Page 270 – Safeguard Properties

Jennifer Jozity Discusses CFPB Compliance and Borrower Outreach

Posted on September 13, 2018October 4, 2018 by Safeguard

On February 14, Mortgage Servicing News published a blog authored by Safeguard’s Jennifer Jozity, assistant vice president of inspections, entitled Field Service Companies Help Servicers Comply with New CFPB Guidelines.

Field Service Companies Help Servicers Comply with New CFPB Guidelines

As the housing industry prepares for the implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) servicing guidelines effective in January 2014, a small but important area of focus for mortgage servicers will be borrower outreach.

Field service companies that inspect and maintain vacant and foreclosed properties under the guidance of servicers and investors can assist in facilitating and complying with the following new guideline:

Early intervention with delinquent borrowers. Servicers must establish or make good faith efforts to establish live contact with borrowers by the 36th day of their delinquency and promptly inform such borrowers, where appropriate, that loss mitigation options may be available. In addition, a servicer must provide a borrower a written notice with information about loss mitigation options by the 45th day of a borrower’s delinquency. The rule contains model language servicers may use for the written notice.

National field service companies employ a large network of contractors throughout the U.S. who can support borrower outreach in the process of performing routine inspections on defaulted properties.

Contractors can help disseminate information to defaulted borrowers regarding their loss mitigation options and foreclosure alternatives, and include a servicer point of contact for easy follow up.

Utilizing its network of 10,000 contractors across the country, Safeguard Properties has helped many of its mortgage servicing clients with such outreach. We have distributed materials encouraging troubled borrowers to contact their mortgage servicers for guidance. We also have helped to identify defaulted homes occupied by the families of active-duty service members and inform service members of their rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

In the process of providing damage assessments after major weather events, we also help disseminate servicer contact information, insurance information and other relevant communications to homeowners with property damage. National field service companies have the networks and tools in place to help their servicing clients comply with the CFPB’s new guidelines that focus on borrower outreach.

To view the online blog, please click here.

About Safeguard
Safeguard Properties is the largest privately held field services company in the country. Located in Cleveland, Ohio and founded in 1990 by Robert Klein, Safeguard has grown from a regional preservation company with a few employees and a handful of contractors performing services in the Midwest, to a national company with more than 1,600 employees. Safeguard is supported by a nationwide network of subcontractors able to perform any requested superintendence, preservation, and maintenance functions, as well as numerous ancillary services in the U.S., the Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

Alan Jaffa Reflects on Continuous Improvement

Posted on September 13, 2018October 4, 2018 by Safeguard

The February issue of Mortgage Banking Magazine published an article authored by Safeguard’s CEO Alan Jaffa, entitled “Continuous Improvement.”

Continuous Improvement
How a field service company installed the self-auditing tools to continually improve performance and satisfy regulators.

Business schools and career counselors often teach and coach students and managers about the importance of “managing up” — anticipating the needs of their bosses, not only to develop more effective working relationships, but to improve outcomes for their organizations.

Managers who manage up develop good listening skills. They pay attention to the issues and challenges their bosses and their organizations face. They offer ideas and solutions to address problems. They understand organizational goals and guide their teams to deliver high-quality results and meet corporate objectives.

A similar managing-up approach applies to building effective relationships between vendors and their clients — in particular, the relationship between field service providers and their mortgage servicing clients as it relates to the servicers’ challenges in complying with myriad government regulations, as well as their own corporate risk-management requirements.

The housing crisis has sparked new and tighter regulations on an already highly regulated mortgage industry. While these regulations were designed to afford greater protections for consumers and homeowners, and address what in many communities are large volumes of vacant, defaulted and foreclosed properties, they also have created enormous administrative burdens. Servicers today must audit and document virtually every process to demonstrate compliance. Failure to do so places servicers at risk for severe penalties, fines and court fees.

Similarly, technology advances, the sophistication and proliferation of mobile communications devices and the increased risks from hackers and cyberattacks have forced companies to tighten their security policies to protect sensitive information related to their operations, as well as their employees and customers. The results of these efforts can impact everything from a company’s operation and reputation to insurance rates and stock prices.

To monitor and ensure compliance with internal policies and external regulatory requirements, companies not only audit their own processes and outcomes, but those of their vendors and suppliers. And this has never been more evident than in today’s mortgage servicing business.

Audits make us stronger

The audit process provides an opportunity for field service companies not only to manage up and help ease the compliance burden for their mortgage servicing clients, but also to strengthen their own processes and improve their own outcomes.

On a regular basis, Safeguard Properties, along with every field service company that provides property preservation services, participates in audits with their mortgage servicing clients.

Depending on the client and the need, an audit can range from providing responses to a servicer’s specific requests for information, to lengthy and comprehensive reviews of all functions and services involved in the performance of a contract. Comprehensive reviews, however, have become more common because of increased regulatory requirements and stricter regulatory scrutiny.

Under a comprehensive audit, the process usually begins with a questionnaire that the servicer sends to its field service partner. The most important areas of focus usually relate to information security and quality control. However, servicers also request information about vendor company policies and procedures, workflow management, training and recruitment, and other elements that relate to the performance of contractual services. They also may ask about a vendor’s ownership, leadership team and finances.

Along with responses to the questionnaire, field service vendors often provide dozens of exhibits to support the information provided in the questionnaire. These may include copies of information technology (IT) and security policies and procedures, process flow charts and other forms of documentation.

Site visits follow the submission of information. Again, depending on the client and the depth of the audit, one client representative or a team of four to five may spend one day or several days visiting facilities and meeting with various staff.

During these site visits, auditors seek to understand and verify the information that they have received. Information security is typically a key area of focus. To verify, for example, that borrower information is protected, auditors may ask to see relevant policies and procedures, and perform a “walk through” of the system to test the effectiveness of these policies and procedures in action and experience for themselves how secure their data is.

In responding to audits, field service vendors like Safeguard have a choice to simply provide their clients with the information they request, or to use the power of information and performance measurements to add value and quality to build a strong and lasting business partnership, and to evaluate and improve our own internal processes and systems.

For example, servicers have stringent requirements around on-time completion of work in the field. Safeguard implemented an “on-time first-time” measurement designed not only to track on-time performance, but to take a step further to minimize instances where work orders need to be reopened because of errors. It is a best practice that servicers are free to implement with their other vendors.

Information security a priority

In the past five years, Safeguard’s internal policies around information security alone have increased tenfold, from approximately 10 basic policies to more than 100 specific policies today to protect not only Safeguard’s data but our clients’ data as well. This information includes the identity of defaulted borrowers, loan numbers, property addresses, the work history on each property and the photo images that accompany each work order.

The volume and intensity of Safeguard’s policies have increased both in anticipation of our clients’ information security needs, and also in response to specific client requirements and audit points they have brought forward.

As it relates to information security, Safeguard proactively has established, evolved and formalized information security policies to provide controls around our processes for storing and protecting data, tracking and monitoring the utilization of computers and mobile devices where information is stored, and how we manage and control change orders to ensure consistency and continuity. Our policies also cover data classifications, access authority and monitoring, remote access, password requirements and data encryption.

The devastation that resulted from Hurricane Sandy late in 2012 offered a stark reminder of the importance of establishing and complying with policies and procedures to ensure business continuity and disaster recovery in the wake of business disruptions.

These include procedures for maintaining redundant systems on separate electrical grids, and maintaining business functions in multiple sites to prevent business disruptions in the event of a disaster.

After Hurricane Sandy, Safeguard found itself without electrical power for four days at its headquarters and two days at a business continuity site, and maintained business as usual at both facilities with the use of multiple backup generators with sufficient strength and capacity to support operations.

Raising the bar on partnership and business value

While quality improvement has always been embedded into Safeguard’s operations, the audit process highlighted a need for Safeguard to raise it to a new level. In the past, the function had been divided along service lines.

Two years ago, as the depth and volume of client audits grew, the company formalized the creation of a quality-assurance department that serves as the central coordinating point, not only for Safeguard’s internal quality assessment and improvement functions, but for all client audits as well. The quality-assurance department is independent of all other functions within the company, and yet is integrated with each.

The value of this independent and integrated approach is that it provides Safeguard with the ability to cross-pollenate knowledge and best practices across service lines and departments and among clients.

Central to the function, as it relates to client audits, is a documentation library that is a repository for every query, response, scorecard and audit finding. Safeguard’s quality team evaluates that information, identifies strengths and gaps, and implements plans to either share knowledge and build on strengths or improve performance — and in all cases, to measure results.

We view each audit as an opportunity to continuously raise the bar on quality outcomes — our own and those of our clients. What we learn from one client audit, we build into our processes to improve outcomes in another.

For example, in one audit, a mortgage servicing client inquired about our processes to ensure that contractors in our network carry licensing required under local laws to perform maintenance and repair services. This requirement is an important focus for government-sponsored enterprises.

Although Safeguard required each contractor to comply with all local laws and licensing, as a result of this particular audit, the company changed its internal process to formalize the requirement. Contractors in the Safeguard network now must attest annually that they are in compliance with local licensing requirements.

To verify compliance, Safeguard also conducts monthly audits of a random sampling of its network. This process change allows all Safeguard clients to demonstrate compliance on this point to their investors.

As another example, many of Safeguard’s mortgage servicing clients follow audit and reporting standards under the Statement on Standards for Attestation Engagements (SSAE) No. 16. These standards, developed by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), help to guide organizations in developing controls around their information systems, financial operations and other business systems.

Among the controls are those that protect system access to authorized users only. Another is change controls to ensure that system changes are tested prior to implementation so that they do not cause a disruption in service. Others address overall information technology policies, such as training protocols and internal and external communications regarding system usage. In an effort to maintain compliance on behalf of its clients, Safeguard follows and applies SSAE 16 standards in its operations as well.

Sharing knowledge and best practices

In a managing-up partnership, field service companies also should be resources to their mortgage servicing clients to share knowledge and identify opportunities to improve their own audit processes and compliance outcomes.

As the industry prepares for the implementation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) servicing guidelines in 2013, an area of focus will be borrower communication and outreach.

For many years, Safeguard has provided outreach to homeowners on behalf of its mortgage servicing clients. This outreach has included efforts to encourage troubled borrowers to contact their mortgage servicers for help and guidance, and identifying defaulted homes occupied by the families of active-duty service members and informing service members of their rights under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).

After major disasters, such as Hurricane Sandy, Safeguard not only provides damage assessments to its servicing clients, but also helps disseminate contact information for the servicer, insurance information and other relevant communications.

Safeguard’s documentation library also has been a useful tool to help mortgage servicing clients align audit processes to reduce redundancies and inconsistencies. As an example, three separate departments at one client had requested information about Safeguard’s disaster recovery procedures within a short span of time. By cross-referencing the data requested by each department, we helped to identify a duplicate process and create an opportunity for the client to share information and auditing efficiencies across departments.

Proof is in the results

As a field service company representing the mortgage servicing industry to protect and preserve properties, Safeguard views its internal scorecards and its clients’ scorecards as one and the same. By continuously tracking and measuring our performance based on information gleaned from data on tens of millions of properties in our system, and continuously improving our processes we improve both our internal quality measures and the scorecards we receive from clients.

Working in partnership with clients to determine the right processes to measure and the right targets to meet is critical. This is especially true in situations where the client teams tasked with managing vendor relationships do not have the depth of experience to understand certain nuances and details that may impact outcomes, such as different sets of industry guidelines, requirements and issues that apply to maintaining pre-foreclosure and post-foreclosure properties.

Each service line maintains and monitors internal scorecards on the services it performs and is responsible for proactively implementing corrective actions to address deficiencies and maintain quality and client satisfaction. In the past year alone, Safeguard has made significant performance improvements that have directly benefited its clients.

Safeguard’s real estate-owned (REO) service line tracked an improvement of 39 percent in properties that had no deficiencies or quality issues, and a 79 percent improvement in the timeliness and quality of grass cuts. Overall, our quality scores for property preservation services on pre-foreclosure properties improved 11 percent in 2012, and quality scores for post-sale properties improved 7 percent.

By managing up, anticipating our clients’ needs and working to satisfy them, Safeguard has not only helped its clients comply with government regulations and internal requirements, but our clients also have helped us become a better company delivering higher-quality services and value to them.

Please click here to view as a PDF.

Steve Meyer Opines on REO Insurance

Posted on September 13, 2018October 4, 2018 by Safeguard

In the December issue of Servicing Management, Safeguard’s Steve Meyer, assistant vice president of high risk and hazard claims, contributed to an article entitled REO Insurance Remains Consistent Amid Extreme Industry Changes.

In light of recent Hurricane Sandy-caused property damage and an increasing number of REO properties, the article discusses the need for REO inusrance and also what is typical policy coverage. Loan Servicers are now making this a priority.

To view the article in its entirety, please click here for the pdf. The article is located on pages 10-11.

Michael Greenbaum Discusses Vendor Timeliness

Posted on September 13, 2018October 4, 2018 by Safeguard

On January 28, National Mortgage News published an article entitled Oversight and Communication Help Build Vendor Relationship. In it, Mike Greenbaum, Safeguard’s vice president of operations is quoted expressing the importance of timeliness.

Oversight and Communication Help Build Vendor Relationship

Maintaining the appearance of vacant and foreclosed properties is one of the main responsibilities for mortgage servicers and field service providers, but having proper vendors in place to complete the tasks to fulfill this obligation is anything but easy.

The vendor management process allows a servicer and property preservation firm to build a relationship with their suppliers and providers that is meant to strengthen both businesses. It is not the process of trying to negotiate the lowest price possible to complete a job, but for all parties to benefit from working together. The common goal at the end of the day during the vendor management process is to ensure that the requirements and oversight are met to benefit not only a homeowner, but the entire neighborhood.

In order for a well-rounded relationship to be developed between vendors, servicers and property preservation firms, there needs to be constant monitoring and communication to ensure that all parties are working together.
When it comes time to select the right vendor, there are several factors that servicers and field service providers need to consider. First, assessing a vendor’s overall risk of remaining in compliance with industry guidelines as well as local code enforcement issues is critical when determining their overall qualification for a job.

“It’s our money and performance, so everything is on the line for us. The more successful my vendor is, the more successful we are,” said Sherilee Massier, property preservation manager at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, as a panelist at the 2012 National Property Preservation Conference in Chicago discussing effective vendor management strategies.

To assess the work of a vendor, scorecards are a valuable tool that is used extensively throughout the industry. But all companies rate their vendors based on different components.

For example, Jack Evans, manager of property preservation at JPMorgan Chase, said the New York-based servicer has focused more on quality versus quantity over the last few years. He added that it is necessary to have the “eyes and ears” in the field verifying that the work is actually being done properly. If this is not happening, Evans noted that clear and concise feedback is essential.

“The key to this whole idea is to do it consistently,” Evans said about monitoring how vendors accomplish their work orders. “You have to monitor vendors at least once a month and give them timely feedback so if there is an issue, you’re not going more than 30 days without addressing it. If you’re not having those conversations or are scoring them every month, the issue may not be fixed in a timely manner.”

Meanwhile, Michael Greenbaum, vice president of operations at Safeguard Properties, said timeliness is a critical rating for the Valley View, Ohio-based field service provider’s scorecard. He continued that one of the challenges with measuring quality within the REO environment today is that there are multiple results coming from the clients’ field teams as well as from the field service companies’ teams, in which this information is utilized to communicate effectively with the vendor networks to provide the necessary training to ensure quality results. “Timeliness is a firm measure and it’s easy to calculate whether you’re on time or not,” Greenbaum added. “When we look at your work, it either meets our expectations or it doesn’t.”

Furthermore, from a servicer standpoint, Evans and Massier said flexibility and how a vendor treats their client are two keys aspects when choosing who maintains their portfolio’s assets. For example, will a vendor be accessible in case an emergency occurs at the property like a boiler explosion?

As a servicer, there is always some sort of management and oversight for a vendor, whether it is monthly reporting or auditing. Over the past year or two, Massier has seen that servicers have gotten tighter controls for their vendors.

“In addition to timeliness, quality and compliance, we’re looking at and need to know if a vendor has identified their risks and what controls are in place to mitigate those risks,” Massier added. “I want to see the plans on how you change this as well as the management of processes and procedures that you have in place to control any of your risks.”

Another area that is critical to decide if a vendor is capable of handling a particular job is being familiar with their background and qualifications. Additionally, what is the vendor’s capacity to handle a certain amount of workload during the busy seasonal orders?

“Our vendor evaluation is consistent not just with our primaries, but the secondary’s we keep, too,” said Chellie Stewart, REO and claims supervisor at Central Mortgage Co. “Vendors come on site to our shop while we also go to them to see their business processes live. There’s nothing like hearing that a vendor has 2,000 employees, but when you walk in, there are only three desks there.”

Secondly, Stewart said the Little Rock, Ark.-based company speaks to other servicers to hear about the positive and weakness characteristics each vendor possesses.

Marc Hinkle, senior vice president of strategic initiatives at Mortgage Contracting Services, said the Tampa-based field service company typically starts with a formal request for proposal to see how many vendors are interested in a particular task. Once those results come back, MCS prescreens the candidates to figure out who has the capacity and price requirements to be added to the company’s network.

Also, Hinkle said MCS mandates that all of its vendors take an online educational program certifying that they understand the training requirements about working for them. This web-based program has to be completed on an annual basis. Despite these courses, Hinkle understands that there still will be conflicts with a vendor’s performance that needs to be remediated.

“When we identify deficiency trends with a particular vendor, the first reaction is to not punish them, but to have a heart-to-heart discussion with them to find out the root cause of the problem,” Hinkle continued. “We also make sure that licensing requirements needed at the local level are up to date and valid through a series of audits and site visits to validate that. It is all a multilayered approach.”

To view the online article, please click here.

Klein Stresses Importance of Uniformity Among VPRs

Posted on September 13, 2018October 4, 2018 by Safeguard

The December issue of HWfocus published an article by Klein entitled Success in Uniformity: Statewide Vacant or Foreclosed Property Ordinances.

Success in Uniformity: Statewide Vacant or Foreclosed Property Ordinances

Mortgage Servicers are under greater regulatory pressure to comply with state and local laws and codes than ever before. Much of it is directly related to foreclosed or vacant property registration ordinances.

Foreclosed or vacant property ordinances benefit both municipalities and the mortgage servicing industry in that they help reduce blight and protect neighborhoods. However, a lack of uniformity makes it difficult for servicers to comply with hundreds of ordinances and their unique requirements.

Safeguard Properties tracks about 840 vacant property registries across the country. Each one has its own requirements, penalties and fees that servicers must track and comply with to avoid costly code violations and fines.

To create uniformity, statewide vacant and foreclosed property ordinances have begun to emerge across the country. The statewide approach provides a more standardized process in addressing code violations by connecting code enforcement officials and servicers more quickly and on a broader scale.

Currently, Maryland and Georgia have established statewide guidelines. Additionally, Connecticut, Illinois and New Jersey have created statewide regulations that provide guidance to municipalities and counties in the process of establishing VPRs or foreclosure ordinances.

MARYLAND HOUSE BILL 1373
Maryland’s statewide registry, effective Oct. 1, was created by the state’s foreclosure taskforce and is aligned with the goals of the mortgage servicing industry.

The taskforce recognized that local governments have difficulty identifying who is servicing the loan or who is the lien holder of a property. The taskforce created the statewide foreclosed property registry as a central resource to obtain timely contact information for lien holders or servicers.

Maryland’s taskforce has taken its response to the housing crisis a step further. Earlier this year, it released a report that outlines initiatives and legislation to aid in the recovery of the housing crisis. In the report, the group recommended several legislative actions. Two concepts in that report are aligned with the goals of the mortgage industry – enhancing loss mitigation and strengthening neighborhoods.

GEORGIA HOUSE BILL 110
Georgia’s vacant property ordinance takes a different approach but still promotes uniformity. The state passed House Bill 110, effective July 1. It regulates what local municipalities can have in their individual ordinances.

The legislation creates uniformity for all pre-existing and future vacant property or foreclosure registries passed by municipalities or counties. It puts limits on the fees and penalties that can be applied to the ordinance. Also, the bill sets the definition of a “vacant real property” and outlines specific regulations for owners of foreclosed and vacant properties.

OTHER KEY STATE LEGISLATION
Connecticut, Illinois and New Jersey have similar statewide laws regarding vacant property and foreclosure registration. While they do not mandate a statewide registration, they each require notification to the local municipality for every foreclosure filed. Forms and fees are required to be mailed to the individual jurisdictions within the individual states.

Uniformity is critical when it comes to vacant property registrations and foreclosure ordinances. While lien holders strive to comply with the approximately 840 individual municipal vacant property registration ordinances that currently exist across the country, the fact is, the more uniform ordinances are, the more able servicers will be to comply with them.

With that in mind, the next step should be creating a national policy on VPRs and foreclosure ordinances to ensure 100 % uniformity across the country.

To view the article in pdf, please click here.

Klein Speaks of Foreclosure Fast Tracking

Posted on September 13, 2018October 4, 2018 by Safeguard

On January 3, National Mortgage News published a blog authored by Safeguard’s founder and chairman, Robert Klein, entitled Vacant and Abandoned Properties on the Foreclosure Fast Track.

Vacant and Abandoned Properties on the Foreclosure Fast Track

In the U.S., vacant and abandoned properties in foreclosure can sit empty for two years or more depending on the state. During that time, the property does not receive the day-to-day care a tenant or homeowner would provide. It also means the property is more susceptible to vandalism, theft, and undetected damage.

Although mortgage servicers hire field service companies to preserve these properties, the property will deteriorate without a tenant or occupant no matter how much maintenance work is completed. The best way to ensure these vacant and abandoned properties remain in good condition is to accelerate the foreclosure process. Several states have introduced legislation to do just that.

Illinois and New Jersey both recently passed laws accelerating the foreclosure process for vacant and abandoned properties. Colorado already has laws in place addressing the issue of lengthy foreclosure timelines, while others, like Ohio, are considering it.

On Dec. 5 2012, the Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Bill 16, accelerating the foreclosure process for vacant and abandoned properties that will take effect on June 1. It is the most clear and defined bill that should be the model for other states considering accelerated foreclosure laws.

Illinois’ new law will reduce the foreclosure process from 600 to 90 days for vacant and abandoned properties. In addition to reducing the foreclosure timeline, the bill also has indemnified servicers against trespassing charges. They cannot be sued if the indicators for vacancy outlined in the legislation are met.

Additionally, the bill includes provisions to incent mortgage companies to help homeowners keep their homes providing pre-foreclosure counseling and bankruptcy relief. It also contains a provision to repair vacant properties that is to be funded by lenders.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed into law Senate Bill 2156 on Dec. 3. The legislation is similar to the Illinois law in that it outlines conditions for determining that a property is vacant or abandoned. It too is a step in the right direction of returning empty homes to occupied status.

The states’ initiatives make sense and address what the field services and mortgaging servicing industries have been saying for some time. A lengthy foreclosure process is one of the major causes of property deterioration.

To view the blog, please click here.

George Mehok on Implementing Mobile Appcelerator and SOASTA

Posted on September 13, 2018October 4, 2018 by Safeguard

On January 24, CustomerThink published an article entitled Appcelerator and SOASTA Partner to Empower Mobile Enterprise Developers with First Integrated Test Automation Solution. In it, George Mehok, Safeguard’s chief information officer is quoted discussing the implementation of the pair.

Appcelerator and SOASTA Partner to Empower Mobile Enterprise Developers with First Integrated Test Automation Solution

New integration and distribution agreement bring SOASTA’s TouchTest to Appcelerator’s global enterprise customers.

Mountain View, CA – January 24, 2013 – Appcelerator®, the leading mobile development platform, and SOASTA, the leader in cloud and mobile testing, today announced a new integration between Appcelerator Titanium 3.0 and SOASTA’s TouchTest mobile test automation solution and a distribution agreement between the two companies.

This integration allows mobile developers at Appcelerator’s 1,400 enterprise customers to access TouchTest for continuous automated testing as part of the mobile application development lifecycle. Test automation is a mandatory requirement for mobile app development, and TouchTest delivers the speed, precision and affordability required by mobile development teams to scale their development practices that demand a continuous release process.

TouchTest is the first enterprise test automation solution to support Appcelerator’s Titanium 3.0. The integrated solution provides a cost-effective, rapid and continuous product development lifecycle for mobile developers.

We’ve adopted mobility as a key enabler to providing productivity enhancing technologies to our nationwide network of contractors and inspectors, in addition to delivering superior quality to our clients, said George Mehok, Chief Information Officer of Safeguard Properties, the largest mortgage field services company in the U.S. “As an innovator in mobility, we’re actively implementing the integrated solution between Appcelerator Titanium and SOASTA TouchTest to further optimize the quality of our apps, reduce development cycle time, and accelerate adoption.”

The new distribution agreement between Appcelerator and SOASTA enables Appcelerator customers to easily add TouchTest to their mobile development environment. Combining TouchTest with Titanium provides an integrated mobile development and testing environment, and accelerates time to success.

“Mobile is driving much shorter release cycles for application development,” said Jeff Haynie, Appcelerator CEO. “SOASTA’s TouchTest integration with Appcelerator Titanium 3.0 enables our customers to meet their time-to-market demands while improving overall application quality.”

As enterprises and developers build mobile applications for a variety of devices and operating systems, they can now rely on TouchTest to simplify the testing process, utilizing SOASTA’s patented visual test environment, precision capture and re-play technology. Apps are now continuously testable, thoroughly validated and fully supported through the development lifecycle by leveraging TouchTest’s embedded Jenkins plugin for 100% hands-free mobile test automation.

The mobile application lifecycle presents the opportunity for enterprises to re-think their approach to software development, said Tom Lounibos, SOASTA CEO. Appcelerator and SOASTA recognized this, and have combined our best-of-class solutions to present mobile development teams with the fastest, most complete development platform to support continuous testing of mobile applications.”

Availability
TouchTest supports Titanium 3.0 today. For more information about functional testing for Titanium applications, please visit
www.appcelerator.com/platform/functionaltest/ or www.soasta.com.

About Appcelerator
Appcelerator is the leading mobile development platform of choice for thousands of enterprises including eBay, Merck, Mitsubishi Electric, NBC, PayPal and Ray-Ban, as they become mobile-first organizations. With more than 50,000 mobile applications deployed on 100 million devices, Appcelerator’s award-winning open source development platform (Titanium) and Appcelerator Cloud Services are used to create native apps across multiple devices including iOS, Android, Windows and BlackBerry, as well as hybrid and HTML5 mobile web. Customers who standardize on Appcelerator’s solutions
get to market 70 percent faster and achieve a significant competitive advantage. Appcelerator’s worldwide ecosystem includes 400,000 mobile developers and hundreds of ISVs and strategic partners including SAP and Cognizant. For more information visit www.appcelerator.com.

Appcelerator is a registered trademark of Appcelerator Inc. Appcelerator Titanium is a trademark of Appcelerator Inc. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective owners.

About SOASTA
SOASTA is the leader in cloud and mobile testing. Its web and mobile test automation solutions, CloudTest and TouchTest, enable developers, QA professionals and IT operations teams to test with unprecedented speed, scale and precision. The innovative product set streamlines test creation, automates provisioning and execution, and distills analytics to deliver actionable intelligence faster. With SOASTA, companies can have confidence that their applications will perform as designed, even in peak traffic. SOASTA’s customers include many of today’s most successful brands including
American Girl, Bonobos, Chegg, Gilt Groupe, Hallmark, Intuit, Microsoft and Netflix. SOASTA is privately held and headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. For more information about SOASTA, please visit www.soasta.com.

To view the online article, please click here.

Steve Meyer Discusses Savings and Buying in Bulk

Posted on September 13, 2018October 4, 2018 by Safeguard

On December 13, MortgageOrb.com published an article by Steve Meyer, assistant vice president of high risk and hazard claims for Safeguard Properties, entitled Creating A Bulk Buying Process To Ensure Property Repair Savings.

REQUIRED READING: Servicers and investors count on their field service partners to help maximize the value of real estate owned (REO) portfolios with new approaches that are both creative and cost-effective.

As part of the REO property repair process, field service companies save servicers and investors significant dollars by establishing agreements with national suppliers to purchase quality products at lower costs and create an efficient bulk-buying process for contractors.

For example, field service companies can negotiate pricing with a national supplier to obtain the builder-grade carpeting that servicers and investors prefer to have installed in their REO properties. Through these negotiations, field service companies can assure that their clients save significant amounts of money on a national scale.

It is not uncommon for field service companies to pay upwards of $22 per square yard for carpet when contractors purchase carpeting from their own local suppliers. By purchasing the same carpeting under their field service company’s national supplier agreements, contractors can achieve potential savings of 20% to 25%.

As thefts of heating and air conditioning systems increase, field service companies have found it necessary to establish national relationships and leverage better pricing for these products as well. Similarly, obtaining roofing material is another area where contractors need help acquiring quality supplies more efficiently. This is necessary if there is a leak or other damage that can potentially get worse because the contractor needs to get the repair done quickly.

Working through national suppliers, contractors save time and money because they can get products more quickly. This is because under national purchasing agreements, contractors can obtain supplies almost immediately. Even when items need to be ordered, carpeting can typically be delivered within three days, and appliances often can be installed within 48 hours.

The big-box retailers, like Home Depot and Lowe’s, also help contractors streamline the REO repairs process with “pro-desks.” Contractors can call in or order online, and the store will prepare the order for special pick-up in a designated area of the store – often at the door. Stores sometimes offer discounts for ordering products this way. These efficiencies have helped reduce many of the challenges contractors have experienced in planning their work days because of supply delays and the need to make numerous and unplanned stops at local suppliers to obtain items needed to complete repairs.

In lieu of…

An important area where field service companies can help save significant dollars is in the selection of alternative materials to repair REO properties and put them in marketable condition.

Copper plumbing may be the best example. In properties where copper plumbing has been stolen, field service companies and their contractors can replace it with a plastic-type product called PEX. Not only is PEX a deterrent to thieves and vandals because it cannot be sold at salvage yards, it costs less and installs more quickly. As a result, servicers and investors have begun to request PEX over copper plumbing in many of their REO properties.

An alternative to lath and plaster material in older properties is drywall. Drywall is easier to work with and less expensive to use. Similarly, off-the-shelf cabinetry is often used to replace custom-made items.

The decision to utilize these alternative products, however, also depends on the type of home being repaired or renovated. In higher-priced homes, for example, custom cabinets and copper plumbing may be wiser investments to assure that the property can command a higher price and compete against similar homes that may be marketed in the area.

Also, when utilizing alternative materials, field service companies and their contractors must be familiar with local requirements, deed restrictions and other ordinances that may dictate the use of specific materials to maintain quality standards or historical preservation.

The price is right

Verified pricing is another way field service companies can streamline their REO repair processes. Implementing flat-rate pricing for repairs eliminates bidding wars. With flat-rate pricing, field service companies have already established a negotiated price with their contractors and do not have to spend time getting multiple bids and hoping for the best price, whereas the price has already been validated as fair and reasonable.

Verified pricing also reduces the time it takes to obtain bid approvals. The alternative is to have multiple vendors bid on each repair, which delays the process and still does not guarantee a reasonable or best price.

Industry cost estimators help verify pricing as well. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) uses the RepairBASE brand of cost estimators. Field service companies should use similar cost estimators, or several of them, to be consistent with what HUD and other investors and servicers will pay for the repairs, and to verify that a contractor’s pricing is consistent with the local market.

There are several software packages available that allow a company to verify that construction pricing is reasonable and appropriate for both the scope of the work and the area where it is being performed. The companies that offer this estimating software collect data from a number of sources to ensure the pricing is verifiable.

By using these cost-estimating programs and national suppliers, working under national bulk pricing agreements and having access to pro-desks, contractors get the best pricing on the quality products that servicers and investors prefer. This streamlined process creates savings in time and money and helps to assure that high-quality supplies and appliances are used to repair REO properties. This, in turn, allows contractors to handle large volumes of REO properties in a more efficient manner. Ultimately, this proves to be a win-win situation for all parties involved.

To view the online article, please click here.

Klein Examines Role of Politicians in Housing Recovery

Posted on September 13, 2018October 29, 2018 by Safeguard

On November 12, Servicing Management published an article by Safeguard Properties Founder and Chairman, Robert Klein, entitled On The Street Where The Politicians Live.

Now that the 2012 election is history, it is time for state-and local-level elected officials to work with servicers on long-simmering housing problems.

By the time this article is published, states and local governments will have elected 13 governors, hundreds of state representatives, and countless mayors, city managers, members of council, aldermen and other local officials. No matter who wins, one thing every elected official will acknowledge is the importance of a housing market recovery on his or her respective levels of government.

The mortgage servicing industry has an important role as well: to work with state and local government leaders to build consensus around legislation and regulation that will support a housing recovery. From a mortgage field services perspective, a critical focus must be to reduce the number of vacant and abandoned properties in our communities.

There are four ways to accomplish this goal: keep troubled borrowers in their homes, accelerate the foreclosure process for vacant and abandoned properties, repair and rehabilitate properties that are viable, or demolish uninhabitable properties that are too damaged to repair or rebuild.

There has been good news on the housing front. In August, the S&P/Case- Shiller Index showed that U.S. home prices have begun to stabilize after six years of decline. The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that delinquency rates were lower in the second quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2011. The U.S. Department of Labor reported that unemployment had dropped to 7.8% in September, its lowest level in nearly four years.

The cautionary news is that improvements are occurring slowly. Even though the unemployment rate has fallen, many workers remain underemployed, and nearly one-quarter of mortgages remain underwater. An October Wall Street Journal article estimated that approximately 14 million homes across the country are vacant, and that no market interest exists for nearly four million properties that are deteriorating, attracting criminal activity and dragging down surrounding property values.

We need to build on the positive momentum and work at the state and local levels to protect the value and integrity of our existing housing stock, as well as support the revitalization of urban neighborhoods that have been hit the hardest by the housing downturn.

State of the states

Two areas in which state legislatures can have a positive impact on protecting and preserving properties are enacting statewide vacant property registries and accelerating vacant properties for foreclosure.

Today, more than 800 municipalities across the country have enacted individual vacant property registration (VPR) ordinances to help assure that vacant and foreclosed properties are maintained to community standards. The requirements for each municipality vary significantly. As more cities create ordinances, the more challenging it becomes for mortgage servicers to comply, and the more burdensome it is for municipalities to monitor non-compliance and take enforcement action.

Recognizing these challenges, several states have enacted statewide registries or guidelines that help to create uniform standards to assist municipalities and servicers alike, and to facilitate more effective communication between them to better protect vacant and foreclosed properties. For example, Maryland created a statewide ordinance and Georgia established statewide guidelines for local governments to follow. Connecticut, Illinois and New Jersey created a set of statewide regulations that parties responsible for vacant properties must comply with.

By creating uniform standards, states recognize the need to facilitate critical partnerships between local governments and mortgage servicers, and pursue the goal they share to protect and maintain vacant properties. The more uniform the standards, the more effectively mortgage servicers can comply. As an industry, we should encourage every state legislature to move in this direction.

Another critical initiative at the state level is the acceleration of vacant and abandoned properties to foreclosure. Because each state establishes its own foreclosure statutes, the time frame for foreclosure proceedings can vary from a few months in non-judicial states, where foreclosures do not require the intervention of the courts, to as long as two years in judicial states in which foreclosures are processed through the court systems.

In foreclosure proceedings, states currently do not distinguish between occupied properties and those that have been abandoned by their owners. That distinction is important. If a property is occupied, a longer foreclosure timeline serves to protect the rights of the homeowner to due process. If the property is abandoned, a lengthy foreclosure process simply leaves a property vacant for a longer time period and more vulnerable to damage.

The strongest argument against accelerated foreclosure has been on the basis of homeowner protection. Ironically, when a property is abandoned, there is no homeowner to protect. But a drawn out foreclosure process for a vacant property actually does harm homeowners – those whose homes surround vacant and abandoned properties.

Even if a vacant property receives regular inspections and maintenance, the longer it sits vacant, the more it will deteriorate. Vacant homes attract vandals and squatters, become neighborhood nuisances, and negatively impact home values and the quality of life of the neighborhood.

Colorado, New Jersey, Florida, Ohio and Maryland are among the states that either have considered or are considering legislation that accelerates vacant and abandoned properties for foreclosure. This is one of the most important pieces of legislation for state legislatures, especially those in judicial states, to consider in order to protect the value and quality of vacant homes. The sooner a vacant property can be sold to a responsible buyer, the better it is for everyone, as it protects both property values and tax values and prevents all the problems that come when a vacant property falls into decline.

Local government initiatives

Ultimately, vacant and abandoned properties place the greatest strain on local communities. As the numbers of vacant properties and their associated challenges have increased, so have the numbers of local vacant property ordinances and other efforts to address them.

Mortgage servicers have relied increasingly on their field service partners to engage local government officials in dialogue to address common issues. In regard to vacant property ordinances – where there is often no state legislation to guide municipalities – field service compa-nies have offered a “boots on the ground” perspective to help ensure that any local ordinances will meet their desired results and reduce unintended consequences.

Ultimately, municipal leaders must begin to recognize that vacant property ordinances by themselves will not lead to a housing recovery. At best, they are a short-term solution to help cities cope with the fallout of the housing crisis.

To revitalize their communities, city officials must take the lead to develop a holistic plan that includes working with their state legislatures to accelerate the foreclosure process for vacant and abandoned properties. Also, a revitalization plan should encompass the demolition of uninhabitable properties, assistance for troubled borrowers to prevent future foreclosures and private sector partnerships to rehabilitate salvageable homes.

The first step must be the demolition of blighted properties. These are not properties that anyone will invest in. They are nuisances and eyesores that have been stripped of any value, and they become sites for illegal drug activity and other criminal behavior, including violent acts against children and adults. They make neighborhoods undesirable places to live in and discourage business growth. The financial impact on communities in lost tax revenues and the burden on city budgets for police, fire and other services is almost impossible to quantify.

Tearing these properties down is the only way to begin to stabilize the value of surrounding properties, attract prospective home buyers and begin to revitalize neighborhoods. Cities that were hit hard by the housing crisis have invested in the demolition of nuisance and uninhabitable properties as their budgets have allowed, but the need far exceeds their resources. Until these properties can be torn down – which could take years – they will perpetuate more blight.

Earlier this year, Rep. Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio), along with a bipartisan delegation from Ohio and Michigan, introduced legislation that would provide up to $4 billion in demolition funding for the most devastated communities across the country through the issuance of government bonds. The legislation, called the Restore Our Neighborhoods Act, has been held up in committee since March. It is a creative solution that deserves serious consideration.

Another creative approach to assist communities to holistically manage low-value assets is the creation and uti¬lization of land banks. By donating low-value assets to land banks, mortgage companies remove low-value properties from their books, along with the associ¬ated costs of maintenance, taxes, liens and other expenses.

Once land banks obtain title to these properties, they can apply a more comprehensive strategy around the disposition and repurposing of entire neighborhoods of low-value assets to maximize community benefits. Uninhabitable properties can be demolished, and viable properties can be rehabilitated and sold as quality, affordable housing.

Private sector partnerships also encourage responsible entrepreneurs to purchase and rehabilitate vacant properties to provide safe and affordable housing, especially to lower-income people and first-time home buyers, either through rentals or rent-to-purchase opportunities.

Partnerships and alliances with non-profit groups and private investors also help municipalities to protect fragile housing stock. Among those partners should be credit counseling and foreclosure prevention agencies that can work with troubled homeowners to help them keep their homes. Community development corporations and housing agencies also are important partners that connect lower-income homeowners with agencies that offer assistance with home repairs so that their properties maintain value.

As an industry, it is incumbent upon us to work with our state and local elected leaders to identify and support effective and creative solutions that not only will protect neighborhoods and home values, but will also begin to grow them again.

To view the article as a PDF, please click here.

Klein Discusses Servicer Challenges After Hurricane Sandy

Posted on September 13, 2018October 4, 2018 by Safeguard

On December 12, MortgageOrb.com featured an article written by Robert Klein, founder and chairman of Safeguard Properties, entitled Riders On The Storm.

Riders On The Storm
Servicers have faced extraordinary challenges in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

The devastation Hurricane Sandy caused on the East Coast in late October will have a major impact on the mortgage servicing industry. Among the most critical needs of servicers are obtaining immediate information about the condition of properties in affected areas, receiving ongoing updates about the conditions in storm-affected areas, getting assistance with outreach to borrowers, obtaining adjustments to investor guideline requirements in affected areas and addressing hazard claim issues.

Mobilizing their inspector networks to provide mortgage servicers with fast and accurate property condition information on vacant and foreclosed properties is one of the most important steps field service companies can take in storm-affected areas.

After Hurricane Katrina, servicers began to ask their field service partners to inspect not only properties with defaulted loans, but also occupied homes with current loans. These types of inspections have become routine in storm-damaged areas. The purpose is to establish contact with borrowers to confirm the occupancy status and condition of their properties, provide borrowers with contact information for their mortgage companies and attempt to learn whether insurance claims are being filed to repair property damages.

In declared disaster areas, mortgage servicers also need perspective and a broader context regarding the conditions in surrounding neighborhoods, the specific types of storm-related damages that areas have suffered, as well as the status of utility services, road conditions, emergency access, and other factors.

Utilizing their contractor networks, real estate brokers and other mortgage servicing partners, as well as news stories and other resources, field service companies can provide their clients with timely information and updates.

Damage information is reported at the ZIP code level as light, moderate or severe, so servicers receive information almost immediately following the storm. Once inspectors are able to gain access to neighborhoods, servicers will receive damage information at the property level. This information is valuable not only to servicers, but also to others in the mortgage industry, and even beyond to the broader financial services sector.

The ability to provide this information, incidentally, requires that field service companies themselves have effective disaster recovery processes in place when their operations are impacted by severe events.

A major challenge for mortgage servicers during major weather events is reaching borrowers to disseminate important information that will help them act responsibly to protect and repair their properties. Field service companies and their vendor networks can be allies to facilitate outreach to borrowers. Vendor networks can assist in disseminating information to encourage homeowners to contact their mortgage companies, educate homeowners about avoiding contractor fraud, offer advice for filing insurance claims and provide foreclosure prevention resources for homeowners in financial distress after the storm.

Gaining access to affected properties is a major issue after a disaster. Roads may be closed because of flooding, surface damage, fallen power lines that create dangerous situations, downed trees and other debris. Because of this, investor guidelines may need to be adjusted to extend time frames for securing properties, conducting inspections, performing required services and conveying properties post-foreclosure.

By providing information about the conditions that prevent servicers from complying with required timeframes, field service companies help investors evaluate and make required adjustments. Additionally, as the price and availability of gasoline and building supplies are impacted by the storm, field service companies must work with their clients to obtain pricing adjustments and identify new supply channels to obtain plywood, tarps, roofing materials and other building supplies needed for property preservation.

Servicers face many challenges in filing hazard claims on properties damaged during hurricanes. During Hurricane Katrina, due to the large volume of claims, delays were common with retail carriers reviewing and concluding claims in a timely manner. The same can be expected with Hurricane Sandy.

Non-covered perils may also pose problems for servicers filing claims on foreclosed properties or homeowners filing claims on their own homes. For example, standard insurance policies do not contain flood coverage, and many homeowners are not aware of this. In fact, after Hurricane Katrina, many lawsuits were filed to recover flood damages, and the courts sided with retail insurance carriers in concluding that standard insurance policies do not cover flood damages. Field service companies with experienced hazard claim experts can help guide their mortgage servicing clients through the process to save time and money.

To read the online article, please click here.