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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 34 June 2024 C O V E R S T O R Y GOOD SERVICE IS SUSTAINABLE VRM Mortgage Services' leadership team discusses how the company's "diversity of thought" and commitment to serving communities has made them an industry staple for nearly 20 years. B y DAV I D W H A R T O N V RM Mortgage Services is a company born during a very different era for our industry. The company—was established "to provide portfolio managers with reli- able and high-quality outsourcing services to manage their REO assets"—launched just before the 2007-2008 financial crisis, a time when REO inventories were abundant as the nation navigated wide- spread foreclosures, bank collapses, and economic strife. The fact that VRM has not only survived but thrived during the ensuing decade-and-a-half is a testament to its leadership, in the form of President & CEO Keith Murray and EVP & COO Dr. Cheryl Travis-Johnson. Keith founded the company in 2006 and Dr. Travis-Johnson joined in 2008. Under their leadership, Murray and Tra- vis-Johnson went on to grow VRM Mort- gage Services into an industry stalwart, offering services ranging from REO asset management and property preservation to inspections, title and closing coordination, commercial and rental asset management, and eviction management services. Today, the company boasts of having "listed, marketed, managed, and sold over 700,000 properties." The company launched VRM Univer- sity (VRMU) in 2009, offering "specialized training for financial services and real estate professionals." Having partnered with the Council for Inclusion in Finan- cial Services (CIFS), VRMU's courseload offers online trainings, webinars, and other educational resources providing certifications in topics such as Inclusive Workplace Dynamics, Broker Price Opin- ion (BPO) Training, Property Preservation and Maintenance, and REO Training. "The VRMU platform is one in which we take professionals in a marketplace that have the expertise to do the work but have not yet had the opportunity to work with corporate sellers," explained Murray. MortgagePoint had a chance to sit down with Murray and Travis-Johnson to discuss the keys to VRM's longevity, their vision for the company, and how the origins of both VRM and its affiliate, PCV Murcor, but also in a time when Murray unexpectedly found himself staring down the barrel of a gun. A Moment of "Total Clarity" M urray began his career in banking, working as a teller and account counselor before joining an appraisal training program at the now-defunct Home Savings of America. However, larger global economic forces would soon in- terfere with this career arc, with the 1980s recession sending out ripples that, among other things, sent many appraisers such as Murray back onto the teller lines. "I had a full-circle moment in my career after only 14 months," recalled Murray. At the time, Murray might well have considered this a career setback, but it also put him on the path toward a defining moment that would pivot him onto a brand-new path. Unfortunately, that pivot point was on the other side of a gun barrel. In 1980, while working as a teller at a bank in Los Angeles, Murray was held up at gunpoint. It's the sort of traumatic moment that would rattle anyone, but in Murray's case, he says it provided him with a moment of "total clarity." He decided that whatever life may have in store for him beyond that day, he wanted to play a larger role in shaping his own path, so he decided to start a business. "That birthed our affiliate company, national appraisal management company, PCV Murcor, which is celebrating over 40 years in business," Murray said. But that incident and Murray's ensuing epiphany may have led to very different places had his new path not eventual- ly intersected with that of Dr. Cheryl D A V I D W H A R T O N , Editor-in-Chief of MortgagePoint magazine, has 20 years' experience in journalism and previously worked at Thomson Reuters, a multinational mass media and information firm, as an Associate Content Editor, focusing on producing media content related to tax and accounting principles and government rules and regulations for accounting professionals. A graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, where he received his B.A. in English and minored in Journalism, Wharton has an extensive and diversified portfolio of freelance material, with published contributions in both online and print media publications. He can be reached at David.Wharton@thefivestar.com.