Mortgage Contracting Services Launches Broker360 to Enhance Real Estate Agent Communication, Reduce REO Properties’ Time On MarketLeading Field Service Provider Streamlines Effective Servicer-Broker-Field Service Company CommunicationMortgage Contracting Services (MCS), a nationwide property preservation and inspection services provider to the financial services industry, has launched Broker360, a Web-based portal that allows REO brokers to access the status of preservation work completed by MCS. With inbound and outbound communication capabilities, the portal enables brokers to submit information and bid requests in addition to receiving electronic notifications regarding the properties they manage.“It is important that we continue to promote cohesion and further develop our working partnership with brokers. With more and more properties adding to an already swollen REO inventory each day, it is vital that we do all we can to assist real estate agents in the selling process.”Broker360 works in union with MCS’ existing Web-based client platform, MCS360, but is designed specifically to enhance the communication between the servicers, field service providers and real estate agents managing the sales process of REO properties. MCS360 was developed in response to the industry’s need for software that allows for two-way communication as well as real-time delivery of work order results. While MCS360 is a client-based Web-portal, Broker360 essentially performs the same functions for individual real estate brokers, thereby providing them with up to the minute information about their properties and affording them a direct line of communication with their asset preservation coordinator.This advancement in the speed in which information is sent and received allows asset managers to make more timely decisions with regards to preservation initiatives, which ultimately enhances short- and long-term maintenance as well as enables them to move the sale of these properties at a faster rate. Chad Mosley, vice president of operations for Mortgage Contracting Services, said, “It is important that we continue to promote cohesion and further develop our working partnership with brokers. With more and more properties adding to an already swollen REO inventory each day, it is vital that we do all we can to assist real estate agents in the selling process.”After logging into the system, brokers assigned to manage properties by MCS’ mortgage servicing clients can view information about their properties including inspection results, work order details and photos of completed work. If they elect to do so, brokers can “watch” selected properties, allowing them to receive e-mail notifications when MCS completes work at one of the designated properties. The e-mails are automatically generated through Broker360 once a work order or inspection has been fulfilled and validated by MCS.Real estate agents also have the ability to request work for the properties they manage through Broker360, with the option of selecting from an array of maintenance items currently performed by MCS. Once a request is received, MCS immediately notifies the client’s asset manager and, if approved, obtains a bid and completes the work. This process changes the way MCS and brokers communicate with their servicer clients in that it centralizes the communication to one source for asset managers.Mosley added, “Broker360 will not only increase communication between MCS and real estate brokers, but it will also make that communication more efficient, allowing us to perform our work faster, hopefully reducing the time properties are on the market and the cost our clients have to spend to maintain them. In giving brokers the ability to view work upon completion and opening an additional avenue to communicate with our shared clients, we can help them trim down sale cycles as well as portfolio volumes.”
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LAMCO Ramps Up Short Sale Services in Conjunction With HAFA Program- Designed to streamline and simplify use of short sales and deeds-in-lieu of foreclosure throughout 2010 -Lenders Asset Management Corporation (LAMCO), a full-service, nationwide default asset management company offering comprehensive REO services, announced its company’s approach to help mortgage servicers fully comply with the federal government’s Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives (HAFA) program.In efforts to respond in a timely fashion to the inevitable influx of short sale requests throughout 2010 and beyond, LAMCO has prepared itself to execute accelerated short sale transactions through the governed efforts of its quality management system. This involves the company using specialized teams of experts who handle specific activities associated with the short sale and liquidation process by marketing and selling distressed and bank-owned properties quickly and efficiently. The team of experts also facilitates governmental compliance by fulfilling all of HAFA’s specified audit requirements.LAMCO streamlines the short sale process through its established LAMCOnetwork, which connects lenders and servicers with real estate agents, lawyers, brokers, contractors and other vendors in a one-stop, intelligent database.LAMCO’s proactive approach towards preparing for the increase in short sales enables the company to manage its staff and vendor value chain in order to achieve maximum levels of performance and collectively leverage skill sets to cost-effectively ensure data security, timely completion of each short sale, provide homeowners the guidance and service they need and achieve full compliance with HAFA’s guidelines slated to take effect on April 5.“In preparation for HAFA, LAMCO has prepared its team of experts as well as its network of established vendors to further enhance the coordination among all parties involved in the short sale process,” said Brandon J. Hawkes, CEO of LAMCO.HAFA is intended for homeowners who were declined under the Home Affordable Modification Program, enabling homeowners to satisfy their mortgage obligation by completing a short sale or deed-in-lieu on their property.
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a la mode FHA-Appraisal Fee Study Misleading-- TAVMA Warns That Appraisal Fee Reference(TM) Omits Two-Thirds of Volume--The Title/Appraisal Vendor Management Association (TAVMA), the trade association that represents the nation's largest appraisal management companies (AMCs), said today that a new analysis that purportedly captures "reasonable and customary" appraisal fees in various markets is misleading since it intentionally excludes AMCs from its analysis, thereby omitting two-thirds of all of the appraisals done in the U.S.The Appraisal Fee Reference™, released by a la mode Inc., a technology company with a large base of individual appraisers or smaller appraisal shops, is causing confusion in the industry. TAVMA said, "a la mode is clearly catering to its customer base and trying to suggest that the only fees that should be considered in making the determination as to what is 'reasonable and customary' should be fees paid directly from lenders to individual appraisers: this is like saying hardware prices are only determined by mom-and-pop hardware stores, and that Home Depot and Lowe's® don't exist."The issue of reasonable and customary has taken on new importance in the mortgage industry since the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) changed the way appraisals must be ordered and required that appraisers' fees should be reasonable and customary."The a la mode analysis attempts to redefine what is reasonable and customary using this analysis that cherry picks results and implies that a small sub-group of the industry should dictate industry-wide prices," Jeff Schurman, Executive Director of TAVMA. "The FHA says 'reasonable and customary' should be defined by the entire marketplace.""There is a strong argument to be made that AMCs, as the major provider of appraisal services in the country and the leading source of business for more than two-thirds of all independent appraisers, are in effect the standard for what is reasonable and customary," said Schurman. "The a la mode analysis may be of some use to the decreasing number of non-AMC aligned appraisers who do boutique 'retail' business or non-mortgage work for attorneys handling estate and divorce cases, but it distorts what is happening in the market and what fees should prevail for FHA work."In an interview published earlier in the year in Working RE, Lemar C. Wooley, Office of Public Affairs, HUD, addressed this issue, saying: "To a large degree, the [appraiser] fee is the result of a business decision, which may or may not be negotiated, between the appraiser and the client, whether the client is an individual lender, an AMC or some other party in need of appraisal services."Two-thirds of appraisal volume is provided by AMCs, with TAVMA's 45 AMC members accounting for about 85 percent of this volume. With volume at this level, it is logical that the prices that have been negotiated between appraisers and AMCs should be the dominant factor in estimating what is reasonable and customary in the industry.
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