DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.
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business people and are judged by more than 200 executives nationwide. Auction.com is also a finalist in the "Most Innovative Tech Company of the Year" category, to be a rewarding September 16. As a result of the nomination, the company is automatically included in voting for the People's Choice Stevie Awards for Favorite New Products. Short Sale Agent Finder Offers Its Members Specialized Training Program Short sales continue to rise along with demand for services provided by selling agents who have the knowledge and experience needed to successfully execute these complex, multifaceted transactions. Although short sales are becoming a bigger part of the housing landscape, ShortSaleAgentFinder.com, one of the country's largest directories of short sale real estate specialists, says there is a shortage of real estate agents skilled in the art of the short sale. Debbie DiMaggio Covers All Your Bases Debbie DiMaggio First Team Real Estate debbiedimaggio@gmail.com 760-396-8358 cell 760-325-2111 ext. 1029 office 760-946-7830 fax debbiedimaggio.com Serving: Riverside County, San Bernardino County » 2012: closed 40 REO & Short Sales, in 1 month closed 14 listings. » 2011: closed 70 REO & Short Sales, in one month closed 12 listings. » Consistently Top Producer-Total Listings & Sales for All First Team Desert Offices 2012 First Team Hall of Fame » Named the No.1 producer for most listings sold from among nearly 1,800 agents » 2011 First Team Hall of Fame Sapphire Medallion Award (2nd Highest Award) » 2nd Place Trophies for Most Listings Sold & Most Units Sold » 2010 First Team Hall of Fame Silver Honoree » 2009 First Team Hall of fame » 2007 First Team Hall of Fame Invitation 74 In response, ShortSaleAgentFinder.com has reached an agreement with the Five Star Institute to offer its industry-recognized Five Star Short Sale Certification training program to members. The Five Star Institute has been providing professional education geared toward mortgage banking and default servicing professionals since 2005 and hosts the largest event in mortgage servicing, the Five Star Conference and Expo, held annually in September. ShortSaleAgentFinder.com feels so strongly about the need for education in the short sale market that it has created a scholarship program for its members to earn the Five Star Short Sale Certification. "We are dedicated to helping distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure, save their credit, and successfully short sell their home," said David Tal, founder of San Diego-based ShortSaleAgentFinder.com. "Helping our agents achieve certification through the industry's premier training program will only further our fulfillment of that vision." ShortSaleAgentFinder.com was founded in 2011 as a way to connect homeowners that are underwater on their mortgage with local real estate agents who specialize in short sales. ShortSaleAgentFinder.com provides training and marketing solutions for more than 20,000 real estate agents in all 50 states. "Too many short sales fail because of inexperienced agents making simple, avoidable mistakes," Tal said. "We saw a way to help homeowners have the best possible chance to short sell their home by connecting them with qualified, experienced short sale specialists. Now that we've teamed up with Five Star, we can train thousands more agents and increase that impact even further." Editor's Note: The Five Star Institute is the parent company of DS News. FICO Survey Finds 47% of Bankers Expect Delinquencies to Decrease More bank professionals expect mortgage delinquencies to decline over the second half of this year than hold at current levels, according to an industry survey released by FICO, a San Jose, California-based analytics software provider. This is the first time in the quarterly survey's history the number of professionals expecting mortgage delinquencies to decline outnumbered those who expect delinquencies to remain the same. Forty-seven percent of survey respondents anticipate a decrease in mortgage delinquencies during the last two quarters of this year, while 41 percent expect delinquencies to remain relatively unchanged. When asked about home equity lines of credit, about 45 percent of respondents said they expect home equity delinquencies to stay the same, while 42 percent expect them to decline. "This is reassuring given the uncertainty regarding mortgage delinquencies shown in 2012 and 2011," FICO said in its report. In addition to the anomalous mortgage predictions, this is the first time since the survey began in 2010 that a majority of respondents expect credit demand and credit supply to increase. Lenders "expect demand and supply for consumer credit to reach equilibrium in the second half of 2013," according to FICO. Andrew Jennings, FICO's chief analytics officer and head of FICO Labs, noted, "After years of caution, lenders are now in growth mode and feeling good about extending credit." He also observed that borrower behavior is "even more intriguing," saying, "It appears that borrowers are beginning to shed the frugal habits that helped them deleverage to the tune of more than a trillion dollars since 2008." Sabal Introduces Third-Party Servicing Division Sabal Financial Group, L.P., a diversified financial services firm specializing in real estate, lending, and banking, announced the launch of a new third-party servicing business. The new servicing division offers servicing for commercial real estate and acquisition, development and construction loans, as well as special servicing for loans in different stages of default. In addition, the division provides construction loan administration services. The new unit also boasts a technologyrich platform to provide efficiency when servicing large loan portfolios. "Sabal's third-party servicing provides a solution for lenders nationwide who wish to optimize servicing efficiency and efficacy via a servicer with demonstrated expertise in maximizing returns within large loan portfolios," said Pat Jackson, CEO of Californiabased Sabal. "Our firm has specialized in this arena, servicing significant private equity investors and regulatory agencies for years,