| 4/2/2012 |
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Some Hedge Funds See Growth Potential in Renting REO's |
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| Recent Federal Housing Finance Agency efforts to interest buyers in the foreclosure-to-rent market may be off to a good start with an unlikely type of investor even though it still is everyone's guess whether this management strategy will effectively ease off inventory pressures and speed up the recovery. |
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| Judging from recent client demand, says Diane Gozza, executive vice president of business development of Integrated Mortgage Solutions, Houston, following the Federal Housing Finance Agency promotion of REO-to-rent initiatives more hedge fund investors are approaching the market along with some very large private investors. |
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| 3/23/2012 |
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Rehab or Sell 'As-Is?' |
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| Today’s mortgage lenders and servicers have much in common with medieval alchemists ... but instead of turning common metals into gold, they strive to transform non-performing properties into profitable assets. Properly managing and selling distressed properties is a difficult task, and one that will undoubtedly continue to challenge the industry throughout 2012. It will take 45 months to clear the $384 billion in distressed homes on the market in the U.S., according to a report released by Standard & Poor’s in November 2011. |
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| A chief question for those holding distressed properties: Should these properties be rehabilitated before being placed on the market for sale, or should they be sold "as-is?" It takes a savvy asset manager with a good network of real estate and construction professionals to know when it is worth rehabbing a real estate-owned (REO) property for the greatest return-on-investment (ROI). |
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| 10/11/2011 |
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IMS Offers Solution to 'Defective Drywall' |
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| Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS) now offers a cost-effective, long-term solution to defective drywall, a problem that has plagued thousands of homes, particularly along the Gulf Coast. The term “defective drywall” refers to a type of drywall that releases sulfur compounds, especially in warm, moist climates. Between 2004 and 2006, hundreds of millions of sheets of defective drywall made their way into thousands of homes in the U.S. IMS estimates about 60,000 homes have been affected by defective drywall. |
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| The dangerous sulfur gas drove families from their homes and destroyed metal within the buildings. Salvaging a home with defective drywall required major reconstruction to replace all the drywall in the structure, but IMS now offers an on-location solution that requires about one-third of the time and about one-half of the cost of traditional methods. IMS announced Monday that after testing its patented biochemical agent in 30 single-family homes and 150 commercial and multifamily buildings over the past three years, its solution has been successful in curing defective drywall. |
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| 9/14/2011 |
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Regulation Helps Municipalities Lower REO Management Costs |
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Municipalities are using vacant property registration and code enforcement systems to cut back unprecedented foreclosure inventory management expenses.
According to mortgage market veteran Diane Gozza, an executive vice president of business development for Integrated Mortgage Solutions, a Houston-based company specialized in mortgage collateral protection and foreclosed property management services that include loss mitigation, inspections and preservation, hazard claims processing, property repair, default management and consulting—local government budget restraints eventually generate regulatory pressures for lenders, servicers, investors and outsourcing companies. |
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| Out of necessity, Gozza says, municipalities are embracing “a more strategic approach to nuisance prevention and abatement” as they look for new regulatory enforcement codes that address the needs of distressed communities. These codes have “a whole new importance,” because REO management costs eventually trigger down to the smaller municipalities that unlike large metropolitan areas are “ill equipped to handle the problems vacant foreclosed properties.” |
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| 9/1/2011 |
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Cheryl Lang visits Capitol Hill regarding future of Federal Housing Programs |
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Cheryl Lang has a suggestion for members of Congress and other housing industry decision makers in Washington -- Get Out of Town.
"They need to get out of D.C. and talk with people in the communities dealing with the housing crisis and the companies on the frontlines and get their input about what needs to be done to improve the housing economy." |
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Washington's efforts to solve the crisis so far have amounted to "chasing our tails and ending up where we started," she said.
We're no better off than we were two years ago," according to Lang, owner and president/CEO of Integrated Mortgage Solutions in Houston. |
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| 5/9/2011 |
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IMS Adds Improved NAHB-tested Chinese Dry Wall Remediation To Service Offerings |
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| Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS), one of the nation’s leading providers of property preservation and rehabilitation services to mortgage lenders and servicers, has seen far too many cases of Chinese dry wall (CDW) destruction. Based near the Gulf Coast, a short distance from the epicenter of the CDW fiasco that is heaping losses on lenders and homeowners alike, the company has announced it is offering a new CDW remediation process (click here for more) that does not require the complete removal of existing wallboard to achieve a long-term remedy. This on-location, “in-situ” process can be completed in as little as one-third the time of traditional methodswhile reducing overall costs by up to 50 percent. The new service represents potential savings of hundreds of millions of dollars over time to homeowners, property insurers and lenders. |
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| Chinese drywall had been imported in large quantities since the early 2000s and was used in the rebuilding efforts of storm-ravaged coastal communities for years due to the inability of domestic suppliers to meet growing demand. CDW was used in homes and businesses throughout Florida and the Gulf Coast region at the time Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. It was later discovered that CDW releases dangerous and volatile sulfur compounds into the air, particularly in warm, moist environments, endangering health and damaging structures to the point of making them uninhabitable. The Port Import Export Reporting Service (PIERS) documents that enough CDW to build more than 60,000 houses entered the United States, the majority ending up in Florida. |
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| 4/19/2011 |
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Cheryl Lang On Vacant Properties' 'Broken-Window Syndrome' |
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PERSON OF THE WEEK: Few folks have as good a handle on the impact of foreclosures on communities as field servicers and asset managers. With that in mind, MortgageOrb.com recently checked in with Cheryl Lang, president and CEO of property preservation and loss mitigation provider Integrated Mortgage Solutions, to see how servicers are coping with their distressed inventories.
Q: More than three years ago in a Person of the Week feature, you told MortgageOrb that municipal code-enforcement officials will be depending on servicers to be responsible and to be good neighbors. In the time that's elapsed since then, how have the industry's efforts evolved in terms of property preservation? |
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Cheryl Lang: As a member of the American Association of Code Enforcement (AACE), I had the opportunity to meet with many of the members from across the U.S. during the 2010 annual conference held in Phoenix. We saw firsthand the collaboration of code officials teaming with preservation companies and each trying to come up with solutions.
No doubt, sheer volumes and lack of monetary resources are stretching all parties involved with vacant properties to the limit, but with communication, understanding and a willingness to do the right thing, I think the industry is trying to be a good neighbor. And with vacant-property registrations being enforced by hundreds of municipalities, you can’t help but be a good neighbor! |
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| 3/22/2011 |
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Transforming Poverty-Stricken Neighborhoods |
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| During the early 1990s the Department of Housing and Urban Development established the HOPE VI program, dedicated to improving public housing communities and the lives of the individuals who reside there. Many lessons have been learned from the HOPE VI experience as years passed, and it has now evolved into “Choice Neighborhoods.” The goal of this initiative is to reach beyond the transformation of housing within poverty-stricken neighborhoods, treating communities as viable and sustainable entities capable of growth and permanent transformation. |
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| This ambitious undertaking will fall partially within the purview of public housing agencies (PHAs). The PHAs receive their operational funding from HUD, and like any other real estate management businesses, HUD has always had specific requirements for the PHAs to fulfill to receive capital funding for repair, replacement and modernization meant to ensure the long-term sustainability of the property. This has been only marginally addressed and in need of review and adjustment, which it did recently receive from HUD at the end of last year and into 2011. |
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| 1/11/2011 |
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Foreclosure Pet Rescues reach the 1000 mark |
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| No Paws Left Behind, a nonprofit dedicated to finding homes for pets abandoned during foreclosure, said Monday it has rescued its 1,000th animal. |
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| The organization was started by Cheryl Lang, president and CEO of Integrated Mortgage Solutions, an REO property management company based in Houston. It rescues pets from dogs and cats to llamas and pot-bellied pigs and places them in "no kill" shelters, where care is given until a family can adopt them. |
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| 7/29/2010 |
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IMS Named Among Fastest Growing Houston-based Woman-Owned Businesses for Third Consecutive Year |
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Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS), a collateral protection resource for the mortgage servicing industry and the only woman-owned firm offering a seamless suite of secure, integrated services for the management of distressed portfolios, has been named one of 2010’s Fastest Growing Woman-Owned Businesses by the Houston Business Journal.
“IMS is committed to finding creative solutions and enlisting the most comprehensive products, services and technology to enable mortgage servicers to reduce foreclosures and manage distressed assets,” said Cheryl Lang, president and CEO of IMS. "We credit our continued growth and success to our partnerships with talented field servicers and asset management professionals, as well as a dedicated IMS staff." |
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The Houston Business Journal honored IMS, who is a Women’s Business Enterprise, certified by the Women’s Business Enterprise Alliance (WBEA), a regional certifying partner of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), for the third year in a row.
In addition to this honor, IMS was ranked No. 434 in Inc. magazine’s Inc. 500, making the company one of the nation’s fastest-growing private companies. Additionally, Mortgage Technology Magazine recognized IMS as the only collateral protection resource named to the 2009 and 2010 Top 50 Service Provider list. In April, the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO) recognized IMS as one of the 50 Fastest Growing Woman-Owned/Led Businesses in North America. |
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| 7/22/2010 |
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IMS and NAREB Collaborate to Create Opportunities for Underserved |
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| Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS), the only woman-owned collateral protection firm offering a seamless suite of secure, integrated services for the management of distressed portfolios, has partnered with the National Association of Real Estate Brokers (NAREB®), the country’s oldest minority real estate trade association. Through the partnership, NAREB and IMS are working collectively to engage minority businesses as subcontractors. NAREB brings a wealth of institutional knowledge on the impact of foreclosures on urban markets around the nation, working in tandem with IMS to provide valuations and short sale services to those communities. |
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| “No single business or organization can tackle the housing crisis alone, but collectively we are making an impact, “ said LJ Jennings, president of Sales for NAREB. “It is incredibly refreshing to have a company like IMS come to the table and work with NAREB members. The partnership presents a fantastic opportunity to strengthen and utilize minority housing related companies to bring stability to our neighborhoods and industry.” |
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| 6/10/2010 |
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IMS Reaches a New Milestone!! |
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| IMS has hit a new milestone! The IMS ADAPT system, which is less than 6 years old, has exceeded the 2 million job mark and continues to grow at an exponential rate. |
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| 5/19/2010 |
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From Howling Mad to Howling Glad: How Mortgage Servicers Can Help “Foreclosure Pets” |
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A dog barking as you pass by, a cat sunning itself in the window—these are signs of a house still occupied, right?
Wrong. Though many mortgage servicing field contractors have been operating under the assumption that if an animal is present at a property, it means it’s occupied, that is not always true. With the foreclosure crisis has come the phenomenon of “foreclosure pets,” animals that have been abandoned by owners who have lost their homes. Sixty-three percent of the 3.5 million people likely to go through foreclosure this year will have pets. This leaves more than 2 million animals in jeopardy. |
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When a family leaves a foreclosed property, they frequently find themselves moving into a rental that either doesn’t allow pets or that has a restrictively expensive pet deposit. In some cases, they live with friends and family who simply can’t handle taking on new animals in addition to new people.
Unfortunately, many homeowners mistakenly believe if they leave their pet it will be found quickly or that the once-beloved dog, cat, or sometimes horse or llama can fend for themselves. Some fear that taking their pet to a shelter will mean they will be euthanized. |
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| 4/1/2010 |
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IMS Recognized Among 50 Fastest Growing Woman-Owned Businesses in North America |
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| Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS), a collateral protection resource for the mortgage servicing industry, has been named one of the 50 Fastest Growing Woman-Owned/Led Businesses in North America by the Women Presidents’ Organization (WPO). |
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| According to the WPO Web site, to be eligible for the award, companies must be privately-owned, woman-owned or woman-led, have generated $500 thousand in annual revenue by the first week of 2005 and have reached revenues of $2 million by the end of 2009. |
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| 3/16/2010 |
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IMS Expands Loss Mitigation Offering Through Collaboration |
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| Some mortgage servicers are counting on third-party collaboration as a way to continuously update their loss mitigation operations prompting financial service providers to offer expanded, end-to-end specialty solutions. Two Houston-based firms, Integrated Mortgage Solutions, a collateral protection firm offering integrated distressed asset management services, and REO Leasing Solutions LLC, have agreed to exchange their specific expertise when addressing loss mitigation and real estate-owned inventory challenges. The No. 1 challenge being loan volume, given expectations that over five million households are behind on their mortgages and risk foreclosure, followed by the fact that more distressed loans may enter the pipeline due to high unemployment rates and properties currently in the so-called shadow inventory. |
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| In addition, argues Cheryl Lang, IMS president and CEO, ever-changing legislation necessitates uniting with an organization experienced in both residential mortgage lending and property management. The loss mitigation market has changed dramatically in the past few years, says C. Alan Paylor, president of REO Leasing Solutions, who has witnessed the ups and downs of the mortgage industry for over 35 years. "Today's market is an epiphany of the loss mitigation in the old days and the way we used to do things as true mortgage bankers. Certainly there are more moratoriums than we have ever seen in our lifetimes." That this strategy is receiving considerable attention from the industry was obvious during the recent Mortgage Bankers Association's National Mortgage Servicing Conference in San Diego, Paylor says. "Even Fannie Mae on their Power Point has rental strategies as a non HAMP option." |
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| 3/16/2010 |
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IMS Expands REO Asset Management Offering With REO Leasing Solutions |
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| Integrated Mortgage Solutions, the only woman-owned collateral protection firm offering a seamless suite of secure, integrated services for the management of distressed portfolios, and Houston-based REO Leasing Solutions, LLC have aligned to address rapidly growing loss mitigation and REO challenges in today’s housing market. |
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| According to recent reports, more than five million households are behind on their mortgages and risk foreclosure. With unemployment rates hovering near 10 percent nationwide, the number of distressed borrowers is likely to remain high as well over the next year. Servicers are in need of solutions that help them manage the increasing volume of defaulted loans on their portfolios. |
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| 3/11/2010 |
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As Short Sales Become Common, Technology is Stepping in to Streamline the Process |
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| The verdict is in on loan modifications and it isn't good. Many trial modifications are not converting to permanent status. So what's next? The short sale. Technologists are stepping in to help automate this lengthy process to help underwater borrowers get a graceful exit from the home without going into foreclosure. |
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| In fact, the government has also taken steps to make the short sale process easier. Starting on April 5, the U.S. government will begin providing incentives to servicers who help borrowers facing foreclosure exit their homes gracefully outside the foreclosure process, thereby lessening the negative impact on the borrower's credit score compared to a foreclosure. |
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| 3/10/2010 |
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IMS Helps Servicers Increase Permanent Loan Modifications |
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| Integrated Mortgage Solutions (IMS), a collateral protection resource for the mortgage servicing industry, announced at Servicing 10, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo in San Diego, its electronic document retrieval and indexing capabilities. |
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| The Treasury’s January report card showed that 116,297 homeowners were in permanent loan modifications at the end of January and that another 76,482 were extended offers for permanent restructuring. According to Treasury estimates, there are 5.6 million homeowners who are currently 60 days past due on their payments, and, of these, about 1.7 million are eligible for assistance through HAMP. |
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| 2/28/2010 |
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The Year Ahead for Servicers - Article in Mortgage Banking Feb Issue |
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| On one hand, mortgage servicers are glad to leave 2009 behind. On the other hand, this year is not looking much better. The added challenges that the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) brings of public disclosure, increased reporting requirements and ever-changing rules indicate that despite the commendable intentions of Treasury and other entities, a well-balanced and successful path to resolution remains elusive. And servicers are certain to face continued micromanagement. |
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