DS News

73 "Natural disasters aren't going away. They can happen at any time, and you have to have a plan in place to be ready for the myriad of unknowns that come with these types of disasters." —Terry Smith, CEO, Rushmore Loan Management Services rather than at Five Star's offices in Dallas. It's been more than two months since I've seen my coworkers in person, but in many ways, we're more effectively in touch than ever before—all thanks to enabling technologies such as video conferencing and workflow management apps. Jaffa told DS News that the use of video conferencing is taking interactions between Safeguard's team, vendors, and clients to "a whole other level." He anticipates that that change will become a permanent part of the company's workflow, regardless of when we return to "normal"—or what that normal looks like. "Kids are upset in Ohio," Jaffa joked, "because you'll never have a snow day again." And while the past two months have looked very different from what came before, it seems likely that the road ahead will also look very different than what had served as the status quo for some time. "It definitely will not look the same, Erkkila said. "We want to be able to flip a switch at any time and let folks come back in and have the office ready for three months, or for three weeks. e big piece is that you want to make sure that, if the employees come back, they are comfortable being back in the office." Jaffa said that his team has also utilized the realities of this "Great Pause" to ramp up communication even further with their partners, and about topics they might not otherwise have delved into with such depth. "In the last two months, I've had more meetings with the operational folks, asking them a million questions like, 'Well, why do we do it that way?'" With so many systems and processes forced to be adjusted to deal with the realities of a pandemic, it's a perfect opportunity to look beyond the necessary and ensure that things are being done smartly, efficiently, and that best practices are truly that. WILL THE GRASS BE GREENER? With so many questions remaining about the months ahead, from what daily work life will look like to how and when the economy will fully recover, there are several key areas of concern that have the industry's attention. While discussion about the numbers of homeowners entering into COVID-19-related forbearance plans has been a hot topic for weeks, Jaffa takes the problem down to ground level—literally. "If a homeowner—whether a tenant or not—is on a six-month forbearance, and they move out, we're not going to be inspecting that property," he explained. "Our clients will have no contact for six months. Keep in mind, you could have been in delinquency for 90 days already, and you could get a forbearance. Are you staying? Are you maintaining? Are you out? Neither our clients nor us will know those answers for six to 12 months." As one potential problem area, Jaffa said he foresees an increase in grass-cut fines as properties in forbearance sit empty and unmaintained while the forbearance clock counts down. "ere are some adverse impacts on our ability to address property issues if property access is unable to be gained," Smith said. "at ultimately could impact various communities across the country." "It should be concerning for every community around the country that there are vacant properties that may not receive an inspection for up to a year." David Wharton, Managing Editor at the Five Star Institute, is a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, where he received his B.A. in English and minored in journalism. Wharton has over 16 years' experience in journalism and previously worked at omson Reuters, a multinational mass media and information firm, as Associate Content Editor, focusing on producing media content related to tax and accounting principles and government rules and regulations for accounting professionals. Wharton has an extensive and diversified portfolio of freelance material, with published contributions in both online and print media publications. He can be reached at david.wharton@thefivestar.com.

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