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110 Industry Voices Insightful conversations with DS News' Editorial Advisory Board. OPPORTUNITIES IN COLLATERAL RISK MANAGEMENT DS News discusses the state of the industry with Editorial Advisory Board member and VP, Single-Family Collateral Risk Management for Fannie Mae, Jacob Williamson. At Fannie Mae, Jacob Williamson is responsible for oversight and management of all end-to-end collateral capabilities. ese duties include front-end collateral policy design, property valuations, collateral valuation process modernization, and real estate. In the real estate space, Williamson is responsible for various foreclosure and REO functions, including short sales, foreclosure sale strategy, eviction/redemption oversight, mortgage release/rental operations, property preservation/ inspections, repairs, closing/title, HOA/tax management, REO sales, and REO auctions. He is also responsible for performance management of the real estate agents, appraisers, and vendors. Williamson's career with Fannie Mae stretches back nearly 14 years. Williamson has served on the DS News Editorial Advisory Board (EAB) since 2019. As a new recurring feature in 2020, we'll be bringing you conversations with our EAB leadership—the industry professionals who help shape the topics, content, and direction of DS News. What are your biggest takeaways and focuses as we leave 2019 behind and enter the new year? "Opportunity" is the word I would use to describe where we are, both for Fannie Mae and as an industry. When you look at the available technology and data and how much has advanced, we are just scratching the surface of what can be done to improve the mortgage process in the future. ere are a couple of areas that I see as ripe with potential. One is around the valuation process and the technology that's being used to capture data. Whether we're talking 3D scan technology or GIS (geographic information systems) data sources, these innovations allow parties in the mortgage transaction (appraisers, real estate agents, lenders, buyers, sellers, investors, etc.) to understand the property more intimately and to do so in a more efficient and effective manner. e advances in technology and data are becoming more readily available so we can use them to help understand what a property is worth. A second area of opportunity is with the digitization of the mortgage and real estate process itself. Whether it's electronically obtaining bank statements, examining credit attributes in a digital format, or using a mobile app to conduct a repair scope or a property inspection—data associated with the mortgage or real estate process is becoming more digital and available in a way that the industry can really capitalize on it. What priorities are you focused on as you plan your team's goals? I work in the collateral risk management area, so I'm all about the property and managing the risks associated with the real estate process. As a collateral risk management team, we have a few key objectives. First, how do we do a better job of assessing risk with the collateral in the origination process? How do we improve quality and improve our overall risk evaluation increasing certainty around the value and the eligibility of the property? Continuously improving our risk management helps to support safety and soundness—that's good for Fannie Mae and the industry. Second, we want to continue to improve our own valuation process. At Fannie Mae, we utilize appraisers and real estate agents to help us assess the value and price of our properties whether it's in consideration of a short sale offer, an REO that we own and manage directly, or to help us determine whether we feel comfortable with a foreclosure bid value or cancellation of mortgage insurance. We have a team of folks that work in these processes where their primary focus is to review and reconcile values, and our goal is to improve value accuracy while also minimizing process and product costs. Lastly, we want to continue to improve our delinquent loan and REO decisioning. We want to improve how we determine appropriate strike prices and marketing decisions (e.g., whether to rehab or sell as is) all while maintaining our commitment to neighborhood stabilization and our preference to sell to owner occupants and first-time homebuyers. Are there any technologies that you think hold particular potential as far as capturing and tracking property data? I'm very excited about how attainable some of the technology solutions are becoming. 3D scans are a good example. When this technology was first introduced, it was an approximately $4,000 camera on a tripod. It took you maybe 30-60 minutes to complete a scan of a property. You had to leave the room while the camera completed its full 360 view, or you had to follow it around the tripod. Now, you can buy spherical cameras (a flat device that captures 180 degrees on both sides of the device instantly so there is no rotation) for less than $500, and many industry players

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