Tag Archives: Property Preservation

Federal regulators on Wednesday announced changes to the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) parameters to support communities affected by high foreclosure levels. The final rule encourages depository institutions to finance development projects in areas that qualify for HUD's Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP). Institutions will receive CRA credit for any NSP-eligible activities, such as loans extended to grant recipients to buy foreclosed homes or a donation of REO properties to a nonprofit housing organization.

Default Resource has developed a new report that will inspect and oversee work performed by REO and short sale listing agents. The company sends out independent inspectors to listed REO homes to check that the home is properly maintained, has a lockbox in place, is listed correctly in the MLS, and to detail any hazardous conditions on the property. Default Resource says it allows servicers or investors to know at a glance how their real estate sales partners are performing.

Advantage Title Company recently announced the release of its proprietary REO monitoring system, TitleFlow, which addresses the requirements of foreclosed transactions. The system enables Advantage Title to monitor client-specific requirements and production workflow. Turn times of multiple tasks can be closely tracked, with time-sensitive color coding that enables Advantage Title's team to determine at a glance the status of various jobs for each property in the client's pipeline.

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS), a nationwide provider of property preservation, inspections and REO property maintenance, is now providing photo inspection services to supplement the traditional data required for valuations, proof of property condition, and other verification reporting.

The city of Belen, New Mexico has planned their first-ever statewide Code Enforcement Summit, designed to benefit the code enforcement community by building relationships with field services companies who perform preservation services. The summit will take place Wednesday, Oct 13 and Thursday, October 14 at the Holiday Inn Express Conference Center in Belen.

As a one-stop shop for code violation reports and vacant property registrations, Code Violation Services, Inc. says it can typically verify the status of any violations within three to 10 days of order. During a three month period, the company analyzed 1,209 properties for one client. Forty-four were found to have code violations without fees yet assessed. The early detection saved the client $802,582 in penalties.

Mortgage Contracting Services LLC (MCS) recently announced the availability of its code enforcement mini-summits, as an extension of its initiatives to ensure industry-wide education and collaboration. The nationwide provider of property preservation and REO maintenance services calls its program ""an interactive information exchange"" to provide specialized education and encourage collaboration between the code enforcement community and other default industry participants.

Field Asset Services (FAS) recently launched Collateral Command, a solution for property management services and support that offers lenders and servicers a single source for managing foreclosed and REO properties. Included within the Collateral Command suite is Utilities Management Service, which allows banks, servicers, and lenders to leverage FAS and its industry relationships to streamline the day-to-day tasks of managing the utilities process and payments.

Neighborhoods across the country are riddled with empty bank-owned homes and unoccupied foreclosures that erode neighboring property values and open the door for blight and criminal activity. The nation's glut of vacant REOs took center stage in Washington Wednesday. HUD announced a new nationwide REO ""First Look"" program, in partnership with the nation's largest mortgage lenders, and it was the first of a two-day Federal Reserve summit to examine the community impacts of foreclosed and vacant properties.

As an alternative to its registry of foreclosed properties and property preservation contacts for vacant properties, the city of Los Angeles is adopting the MERS System, an electronic loan registry that acts as a nominee in county land records on behalf of lenders and servicers. MERS members can use the system to track both residential and commercial properties. Users tout the benefits of the technology as saving code enforcement officials and municipalities both time and money to ensure vacant properties are maintained.