After living on the East Coast for several years, Yordano Lopez and his partner, David Schenirer, moved to Austin, Texas with plans to soon engage and build a permanent home together. Though relatively new to the area, Lopez and Schenirer decided it would be best to start their home-buying search early and logged onto a popular online real-estate brokerage platform to look through the available property listings in the area. When the right home appeared on the market, Lopez and Schenirer immediately sent in their purchase offer with the help of a real estate agent, which the seller accepted the same day.

Once the purchase agreement was finalized, the home entered the closing process. They had heard how confusing closings could be and were justifiably very nervous. During the closing, Lopez and Schenirer received an email invitation from their title company to create an account with Qualia Connect. Connect is a portal that brings all parties of the closing onto a single, secure platform, to track the entire closing process real-time.

“I wasn’t expecting to have this type of information, so I was pleasantly surprised that the title company offered Connect. It gave me a bird’s eye view into the status of the transaction, and I really enjoyed looking at all the moving pieces of the transaction all in one, consolidated space,” said Lopez.

With Connect, Lopez and Schenirer were able to directly send all of their personal profile data through the secured Information Request feature which automatically populated the title company’s file. Once their profiles were finalized, Lopez and Schenirer received status updates on specific tasks being completed by the title company, including title work, scheduling the signing, and disbursing escrow funds. Lopez and Schenirer were also able to send, store, and sign documents on Connect by logging into their Qualia account using their mobile app. Given that a closing process can be riddled with unexpected delays, Lopez described how Qualia provided ease through the process.

One of the biggest values in working with a good title company is their ability to close on time and keep everyone updated on so many moving pieces. We had a lot of our financial savings on the line. There was a lot of homework that leads up to that closing date for us. Having Connect really helped us feel comfortable with the title company.

Yordano Lopez, Homebuyer

Security was also a pressing concern for Lopez and Schenirer, as the threat of wire fraud is prevalent in the industry. According to FBI data, in 2018, 11,300 victims in the U.S. lost nearly $150 million through wire frauds, which occur mainly through business email compromise (BEC) scams. With Qualia Connect, Lopez and Schenirer were able to securely exchange all documents and sensitive information, including personal social security numbers, banking information, and wire transfer instructions, without using an unsecured email platform.

“We definitely didn’t want to be vulnerable to any fraud or theft, since it’s such a large purchase. And it was important that we be able to trust the title company and real estate agent to handle such a big milestone in our life,” said Lopez.

Within a month of signing the purchase agreement, the house successfully closed on time. At the end of September, Lopez and Schenirer became official homeowners. And when the couple made their first trip to their new house, Schenirer proposed to Lopez in front of their new home. This allowed them to celebrate yet another major milestone – their engagement. The couple plans to wed in the following year and will be calling Austin their permanent home.

Schenirer said, “I knew for a long time that I was going to spend the rest of my life with Yordano and was really just looking for the right time to propose. When our offer got accepted on the house I knew I needed to do it there. I wanted to ensure we officially started the rest of our life together right in front of the house that I knew we would make a home.”