BRON, Inc. [1] was founded in 2004 and has since grown to encompass two offices in Temecula, California, and in Dallas. The company offers a variety of property preservation services, including vacant, foreclosure, rental, and REO registrations; violation monitoring, tracking, and curative; utility verifications/activations, disconnects, and account maintenance; and HOA verifications/super lien protection.
“We specialize in products and services that are difficult to do when you don’t specialize in them,” said Kevin Hamilton, BRON’s CEO. “Since the beginning, every single penny we have made, we have reinvested back into the company. Our values are about consistent improvement in everything that we do to deliver best-in-class services, taking care of our associates, always focusing on their development, and being the very best vendor to our clients.”
He added, “Since 2013, we have never lost a client.”
In addition to its core services listed above, BRON also offers clients the power of the BRON Property Management System, which “leverages a multi-million-dollar, 256-bit encryption, cloud-based platform to ensure accuracy, efficiency, and automation.”
Hamilton said, “We believe in developing the best technology as tools for our associates to not only deliver the best-in-class products and services but to ensure that we have constantly increasing levels of quality.”
A Year of Challenges
Last year, BRON faced the same challenges that rolled over the entire industry in the spring, with the COVID-19 pandemic necessitating a change in the ways we do business. Thankfully, Hamilton told DS News, the company was well prepared for a transition to remote work and social distancing.
“Our Business Continuity Plan worked as it was written, and we had everyone up and running with relatively few issues.”
However, Hamilton said that the hardest part of the transition was simply losing the communal work experience afforded by a shared office space.
“The largest obstacle we have had with the social distancing thing is just that—the distance,” he explained. “Our culture is one of collaboration and working together to solve problems. We utilize technology to have group video calls, but it is just not the same.”
Looking into the new year, Hamilton told DS News that they anticipate “a significant increase in default-related activities” as foreclosure moratoria are gradually lifted, “as well as increased migration patterns emerging in the country. We believe we will see a significant increase in local code enforcement and state guidelines to defaulted properties and a significant oversight in blighted homes.”
A Commitment to Diversity & Inclusion
Part of becoming and remaining a “Most Valuable Company” comes down to how a company attracts and retains talent, something Hamilton explained that BRON approaches with a clear vision. Each BRON new hire begins with a week-long orientation program designed to familiarize them with the company’s internal workings and culture, as well as its place in the industry and the priorities of its client base. Hamilton also noted that each new associate is given an outline “on how to move up to the next levels of their careers.”
Team members are also allotted “on the clock” time to focus on personal and professional development through continuing education and training. New associates also complete various Pryor learning courses and the Five Star Academy [2] Master Certification Course (which encompasses training courses covering Regulatory Compliance, Legal Practice, Distressed Asset Disposition, and Diversity and Inclusion).
“At BRON we believe [a commitment to diversity and inclusion] starts from the top, and we go above and beyond in companywide D&I classes that are mandatory for every associate every year,” Hamilton said. “We are proud to be a new member of the American Mortgage Diversity Council [3], and we are recognized by Great Places to Work and Forbes Best Companies as one of the most diverse companies in the U.S. and within our industry. BRON is committed to ensuring a healthy and happy workplace for all our associates, and that starts with every single associate feeling welcome to be who they are.”