since this worksheet 640 forms part of the business plan 350, and is preferably completed before completing any of the individual units 360-390, it is shown in FIG. 4 above each of these units 360-390 as tool 355.
1) is it helpful for the system 10 to prompt the lender 40 to make frequent contact with the buyer 20, or are frequent contacts counterproductive? 2) do agents 30 that fail to complete their prompted communications with the buyer 20 add significantly to the number of closings for a lender 40, or should these agents 30 be removed from the system 10? 3) given certain activities of the buyer 20, how likely is it that a particular buyer will close within 30, 60, or 90 days? 4) given the activities of all of the buyers 20 in the system, how many buyers 20 in the pipeline will close in 30, 60, or 90 days?
The first unit 710 of this model 700 calculates the potential revenue to the seller institution due to additional contact conversions resulting from the use of the present invention system 10. The seller manager is requested to input a goal for the number of new buyer enrollments that will be made per month (value �A� in unit 710). This number can be input as a single number for an entire seller institution branch, or can be based upon a per-seller (i.e., per-agent) number that is then multiplied by the number of sellers at that branch. This number is then multiplied by a given percentage of enrolled buyers who typically close with the seller 30. The total of A times B is then multiplied by the average revenue per closing for the branch (�C�) to determine the total additional revenue for Unit 1.
The second unit 720 of model 700 calculates the revenue that can be obtained by a seller organization by recruiting new sellers 30. Since access to the system 10 is a valuable recruiting tool, this unit lets the seller manager place a dollar value on this benefit. Item �D� is the goal value for the number of new sellers that will be recruited. This number is then multiplied by the number of buyer side closings typically expected per seller (�E�) and the average revenue to the seller institution per closing (�C�) to obtain an revenue value for the second unit 720.
As was the case with the Lender business model 350, the seller business model has goal values in each unit 710, 720 that can be compared over time to actual values. These goals are the values �A� and �D,� which are shaded in FIG. 11. The system can track performance of various levels of hierarchy in the seller institution as compared to these goals, and can show this comparison as numbers or as dollar values calculated as set forth in business model 700.
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No. 11/403,385, Polston et al.Classifications U.S. Classification705/38, 705/313International ClassificationG06Q40/00, G06Q30/00Cooperative ClassificationG06Q30/00, G06Q30/0601, G06Q50/16, G06Q40/025, G06Q10/0637European ClassificationG06Q30/00, G06Q30/0601, G06Q40/025, G06Q50/16Legal EventsDateCodeEventDescriptionMar 19, 2013CCCertificate of correctionFeb 28, 2008ASAssignmentOwner name: PREFERRED HOME BUYERS NETWORK, INC., MINNESOTAFree format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:POLSTON, STEPHEN M.;VENNIE, AARON MATTHEW;COLVILLE, JEFFERY MATTHEW;AND OTHERS;REEL/FRAME:020575/0651;SIGNING DATES FROM 20080218 TO 20080221Free format text: ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNORS INTEREST;ASSIGNORS:POLSTON, STEPHEN M.;VENNIE, AARON MATTHEW;COLVILLE, JEFFERY MATTHEW;AND OTHERS;SIGNING DATES FROM 20080218 TO 20080221;REEL/FRAME:020575/0651RotateOriginal ImageGoogle Home - Sitemap - USPTO Bulk Downloads - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service - About Google Patents - Send FeedbackData provided by IFI CLAIMS Patent Services©2012 Google