DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.
Issue link: http://digital.dsnews.com/i/119281
contributors Get to know the experts and insiders behind this issue. KEITH BUTTON is a publications editor for Ernst & Young in New York and a freelance writer. As a reporter for Hedge Fund Alert, he broke the story on the Bear Stearns hedge fund meltdown in June 2007 that kicked off the credit crisis. In addition to reporting on the hedge fund sector, he writes for publications covering banking technology, mutual fund boards, brokerdealers, chief financial officers, military intelligence technology, and agriculture. He also served as a reporter for the Watertown Daily Times in northern New York for 10 years and has researched and written white papers for various industries. 4 G. STEPHEN CARAVAJAL JR. is senior counsel at Freedman Anselmo Lindberg, LLC. He practices in the areas of mortgage and mechanics lien foreclosures, real estate law, consumer fraud, consumer finance litigation, and consumer collections. He earned his undergraduate degree from Ohio State University in 2001 and his Juris Doctor from DePaul University College of Law in 2004. He is licensed to practice in the state of Illinois and before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. He is also a member of the American Bar Association and the Illinois State Bar Association. ROCHELLE JONES, a licensed agent since 2006, is a member of the Keller Williams Greater Northwest Houston team. Prior to her career in real estate, she served as a performance solutions manager and corporate trainer in the telecommunications field. Utilizing her past experience, she began providing consulting services to REO brokers on streamlining and developing productive sales teams. This ultimately led to her building her own REO team which serves as a "one stop shop" for all real estate transactions. Additionally, she is a housing advocate, providing education to first-time homebuyers and foreclosure prevention training to investors. SANDRA LANE has extensive experience covering the default servicing industry. She contributed regularly to DS News' predecessor, REO Magazine, from 2004 to 2006, covering local market trends, the effects of macroeconomic shifts on market conditions, and "big-picture" analyses of industry-driving indicators. But her understanding of the mortgage and real estate business extends even beyond those precrisis days. She is a former real estate broker and grew up in what she calls "a real estate family." A journalism graduate of the University of North Texas, she has written for various newspapers, trade journals, and major corporations. DAVE LARSEN has been licensed as a full-time Realtor in the state of California since 2000. He has won numerous awards for sales accomplishments and leadership within his own local office and within the RE/MAX International organization. In 2009 and 2010, he was ranked among the top 100 RE/ MAX associates in the United States. In addition, he has earned several designations pertaining to distressed properties, including the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) and Certified Short Sale Professional (CSSP). Over his career, he has completed more than 400 REO transactions and has a 100 percent short sale approval rating.