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47 new technologies to improve our processes and broke down every task in every department of the firm to see where we could improve. By focusing intently on these goals, and by virtue of the fact that our firm is diversified in our creditor practice, including representation of the auto industry and a recovery department, we have not only thrived but have grown over the last three years. Hladik: I agree with Kent that our cir- cumstances- as an industry and a country- are unprecedented. ere have been three main areas of change since COVID that I have observed, and all three are still continuing to evolve. First, there are daily regulatory changes, for example, changes related to fair debt or to credit reporting. ose changes inevitably affect how we process cases. Second, we continually have to deal with new technological issues and challenges. Tech- nology has changed drastically from three years ago, and with benefits also come costs. ere are now an incredible amount of cybersecurity challenges and costs that law firms face. Finally, we also have to handle novel human resource issues. COVID had a lot of impact on that. Be- cause right now, for any potential job candidate that comes in to interview, the first question they usually ask is, "Can I work remotely?" e remote work issue is something that barely existed three years ago and now all industries are currently having to deal with it. But because we are handling highly sensitive attorney-client privileged documents, it is hard to have an entire team remote in the legal field. Law firms need people physically present within their offices to put signatures on pleadings and send mail to the courts. So that's a challenge that all of us within the legal industry are now facing. While our firm is always interviewing, looking for top talent, we are cognizant of the fact that we have to adapt to the times, too. Our firm has adapted. We have evolved. We worked intently on keeping our technology up- to-date. Like Kent's firm, we focused a lot on our processes during COVID, and we continue to do so now to make our operations more efficient. We constantly evaluate our case management systems and are as technologically efficient as possible. McPhail: e remote work issue is a huge one. If you went back three years ago and an au- ditor learned that 50% of your staff was remote, that would have been a very quick trip to a major audit finding. Now, post-COVID, there are many services that are almost 100% remote in terms of their employees, and remote workers are the norm. is has been a dramatic but necessary paradigm shift. Like Steve said, trying to keep up with those changes can create challenges, but at my firm we are always up for a good challenge. WHAT DIRECTION DO YOU SEE THE ECONOMY AND THE HOUSING MARKET MOVING IN THE MONTHS TO COME? Hladik: You see reports in today's news on inflation, and while the news is good, the news is not necessarily great. is means the level of price increases is not increasing as fast as it used to. Prices are still going up. With interest rates, the Fed is no doubt going to continue to take further action to raise interest rates higher. And all of that is impacting people, credit cards, car loans, and it's certainly impacting new mortgage origination. People are going to see the ripple effects within the economy with inflation and higher interest rates. McPhail: I absolutely agree. Steve and I have both worked extensively in the default servicing industry for several decades and have seen busts and booms. Given that the FED continues to raise rates, and are indicating they will continue to do so until inflation is curbed, I believe a recession is inevitable. Although the unemploy- ment rate has remained steady, in order to fight rising costs, companies will have to cut overhead and, because payroll is typically a company's larg- est expense, layoffs are inevitable. As these layoffs filter through the economy, they will ultimately result in increased defaults and foreclosures. at being said, I do not see foreclosures beginning to return to pre-pandemic levels until late 2023 or early 2024. If that changes, we will let you all know about it right away on What the M. Featured on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and all other popular podcast platforms, What the M drops a new episode every other Friday. We ask everybody in the podcast, if you could go back and sit down with a 20-year- old version of yourself, what advice would you give them? And with that question, we get these amazingly interesting answers. Scan this to listen to the What the M podcast