Stewart Offers Short Sale and Deed-in-Lieu Services

""Stewart Lender Services"":http://www.stewartlenderservices.com (SLS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Houston, Texas-based ""Stewart Title Company"":http://www.stewart.com, is offering a new solution to help mortgage servicers meet the requirements of the federal government's Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program.

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HAFA provides servicers with additional options for those homeowners that do not qualify for a loan restructuring under the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), and offers incentives to borrowers, servicers, and investors who utilize a short sale or deed-in-lieu to avoid costly foreclosures.

Jason Nadeau, SLS president and CEO, says his company's new solution offers mortgage servicers an effective alternative to costly in-house processing.

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Nadeau explained that using a proven and regulation-compliant borrower contact center, along with fully integrated workflows, SLS can handle properties throughout the distressed asset continuum - loan modification, short sale, deed-in-lieu, foreclosure, asset management, and disposition. He says the company's approach improves communication among all parties and accelerates transaction completion.

SLS says borrowers can be easily transitioned from a failed HAMP modification to the short sale option, and further on to a deed-in-lieu of foreclosure in the event the short sale is unsuccessful.

To compress the time for completing a short sale or implementing a deed-in-lieu, SLS title and settlement teams work up front to identify any potential title issues and necessary third-party payoffs to immediately begin curative title work. The company says this assists in investor and mortgage insurance negotiations and ensures that hurdles in the transaction are cleared prior to the receipt of a short sale offer transfer of deed.

Stewart's combined short sale/deed-in-lieu process and proactive title review offers a single-source foreclosure alternative solution that the company says allows for a smooth transfer from short sale to deed-in-lieu, eliminating any delays in the marketing of the property after transfer to the lender.