Underwriting Software: Unlock CRE Lending Potential

Commercial real estate (CRE) underwriting has changed dramatically over the past few years. Outdated workflows that are prone to manual data entry, long processes, and high error rates are being replaced with smarter, faster approaches built to handle the complexities of the modern market. 

New data from the Mortgage Bankers Association showed that the total commercial real estate mortgage borrowing and lending is estimated to have totaled $429 billion in 2023. That volume level underscores the need for streamlined, efficient workflows in today’s competitive industry.

What’s needed in this environment is powerful cloud-based underwriting software that automates processes, delivers real-time data integration, and informs smarter decision-making. 

It’s the difference between competing with the lowest efficiency and cost or outpacing your competition and maximizing profits in a market that’s constantly changing. It’s also about managing risk and ensuring profitability in uncertain economic climates.

In this post, we’ll take a look at how underwriting software is the key to unlocking the benefits of CRE lending, what features make it so effective, and how you can integrate Blooma’s tools into your own operations.

The Core of Modern Underwriting Software

Underwriting software solutions are a powerful way to optimize and expedite the underwriting process for commercial real estate loans. 

The main function of underwriting solutions is to automate many of the manual and tedious tasks traditionally required to review and fund loan requests, from analyzing borrower credit to inspecting property values and local trends.

Leading underwriting tools offer several key features that have proved valuable in the modern lending market:

• AI-Powered Analytics: Today’s underwriting systems are backed by underwriting rules using artificial intelligence (AI) that are capable of sorting through enormous data sets with precision and speed. AI-powered analytics can uncover hidden patterns and trends that may be missed by human investigators, offering lenders greater insight into their borrowers and property markets overall, and allowing them to make more strategic lending decisions.

• Automated Risk Evaluation: Automated risk evaluation is perhaps the top benefit offered by underwriting software. By sourcing information from multiple data points and employing complex algorithms to interpret that information, underwriting systems can accurately assess the risk presented by a loan request in real time, accelerating underwriting speed and minimizing the potential for human error.

• Real Time Data: In the modern, demanding market of CRE lending, time is everything. Underwriting systems with real time data capabilities ensure lenders always have access to the most relevant and recent information, enabling dynamic decision-making and allowing underwriters to pivot instantly to changing market trends.

Automated underwriting software is central to the transformation of the CRE lending ecosystem. It enables lenders to accelerate the underwriting process, maximize accuracy, and adapt to the demanding rigor of the modern market.

Challenges Addressed by Underwriting Software

Traditional underwriting methods tend to face a few major challenges. For lenders, these challenges can make the underwriting process inefficient and even prone to errors. 

Fortunately, commercial real estate underwriting software offers effective solutions to overcome these obstacles and improve operations.

1. Time-Consuming Manual Processes

Traditional underwriting is often slowed down by labor-intensive tasks that require significant manual input. This can include data entry, document verification, and repetitive calculations, all of which slow down the underwriting process.

How Underwriting Software Helps

• Automation: Underwriting software automates many of these repetitive tasks, reducing the need for manual input and accelerating the entire process. By handling data entry, document management, and calculations automatically, the software frees up underwriters to focus on more strategic aspects of their role.

• Workflow Streamlining: Advanced underwriting platforms streamline workflows, ensuring that each step in the process is completed efficiently and without unnecessary delays. This includes automated task assignments and real-time tracking of progress.

2. Data Inaccuracy

Manual data entry and handling can lead to errors, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies in underwriting assessments. These can later compromise the quality of underwriting decisions, leading to potential risks and losses.

How Underwriting Software Helps:

• Real-Time Data Processing: Underwriting software processes data in real time, ensuring that underwriters have access to the most current and accurate information. This reduces the risk of errors and improves the reliability of the data used for decision-making.

• Integration of Data Sources: You can integrate data from multiple sources, such as financial statements, credit reports, and market analyses, to provide a comprehensive and accurate picture that minimizes the chances of overlooking critical information.

3. Inconsistent Risk Evaluation

Traditional underwriting often relies on subjective judgment and inconsistent risk evaluation criteria. This can result in varying levels of risk assessment quality and potential biases in the decision-making process.

How Underwriting Software Helps:

• Automated Risk Assessment: Underwriting software employs sophisticated algorithms to evaluate risk consistently and objectively. By applying standardized criteria and leveraging AI-driven analytics, the software ensures that each loan application is assessed with the same rigor and accuracy.

• Enhanced Accuracy: With tools like predictive modeling and advanced analytics, underwriting software can more precisely identify potential risks. This leads to better-informed underwriting decisions and improved risk management overall.

Blooma: A Pioneer in Underwriting Efficiency

Designed specifically to address the unique challenges of the CRE sector, Blooma uses cutting-edge technology and innovative solutions to simplify and accelerate the underwriting process.

This includes:

• Innovative Technology for Streamlined Underwriting: Blooma’s underwriting software integrates advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to transform the traditional underwriting landscape. 
• AI-Driven Analytics: This plays a pivotal role in assessing risk and making informed decisions. These analytics capabilities allow underwriters to quickly analyze vast amounts of data, identify trends, and predict potential risks with unparalleled accuracy. 
• Automated Risk Assessment: By applying standardized criteria and leveraging sophisticated algorithms, Blooma ensures that each loan application is assessed fairly and accurately. This consistent approach to risk evaluation helps mitigate potential losses and improves overall portfolio performance.
• Real-Time Data Processing and Integration: Blooma provides underwriters with up-to-the-minute information crucial for making timely decisions. The software integrates data from multiple sources.

Blooma’s Edge: Advanced Features for CRE Professionals

Blooma sets itself apart with a suite of advanced features designed to meet the specific needs of brokers, lenders, and debt-equity players. Here are the ones you need to know.

Customizable Risk Models

One of Blooma’s standout features is its customizable risk models. Recognizing that each lender has unique risk appetites and criteria, Blooma allows users to tailor risk assessment models to align with their specific policies and market conditions. These customizable models enable a more accurate and relevant evaluation of loan applications, helping lenders make better-informed decisions that align with their strategic goals.

In-Depth Portfolio Analysis

Blooma provides comprehensive tools for in-depth portfolio analysis, giving CRE professionals the insights they need to manage their loan portfolios effectively. Through advanced analytics, users can monitor portfolio performance, identify trends, and detect potential risks before they become issues. 

Seamless Integration Capabilities

Integration capabilities are a key feature of any underwriting software, and Blooma offers some of the best. The software is built to integrate end-to-end with existing systems and data sources (API included), creating a single point of entry for all underwriting activities. From financial institutions’ internal systems to external data providers, Blooma makes sure that all required information is brought together in real time for a streamlined, efficient process. 

Real-Time Data Processing

In the fast-paced world of CRE, real-time data can be a major differentiator. Blooma’s platform offers real-time data processing, ensuring that underwriters and other decision-makers have the latest relevant information available whenever and wherever needed. This real-time data helps users make faster and more confident decisions, minimizing delays and improving the overall lending process.

Automated Workflows

Blooma’s automated workflows eliminate the bottlenecks associated with manual processing. By automating repetitive tasks and standardizing procedures, Blooma reduces the potential for human error and speeds up the underwriting process. This automation allows underwriters to focus on more complex and value-added activities.

Comprehensive Dashboards

The platform offers comprehensive dashboards that provide a holistic view of the underwriting process and portfolio performance. They are also customizable, allowing users to track key metrics and KPIs that matter most to their operations. With intuitive visualizations and easy-to-understand reports, users can quickly identify areas of concern and opportunities for improvement.

The Tangible Benefits of Implementing Blooma

When it comes to deploying Blooma in your CRE lending organization, there are many practical benefits that can truly impact your bottom line in terms of productivity, profitability, and smarter decision-making. Here are just a few of the many advantages of Blooma:

• Time Savings: One of the quickest ways you’ll notice Blooma paying for itself is the immense amount of time it can save your organization. Automating manual tasks and optimizing workflows can dramatically cut down on underwriting and loan processing time, allowing your staff to dedicate time to more value-added activities. Overall it expedites the lending process from start to finish, allowing lenders to respond to borrowers far quicker than before.

• Revenue Generation: Blooma’s powerful analytics and instant data can help any lender spot profitable opportunities faster and more precisely than ever before. With the ability to connect to numerous data sources, combined with detailed insights on entire markets, lenders equipped with Blooma can easily take advantage of attractive market dynamics and make informed investment choices. 

• Better Decision Making: Blooma offers lenders better decision-making tools with its advanced AI-powered analytics and customizable risk models. These give lenders insight into each loan’s risk profile, allowing them to make strategic, well-informed decisions.

• Improved Risk Mitigation: Managing risk is the cornerstone of any successful CRE lender, and this is an area where Blooma proves its worth. From its customizable risk models to its automated risk assessment tools, Blooma helps lenders mitigate risk before it becomes an issue. This not only helps to reduce non-performing loans and defaults, but it also protects a lender’s existing portfolio—thereby improving its long-term bottom line.

• Simplified Workflows: Automation helps eliminate tedious manual data entry, thereby decreasing the potential for human error and establishing a much more consistent process. With fewer steps and less time needed to bring a loan from inception to approval, lenders can enjoy improved efficiency and faster turnaround times.

• Regulatory Compliance: Staying updated with regulatory requirements is an integral part of CRE lending. Blooma’s strong compliance features ensure that every operation is carried out according to industry standards and regulatory mandates. The platform can significantly lower the risk of non-compliance and accompanying fines, providing peace of mind and allowing lenders to concentrate on what really matters—their core business.

Mitigating Risks with Blooma’s Intelligent Analysis

From predictive analysis to comprehensive risk assessment features, Blooma users can make well-informed decisions with more confidence and better prepare for any potential drawbacks. 

By utilizing AI-driven insights and real-time data analytics, Blooma allows users to accurately calculate risk and make decisions in real time. 

Intelligent analysis reduces late-stage loan flip-outs caused by unidentified risks and enables commercial lenders to make informed decisions for a healthier and more profitable loan portfolio.

Adapting Blooma to Your CRE Lending Workflow

Here’s how you can mold Blooma to fit your organization’s needs:

• Map Existing Workflows: Map your existing workflows to determine where Blooma can deliver the most value.
• Strategize Integration: Leverage Blooma’s robust integration options to customize the software to your unique workflow and existing management software and management systems.
• Educate Your Team: Provide ample training sessions to familiarize your team with the platform’s features and functionalities.
• Utilize Support: Ensure help is on hand by making use of Blooma’s customer support and resources to overcome any integration hurdles.

Elevate Your CRE Underwriting with Blooma

In summary, Blooma has firmly positioned itself as a transformative underwriting platform in the CRE industry. 

By leveraging the speed, accuracy, and efficiency of the platform’s intelligent features and powerful analysis, CRE brokers, lenders, and debt-equity participants can achieve unparalleled success in their underwriting projects and improve customer experience. 

We invite brokers, lenders, and debt-equity players to “get Blooma’d” and integrate the platform into their unique workflows. 

With Blooma as your underwriting partner, you can face the challenges of the modern CRE lending landscape head-on and achieve greater success.
Explore our pricing and get your own demo today!