Opendoor acquires Doma's closing and escrow business in bid to lower mortgage refinance costs

In this article OPEN Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Courtesy: Opendoor A version of this article first appeared in the CNBC Property Play newsletter with Diana Olick. Property Play covers new and evolving opportunities for the real estate investor, from individuals to venture capitalists, private equity funds, family offices, institutional investors and large public companies. Sign up to receive future editions, straight to your inbox. Refinancing a home loan has long been a complicated and pricey process. The costs can be so high that most experts suggest if a borrower can't shave at least 75 basis points off their current mortgage interest rate, the refinance isn't even worth it. Now two property tech leaders are joining forces to lower those costs. Opendoor , which buys homes directly from sellers and has a title and escrow business, is acquiring part of Doma, a property technology company that automates title searches, the companies told CNBC exclusively. Doma says it uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to make real estate closings — specifically title, escrow and underwriting — faster and more affordable. "We're in the process of completely rebuilding and automating, like most of the other pieces of technology that Opendoor is working on ... to eliminate time and money for customers," said Lucas Matheson, president of Opendoor. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Since 2024, Doma's technology has been used in a Fannie Mae pilot program designed to reduce title insurance costs on eligible refinance transactions. It was just extended through 2027. Under the program, certain refinance transactions determined by Doma to have low title risk may be sold to Fannie Mae without needing a lender's title insurance policy or an attorney opinion letter. So far, that has been about 80% of the refinance candidates, according to Doma. The title insurance, however, is only one component of the refinancing process. Closing costs include other ser...