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34 The Exchange LendingHome is one of the nation's largest financial lenders to real estate investors. In her role at LendingHome, Stephanie Casper leads a team devoted to new business development. She is also a key member of the cross-functional leadership team responsible for developing new products to meet the evolving needs of real estate investors. Prior to joining LendingHome, Casper spent nearly five years at CoreVest Finance, where she held several roles including Head of Bridge Lending and VP of Originations. She is also an investor herself, managing a small portfolio of single-family rentals. With real estate investors facing many new challenges in 2020, are there any areas of technology that have the potential to be game changers, whether during the COVID-19 or beyond? e real estate industry has historically been the slowest to adopt and adapt to technology. We all still have to sign mortgage docs in person, for example. I think that lack of technology adoption is a big part of what drove the founders of LendingHome to start our company, in fact, and to leverage technology to provide a smoother, more seamless process. What we've seen in terms of current tech advancements, changes, and needs have been brought to the forefront by the COVID-19 social distancing protocols. Some of the interesting developments we've seen are around inspections and leveraging technology to do virtual inspections. For the purposes of establishing a value where an appraiser can't get into a home or won't go into a home, for example—getting photos and tours and so forth. Borrowers are using virtual inspections in the process of getting reimbursed for their rehab draws or providing evidence to a lender of completed construction components. ere have been a few others that we're seeing in terms of more use of eSignatures or potentially even electronic notaries, including using technology to verify an ID. at's always been a big part of the custody of documents, making sure the person that signed is the person who's supposed to be signing. So, we're seeing some advancements in that. I think, over time, we'll see more and more adoption. And, of course, all of us have seen realtors using technology for virtual tours and virtual open houses during this time to continue the business of real estate and real estate lending. You have a background as an investor yourself and manage a small portfolio of single-family rentals. What are some of the changes the single-family rental landscape has experienced this year? As a lender, it's important for us to understand, to learn, and to hear what our customers are experiencing. We took a survey of our existing, past, and prospective customers in June to get a pulse for how COVID-19 was impacting them and their views on the business. e survey results were actually much more optimistic coming from our customer base than we anticipated. Most of the respondents indicated that they expected short impacts or disruption—call it zero to six months of impact on the real estate investment space. And overall, the levels of optimism around returning to "business as usual." Demand is good; our tenants are still performing. ere are some concerns. Rental owners like me have some concerns around, are tenants going to be able to continue paying? We're looking at factors such as unemployment issues, the winding down of the government assistance that's been out there for those that have been unemployed, as well as eviction moratoriums in many jurisdictions handcuffing landlords' ability to enforce leases. But overall, the market, from what I'm hearing from large investors at various conferences, panels, and in industry news "As a lender, it's important for us to understand, to learn, and to hear what our customers are experiencing." Stephanie Casper VP of Sales, LendingHome Get to Know Industry Executives Beyond the Boardroom