DSNews delivers stories, ideas, links, companies, people, events, and videos impacting the mortgage default servicing industry.
Issue link: http://digital.dsnews.com/i/1491912
44 Stephen M. Hladik (Partner, Hladik, Onorato & Federman, LLP; Chair, Legal League 100) and Kent McPhail (Managing Part- ner, McPhail Sanchez, LLC) are both default servicing attorneys, each with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. ey re- cently spoke with DS News to discuss their insights into the housing market, which they also cover on their podcast, What the M. Hladik and McPhail's show is emerging as one of the best ways for those in the default industry to learn more about, and navigate, the market. Hladik and McPhail launched the bi-week- ly podcast in September 2022, with the goal of providing listeners with up-to-the-minute information on servicer and default issues, as well as discussing mortgage foreclosure rates, trends and other nationwide foreclosure statistics. What the M also takes a deep-dive into the economics impacting foreclosure regulations, explores recent industry-related court decisions, and more. On each episode, Hladik and McPhail interview a guest who has unique insight into a particular area of the mortgage industry- past guests have included high-level executives from several of the nation's largest mortgage loan servicers, a statistician, and the Executive Director of the VA's Home Loan Program. e depth of each guest's knowledge about their specific area of the industry enables Hladik and McPhail to provide their audience with a deep dive into that area—all of which coalesce, for consistent listeners, into a complete picture of where the industry currently stands. WHAT WAS THE MOTIVATION BEHIND LAUNCHING WHAT THE M? Hladik: I am a podcast listener, enjoying a wide variety of shows. One of the real reasons behind why the What the M podcast started was when I spent hours searching for any kind of podcast out there that talked specifically about the mortgage default servicing industry. ere are many podcasts that discuss mortgage originations, real estate, and investment. But there was nothing that focused on mortgage servicing issues, default issues, mortgage foreclosure rates, economics impacting foreclosures, rules impacting foreclo- sures, and court cases impacting foreclosures. So I thought, well, since there is not anything like that out there, why don't we start our own podcast? And Kent was more than willing and able, and he brought the technological know-how to help us put that idea into action. McPhail: Steve and I were sitting at the Five Star Conference and he started talking about wanting to do a podcast, which I thought was a great idea. From there it just kind of took off. Steve was definitely the driving force and I was happy to be asked to be on the team. Steve is an extremely intelligent and knowledgeable individual and it is a joy to work with him on this project. With Steve being from the northeast and me being from the deep south, I believe we have a good yin and yang thing going on. It's been going great so far. We've had some amazing guests with many more planned, and quite frankly, we are having a blast. Hladik: From where we started and where we are already at, I am astounded by the number of people that listen to the podcast. I am amazed by how far the podcast reaches. A lot of that is a credit to the quality of the guests, as Kent mentioned. We have had some very high-profile, excellent people explaining different avenues of economics impacting mortgages. EXPERT INSIGHTS: LEGAL LEAGUE'S STEPHEN HLADIK AND KENT MCPHAIL Legal Industry Update