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71 certainty, speed of sale, and fraud mitigation— the three main issues that have contributed to a cumbersome short sale process historically. Overcoming these obstacles sets the company up well to work through the pandemic distressed volume in an efficient, orderly, and responsible manner. "It allows us to efficiently work and facilitate short sales on behalf of consumers and investors with a lot more certainty in terms of price and timeline, which is going to be important to resolving some of these lingering defaults that inevitably will be in place following the pandemic," he said. Data from Auction.com shows more than half of pre-foreclosure properties in MVP have received winning bids that are higher than the highest offer submitted on the multiple listing service (MLS). ose MVP-winning bids are an average of 18% higher—or $30,830 higher on average—than the highest MLS offer. e MVP lift on pre-foreclosure sale prices has been steadily increasing since the program launched, from 6% in Q3 2020 to 25% so far in 2021. MVP runs in parallel with the servicer's approval process and takes less than two weeks. More than 80% of the pre-foreclosure sales have sold to new buyers who did not submit the highest and best offer on the MLS, with the remaining 18% going to the same buyer who submitted the highest offer on the MLS. ose latter buyers in effect were willing to submit a higher bid in the online auction environment than they were on the MLS. e efficiency and performance resulting from innovation like MVP will ultimately help more homeowners impacted by the pandemic to avoid foreclosure, Wells noted. "Short sales really provide for a graceful exit from the property if the homeowner can no longer afford the mortgage," he said. "So short sales are a critical resolution, and certainly preferable to any type of foreclosure, REO, etc. If we can work with a homeowner to exit the property early, it's beneficial for both the homeowner and the investor." Innovating pre-foreclosure sales is one of three strategies—along with leveraging buyer demand and prioritizing foreclosures on vacant or abandoned properties—mortgage servicers could utilize in the post-pandemic housing market. Employing these strategies will help bring faster healing to the housing market while also not doing more harm to already- distressed homeowners. Daren Blomquist is the VP of Market Economics for Auction. com. In his role, Blomquist analyzes and forecasts complex macro- and microeconomic data trends within the marketplace and greater industry to provide value to both buyers and sellers using the Auction.com platform. Blomquist's reports and analysis have been cited by thousands of media outlets nationwide, including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, USA TODAY, and on many national network broadcasts, including CBS, ABC, CNN, CNBC, FOX Business, and Bloomberg. Innovation leading to more widespread adoption of pre- foreclosure sales will help speed the post-pandemic recovery of the U.S. housing market.