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60 THE DOMINO EFFECT From labor shortages and supply-chain issues to an ongoing low- volume environment, high-level economic factors have challenged the property preservation sector like never before. Here's how the industry is finding a way forward. As 2022 approaches, property preservation companies are navigating through challenges presented by low foreclosure/REO volumes, navigating regulatory challenges posed by maintaining properties and preparing for an upswing in those volumes as moratoria and homeowners exit forbearance. As with every other sector of the industry, the long shadow of COVID continues to stretch over both daily tasks and long- term planning, demanding that prop pres companies attend to immediate needs while also anticipating where things will be headed in the new year. Amid this daunting landscape, DS News spoke with industry experts from companies including Carrington, MCS, MSI, and Safeguard to learn how to maintain focus, balance, and productivity. A MATTER OF NUMBERS e issues facing the property preservation sector are familiar to anyone who has been watching the housing and mortgage markets over the past two years. Insufficient housing inventories were straining the system even before COVID-19. e arrival of the pandemic has tightened the screws on multiple fronts, ranging from the decrease in foreclosure volumes (and thus REO inventories) to ongoing labor shortages and supply-chain issues with such needed supplies as lumber and other crucial materials. ese issues have become stressors that have forced many vendors to rethink how they do business and strategize how best to weather the storm until relief appears. Unfortunately, for some, that wait has proven too long. Baker Breedlove, President and CEO of Mortgage Specialists, International (MSI), said, "It's driven a lot of vendors out of the property preservation business and into new construction, renovations, or other more lucrative areas." "e moratoriums on evictions and the forbearance plans were all put in place to help homeowners who were negatively affected by COVID," said Chad Mosley, President of Mortgage Contracting Services (MCS). However, he added, "at has a downstream impact on the field services industry and the property preservation business." According to Breedlove and several other experts, the lack of qualified property preservation vendors is felt most pronouncedly in rural areas. "By definition, if there are fewer people, there are fewer people to get to the different properties." Among other issues, this means it takes the existing companies longer to get through the available workload. "It takes more 'windshield' time," Breedlove noted. Nor are the property preservation sector's challenges limited to the impacts of the COVID-mitigating policies such as Cover Story By: Phil Britt