Qualia announced Wednesday that it has extended the capabilities of its real estate closing platform with the launch of a remote online notarization product.
Its goal is to enable entirely digital, contactless home closings.
In the era of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for RON has skyrocketed. And thanks to people like Notarize founder and CEO Pat Kinsel, more states are allowing for it to take place. (Kinsel has lobbied for states to pass legislation allowing for digital notarization).
But rather than integrate an existing RON product into Qualia’s platform, the company decided to build its own, according to Nate Baker, co-founder and CEO of Qualia.
“We started on this project in April, and are getting out the door now,” he said. “I’m proud of our engineering team, as it was a pretty quick turnaround for them.”
Incorporating RON into the platform was not in the works at Qualia before the pandemic hit, Baker added. But once the company saw the increased demand, it set about building its own RON capabilities.
“With the pandemic, there’s been this incredible pressure in the industry to be able to do things remotely,” he said. “RON has existed in some form for a few years but the demand wasn’t there and there were a lot of regulatory hurdles. With the pandemic, a lot changed very quickly. And now a consumer expects to be able to close [on a house], from their phone, on their couch.”
Qualia sells its software to title agents, lenders and their partners. By adding a RON product, Baker said it’ll be easier for Qualia to “streamline the whole transaction.” He also believes Qualia now becomes the “first and only” title and escrow platform with built-in RON.
Qualia RON is accessible via Qualia Connect, which is built into Qualia’s platform. Qualia users also have other remote notarization options, including Qualia Connect Video Chat, which can be used for remote ink-signed notarizations (RIN), as well as the ability to access RON-authorized notaries through Qualia’s online vendor Marketplace.
In states where RON is allowed, title companies that want to use a RON-enabled software platform will need to become RON certified and register with their state. To help with that, Qualia has built a team to consult with companies with those certifications.