LPS Offers Alternative Valuation System

""Lender Processing Services"":http://www.lpsvcs.com/Pages/default.aspx (LPS) has released a new product that combines the objective precision of AVMs with the detailed review of BPOs.

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Because AVMs do not often take property condition into account, many default servicers rely on BPOs. However, BPOs allow for a greater amount of subjectivity and can result in inconsistencies.

Jacksonville, Florida-based LPS developed the Distressed Asset Review to combine the best characteristics of each method.

""This new product gives default servicers the best of both worlds â€" values that take into account property condition

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and an AVM that is not subject to the inconsistencies inherent in BPOs over the distressed property's lifecycle,"" said Robert Walker, managing director of LPS Applied Analytics.

""In this market, we know clients are eager for this more reliable data about underlying assets' values, so they can make critical loss mitigation decisions,"" Walker said.

LPS Distressed Asset Review combines results of the LPS ValueSure AVM with a real estate agent's property condition report. The result, according to LPS, is ""a more reliable value that also meets both the letter and the spirit of the federal Treasury Department's new Interagency Appraisal Evaluation Guidelines.""

""Default servicers now have an alternative to BPOs,"" Walker said.

""Research has shown that servicers may order three or more BPOs throughout the lifecycle of a non-performing asset. Replacing one of these with LPS Distressed Asset Review is a cost-effective way to obtain a reliable and accurate value, and to give a higher degree of confidence in BPO results,"" Walker added.

The new Distressed Asset Review also offers neighborhood-level market analysis of foreclosures and REOs as well as market forecasts for the following 12 months.