DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.
Issue link: http://digital.dsnews.com/i/112425
�� VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM COVER STORY INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT BEST PRACTICES Enterprising women- and minorityled groups are transforming markets across the country in their efforts to advance recovery. By Sandra Lane The housing crisis had a disproportionate impact on a number of urban areas with large minority populations���an inequity that���s been well documented in numerous socio-economic studies on subprime lending and the watershed of foreclosures that resulted. A quartet of buisness associates and long-time friends took notice of this imbalance and began to do some digging. They realized that none of the companies buying bulk foreclosure offerings in the aftermath of the crisis were owned by minorities. They saw this incongruity as an opportunity and began researching the types of groups that were buying bank-owned properties. They were amazed to learn that Canadian, Chinese, and Russian companies were the principal international buyers of U.S. foreclosures, and this prompted them to launch the American-Canadian-Chinese-Russian Investment Firm, now known as ACCR, LLC. The principals in ACCR are not known so much for their shrewd real estate acumen as their ability to shine on the football field. ACCR is led by former Detroit Lions running back and 1971 Heisman Trophy winner Billy Sims. His business partners are Steve Owens, another former Detroit Lion and winner of the Heisman Trophy in 1969, Barry Switzer, one of only two head football coaches in history to win a championship at both the college and NFL levels, and J.C. Watts, a former U.S. congressman who played quarterback at the college level for a Big Eight Conference team and went on to play for the Canadian Football League before serving in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003. They formed ACCR for the purpose of purchasing distressed properties, including REOs, bank notes, short sales, and non-performing mortgages. The firm then converts these assets into rental properties with the intent of one day selling them back to the previous or original owner. ACCR presently has a ���substantial��� investor group with which it is joint-venturing and making 4,000 to 5,000 property purchases in bulk. While the original business model behind ACCR is doing well, Sims and his partners have uncovered yet another opportunity. Based on the success he���s seen other companies experience after taking their real estate sales and mortgage lending businesses digital, Sims decided to adapt the concept of online trade to his own venture. ���We are going to start buying foreclosures from individual homeowners online,��� he explained. ���We will show homeowners how to fill out forms online to start the process.��� After consulting with the homeowner, Sims said the group will then contact the lender and buy the home at a discount. ���After that, we will rent the home back to the former homeowner for the next two years,��� he explained. During that time, ACCR will work with the bank to ���sanitize��� the renter���s credit, and ���after two years,��� Sims said, ���the renter can buy the home back from us and become a homeowner again.��� POINT��� COUNTERPOINT Identify and Pursue MARKET PULSE A n old proverb says: ���It���s an ill wind that blows no one any good.��� This could certainly be true of the housing crisis of the past several years. Recognizing opportunities hidden in the fallout, women���s groups and minority organizations operating in the default servicing industry have developed and delivered a plethora of creative solutions. From helping consumers regain homeownership to unearthing untapped business avenues, these intrepid alliances are infusing new energy into the default industry. 55