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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 50 January 2024 E X P O S U R E • Scott Arnold, VP, National Field Representatives • Priscilla Rivera, VP Client & Opera- tional Development, Sterling Claims Management Preservation Puzzles: Approaching Challenges With Innovative Solutions • Moderator: Elizabeth Squires, AVP Client Accounts, Safeguard Proper- ties • Tiffany Fletcher, SVP of Compliance, VRM Mortgage Services • Talia Ramirez, VP, Claims, Preserva- tion & Government Servicing Over- sight, Specialized Loan Servicing • Micole Booker, AVP, Senior Pres- ervation & Post-Sale Disposition Manager, Flagstar Bank • Thomas Foster, VP, Altisource HUD/ISN Panel • Moderator: Lisa Solis, Director Investor Compliance, Safeguard Properties • William Collins, Director, National Servicing Center at U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development • Ryan McDoulett, Program Director, ISN Corporation • Tim Brandt, Deputy Programs Direc- tor, ISN Corporation The day's lunch break also included a special update, exclusive to sponsors, from Julienne Joseph, Chief of Staff for HUD. Returning to the event for a second year, Joseph walked the more inti- mate sponsor lunch crowd through some of HUD's 2023 initiatives, including their February 2023 reduction of mortgage in- surance premiums, which HUD had esti- mated could "save new homebuyers with FHA-insured mortgages an average of $800 per year" and help "lower housing costs for an estimated 850,000 borrowers in 2023" (per HUD's announcement at the time). Joseph also touched on HUD's 2022 decision to begin considering first-time homebuyers' rental history as a factor in credit decisioning. She expanded upon how that system has been working behind the scenes and provided some brief updates and estimates on what the impact of that change may be and how many homebuyers they hope to impact. The second full day of NPPC opened with another keynote, this time from Sarah Edelman, Deputy Assistant Secre- tary, Single-Family Housing at FHA, and moderated by Jennifer Hopkins, Man- ager of Client Accounts for Safeguard Properties. Hopkins guided Edelman and the audience through a high-level discus- sion of FHA's role in mortgage servicing and how that mission is evolving, how FHA assists homeowners facing financial hardships, and how the increased prev- alence and severity of natural disasters are impacting the industry, including the consequences of inadequate insurance coverage and of insurers beginning to retreat from highly impacted states such as Florida. In the first panel of the day, "Blight Busters: A Conversation With Code Compliance," moderator Steve Meyer, AVP High Risk & Investor Compliance, Safeguard Properties, headed up a panel that included Bryan Wagner, Neigh- borhood Service Division Manager, Westerville, Ohio and President of AACE (American Association of Code Enforce- ment); April O'Brien, Development Services Supervisor, City of Aurora, Illinois; Joseph Brewer, Manager, Office of Code Enforcement, City of Hyattsville, Maryland; and Victor Martinez, Conde Compliance Manager, Apache Junction, Arizona and First VP of AACE. Meyer led a discussion that touched on the purpose and strategies behind Code Compliance in each speaker's mu- nicipality, how their day-to-day tasks and workflows break down, how complaints are noted and responded to, what areas are typically considered "high risk," how mortgage servicers can best work with Code Compliance departments, how enforcement is implemented, and what some of the most common compliance issues are ("high grass/weeds" topped the list, with issues such as "paint/exterior surfaces," "securing," "accessory struc- tures," and "debris/sanitation" rounding out the rest). 5. The HUD/ISN panel 5