Investor Update
April 16, 2019
Source: Fannie Mae (Introduction to Servicing eLearning)
Bankruptcy and foreclosure cases can be complex, and we want to make it as simple as possible for you to comply with our guidelines. Check out the new self-paced Bankruptcy and Foreclosure course within the Introduction to Servicing Elearning Series.
Disaster Alert
April 18, 2019
Source: The Weather Channel
Approximate locations containing home damage:
Mississippi
Alabama
At least three people died Thursday as severe thunderstorms that marched across the southern U.S. spawned tornadoes, knocked trees into homes, blew over cars and caused roads to flood.
The line of severe weather damaged homes, made travel difficult and left tens of thousands of customers without power as it moved from Texas and Louisiana into Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. There were reports of nine tornadoes in Mississippi, forecasters said.
By Friday morning, the storms were moving through Tennessee, Georgia and Florida on a trek east. There is a strong risk of damaging winds from the storms that will sweep through Virginia and the Carolinas later Friday, forecasters said.
For full report, please click the source button above.
FEMA Alert Update
May 15, 2019
FEMA issued an update to a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for areas in Tennessee affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides that took place February 19 to March 30, 2019. The following counties are eligible for assistance:
Public Assistance
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FEMA Release: Declared Disaster Amendment for Tennessee
ZIP Code List for FEMA Declared Disaster for Tennessee
FEMA Alert
April 17, 2019
FEMA issued a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for areas in Tennessee affected by severe storms, flooding, landslides and mudslides that took place February 19 to March 30, 2019. The following counties are eligible for assistance:
Public Assistance
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FEMA Release: Declared Disaster for Tennessee
ZIP Code List for FEMA Declared Disaster for Tennessee
Additional Resources
FEMA’s web site
FEMA’s Disaster Declaration Process
Safeguard Properties Industry Alerts
VA’s Policy Regarding Natural Disasters
FEMA Alert Update
August 1, 2019
FEMA issued an update to a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for areas in Kentucky affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides and mudslides that took place February 6 to March 10, 2019. The following county is eligible for assistance:
Public Assistance
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FEMA Release: Declared Disaster Amendment for Kentucky
ZIP Code List for FEMA Declared Disaster for Kentucky
FEMA Alert Update
May 24, 2019
FEMA issued an update to a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for areas in Kentucky affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides and mudslides that took place February 6 to March 10, 2019. The following counties are eligible for assistance:
Public Assistance
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FEMA Release: Declared Disaster Amendment for Kentucky
ZIP Code List for FEMA Declared Disaster for Kentucky
FEMA Alert Update
May 8, 2019
FEMA issued an update to a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for areas in Kentucky affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides and mudslides that took place February 6 to March 10, 2019. The following county is eligible for assistance:
Public Assistance
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FEMA Release: Declared Disaster Amendment for Kentucky
ZIP Code List for FEMA Declared Disaster for Kentucky
FEMA Alert
April 17, 2019
FEMA issued a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for areas in Kentucky affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, flooding, landslides and mudslides that took place February 6 to March 10, 2019. The following counties are eligible for assistance:
Public Assistance
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FEMA Release: Declared Disaster for Kentucky
ZIP Code List for FEMA Declared Disaster for Kentucky
Additional Resources
FEMA’s web site
FEMA’s Disaster Declaration Process
Safeguard Properties Industry Alerts
VA’s Policy Regarding Natural Disasters
FEMA Alert Update
May 6, 2019
FEMA issued an update to a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for areas in Alabama affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding and landslides that took place February 19 to March 20, 2019. The following counties are eligible for assistance:
Public Assistance
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FEMA Release: Declared Disaster Amendment for Alabama (designated areas)
ZIP Code List for FEMA Declared Disaster for Alabama
FEMA Alert
April 17, 2019
FEMA issued a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration for areas in Alabama affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes and flooding and landslides that took place February 19 to March 20, 2019. The following counties are eligible for assistance:
Public Assistance
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FEMA Release: Declared Disaster for Alabama
ZIP Code List for FEMA Declared Disaster for Alabama
Additional Resources
FEMA’s web site
FEMA’s Disaster Declaration Process
Safeguard Properties Industry Alerts
VA’s Policy Regarding Natural Disasters
Investor Update
April 15, 2019
Source: FHFA
Additional Resource:
FHFA (Statement of Acting Director Joseph Otting)
Washington, D.C. – In an Agency ceremony, Dr. Mark A. Calabria was sworn in today to a five-year term as the second Senate-confirmed Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). Dr. Calabria was appointed to head the Agency by President Donald J. Trump. FHFA was created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) of 2008 to oversee Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Bank System and is responsible for oversight of the $6.3 trillion mortgage finance market.
Investor Update
April 16, 2019
Source: FHFA
Washington, D.C. – The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today announced that Adolfo Marzol has been appointed Principal Deputy Director of FHFA effective April 15, 2019. Marzol will report to FHFA Director Mark Calabria.
Marzol is an experienced financial and risk management professional in the mortgage finance industry. Prior to joining FHFA, Marzol served for two years as Senior Advisor for Housing to HUD Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, where he advised on Federal Housing Administration and Ginnie Mae programs, as well as housing finance reform.
Marzol has over 30 years of private sector experience in mortgage finance, including senior-level positions at Essent, Fannie Mae, Chase Mortgage and Equitable Mortgage. Marzol’s diverse background includes extensive experience in the areas of mortgage origination and securitization, mortgage servicing, credit risk management, financial management and reporting, policy and governance, and public policy developments related to housing finance. Born in Cuba, he is a graduate of the University of Florida and holds a BSBA in Economics and a Master’s degree in Finance. Marzol has been married for 35 years and has two children.
“I am very pleased that Adolfo will be joining FHFA in such an important capacity. His depth and breadth of experience in both the private sector and government will help us maintain FHFA as a world-class regulator,” said FHFA Director Calabria.
Contacts:
Updated: 4/17/19: Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued a state disaster declaration for nine counties impacted by recent severe weather, including thunderstorms and tornadoes.
Declaration (press release)
Associated County ZIP Code List
NOTE: This is independent from any FEMA Declared Disaster.
Updated 4/14/19: Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant issued a statewide emergency declaration in response to severe weather conditions.
Declaration (posted to Twitter)
Associated County ZIP Code List
Disaster Alert
April 14, 2019
Source: The Weather Channel
Approximate locations containing home damage:
Alabama
Delaware
Mississippi
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Texas
NOTE: This has not yet been declared a FEMA Disaster.
A storm system that killed at least eight people and injured dozens as it pushed across the South over the weekend brought damaging winds and possible tornados to the eastern Great Lakes and mid-Atlantic regions overnight.
The National Weather Service confirmed at least 18 tornadoes left behind swaths of damage in Mississippi, Alabama and Texas.
Sunday evening, a tornado touched down near Shelby, Ohio, according to NWS. Storms also brought down trees and power lines and damaged buildings in Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Laurel, Delaware, also was hit particularity hard.
More than 200,000 homes and businesses were without power Monday morning from North Carolina through the MidAtlantic and from Ohio to Rhode Island, according to poweroutage.us.
For full report, please click the source link above.
Safeguard in the News
April 11, 2019
Source: DS News
Additional Resource:
MReport (Using Data for Disaster Preparedness)
How can data and analytics be utilized to manage risks to properties such as crime, vandalism, and emergency preparedness? This and many related questions were answered by experts during a DS News webinar titled “Risky Business: Using Data and Analytics to Protect Properties,” presented by Safeguard Properties.
The webinar was moderated by Tim Rath, AVP, Business Development for Safeguard Properties, and featured insights from Jason Heckman, AVP, Mobile and Analytics for Safeguard Properties and John Thibaudeau, Director, Single-Family Real Estate for Fannie Mae into how technology is helping property preservation companies to identify cost-effective and timely solutions to protect and preserve homes.
During the webinar, Thibaudeau said that technology had made great strides to assist with property preservation, repairs, and marketing. He spoke about the tools and apps that are helping Fannie Mae get real-time information for properties that need inspection. They are also used to guide inspectors and users on what to look for once they reach the property and help Fannie Mae to absorb all the appraisal data to prioritize their work.
Discussing how data and technology go hand-in-hand for home repairs, Thibaudeau said that one of the key challenges companies face is ensuring consistency.
Speaking about the evolution of technology in property preservation, Heckman said that the data being used in property preservation at present helped companies understand the story that each house had to tell. He said that the evolution of data was also helping to “proactively manage anything that can go wrong.”
While buying and implementing such technology can be a costly affair, Heckman pointed out that the benefits of these systems far outweighed the cost in terms of better targeting of potential issues and managing risks that include the prevention of services to the wrong property.
Answering a question on how servicing technology had changed today compared with what it used to be, Thibadeau said, “It is exciting to see how fast things continue to change. Today, speed is of the essence when you’re moving to new technology to keep an advantage.” Additionally, he said that technology continued to move on mobile solutions. “At the end of the day, we would love to provide technology to our customers where they can do business with us from anywhere.”
“The introduction of iPhone really changed what we could do in terms of collecting data and getting things in real time. The improvement from where it was when we started in the mid-2000s to where we are now, has greatly changed the capabilities of what’s available and what we can actually do,” Heckman said.
Speaking about the type of technology that is being developed to address exceptions to vendor feedback, Heckman explained that it really went back to mobile technology and the aggregation of data. “We have capabilities to not only use scripts and text but also video capabilities which allow us to tell that story in real time,” he said.
Looking at future technologies that were likely to advance property preservation procedures, both Thibadeau and Heckman concluded that artificial intelligence (AI) was the way forward. “The more interesting thing we’re seeing today is around AI and using machine learning to automate processes,” Thibadeau said. “It’s going to continue to evolve over the coming years.”
Heckman added, “With the advent of AI, and the Big Data movement the way data is being stored is changing and will continue to evolve as AI models improve.”
Click here to view a recording of the webinar.
The topic of how the industry should prepare for and respond to disasters will be explored thoroughly at the upcoming Five Star Disaster Preparedness Symposium, to be hosted June 5-6, 2019, at the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans. The Symposium is designed to provide an opportunity for mortgage industry leaders and executives to engage in critical conversations on diligence and preparedness, so the next time natural disaster strikes, the industry will be ready to lend the proper support. You can register for the Disaster Preparedness Symposium here.
