PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rick Grant, 800-979-9049,
rick@rickgrant.net
Consortium Taps Equi-Trax for Short Sale Valuations
A clearinghouse is helping servicers close short sales quickly; correct valuation is key.
SANTA BARBARA, CA, October 12, 2009–Equi-Trax Asset Solutions, LP, a national collateral valuation provider offering a line of hybrid valuation products delivered under a meticulous quality control process to bridge the gap between BPOs and full appraisals, has announced that it has joined a consortium of companies providing an innovative new service to mortgage loan servicers. Led by REsource Asset Management, Irvine, Calif., the consortium is a clearinghouse for short sale opportunities servicers have but cannot get to in a timely manner. Because the service is free to servicers, demand has skyrocketed. Equi-Trax provides BPOs and other valuation services to the consortium and its clients.
According to data provided by REsource Asset Management, a short sale can reduce the overall loss severity suffered by investors by up to 25% over traditional REO workflows. Servicers that only processed a few shorts sales each year in the past are now seeing boxes full of short sale offers but lack the staff and workflow to act on them. Standard operating procedures in the loss mitigation department is to handle the worst cases first, shifting resources away from borrowers who could avoid foreclosure early in the process through a short sale to borrowers where foreclosure costs have already been incurred and months of carry costs for the servicer have transpired.
"Financial institutions are poorly equipped to accomplish short sales, even though they know it will reduce the loss severity in almost every case," said Guy Taylor, Equi-Trax CEO. "Servicers are dealing with hundreds of short sale requests daily and most companies operating in the space are not experienced or well qualified. Servicers need a proven workflow to deal with this and the REsource clearinghouse provides it. I’m very glad that Equi-Trax is part of this innovative solution."
The REsource clearinghouse connects Servicer/Lenders to real estate agents, homeowners, title/closing agents, valuation companies and other parties required to structure, process and close a short sale. REsource manages the process but charges participants, not the servicer, which need only make a final decision on the offer.
“There is already enough money in the transaction to pay the parties involved,” said Gene O’Bryan, president of REsource Asset Management. “In a short sale, everyone involved gets paid something when the transaction closes but the servicer. Why should they have to pay the processing and structuring costs necessary to get this deal done and off their books? We have a workflow process to accomplish this that is totally free to servicers.”
The industry’s largest servicers are receiving up to 80,000 calls per day, but they can only act on a small fraction of those loss mitigation opportunities. Because this work requires a vendor to have access to sensitive borrower data, companies must be licensed debt collectors. REsource carries the required licenses to be effective in closing short sales as well as the licensed mortgage lending partners necessary to make sure the buyers qualify to purchase the property before it is taken off of the market. The company has been doing so for the past three years.
Errors in property valuation are keeping many properties on the market and making short sales more difficult. Equi-Trax will provide the consortium with pricing data that will allow the clearinghouse to sell these properties quickly.
About Resource Asset Management
Resource Asset Management is a division of REsource Financial Partners, LLC (REsource), an outsource provider of nationwide short sale solutions for US mortgage lenders and investors. REsource provides a suite of services specifically designed to help clients mitigate the costs of REO by avoiding them before they happen. REsource’s Short Sale Clearinghouse functions as a central point of contact for Servicer/Lenders to utilize to manage the collection of Real Estate Agents, Homeowners, Valuation companies, and other interested parties through one central point of contact (Clearinghouse). There is no charge to the customer for this service; the fees for this service come from a percentage of normal transaction fees and commissions earned by the Clearinghouse member on the closed transaction. The company is a member of the National Association of Short Sale Professionals. For more information about the company, see the website at http://www.resourceassetmgmt.com.
About EquiTrax
EquiTrax Asset Solutions, LP, Santa Barbara, CA, is a national property valuation firm servicing
the U.S. financial services industry. By leveraging AVM technology and the skills of certified apraisers licensed to serve the mortgage industry, EquiTrax developed a new line of collateral valuation products that combined the best elements of BPOs, AVMs and desktop appraisals. EquiTrax has earned a leading position in the industry through the use of detailed analytics, quality control, valuation accuracy and service flexibility. The firm’s technology platform uses over 400 data rules and connections to over 17,000 certified, evaluated and performancerated vendors to give its clients the information they need to manage their risk appropriately at a price they can afford. Find out more about EquiTrax Asset Solutions at http://www.equitrax.com.
Media Contact:
Rick Grant, 800-979-9049
rick@rickgrant.net
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