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"We can no longer say this is just an REO. You have to treat every house like it's the neighboring house." One of the biggest advantages of the new hi-tech world of property preservation is that it helps shorten turnaround times. Without rehabilitation work, the turnaround time for general maintenance tasks to get a property ready for market is typically one week, according to West-Chenoweth. For those properties that need some extra TLC, they can be back on the market in under a month, depending on how expansive the rehab is, she said. "A lot of what we do is measured by pure analytics," said Mertins. "The amount of data we collect nowadays is staggering, and that's what drives our and our clients' decision-making. We're constantly monitoring performance, and identifiers within each dataset help us pinpoint an issue before the client even sees it."   All parties share a common goal of preserving communities, and property preservation companies continue to build on their existing relationships and cultivate new ones to further neighborhood stabilization efforts. "One of the biggest hassles that our clients have dealt with is code violations over the years," Alan Jaffa, CEO of Safeguard explained. "'Let's work together' became our guiding motto. It's a win-win for our clients, the industry, and, most of all, the communities."  Safeguard's Compliance Connection serves to better assist clients in communicating with local communities. "Years ago, repairs used to take a long time because there was a paper process. Today, we move ahead at much greater speeds; we've streamlined the process, and a lot of that is because we're staying abreast of all vacant property registrations, and as a result, our clients stay in compliance," Jaffa said.  "Cities across this country are making a lot of noise that servicers are not taking proper action on vacant properties, but we see day-in and dayout that compliance and neighborhood stabilization are top priorities for the servicers we work with," Jaffa added.  60 Payne also noted that keeping the neighborhood and code officers happy is a big concern. "The fewer complaints, the better, and believe me, the neighbors don't hesitate to call if they see something that's not up to par," Payne said. "Now we work a lot more closely with the code officers. In the past, it wasn't much of an issue, but with more vacant properties, the neighbors are more apt to complain and more apt to call the bank directly." Safeguard started talking about code compliance and working in collaboration with municipalities as far back as 2005. At that time, the company had two people on its staff responsible for reaching out to code enforcement officials. Today, that's a staff of more than 20. Collaboration between industry partners— even between competitors—has become part of the business, according to Payne. "It's more about stabilizing communities than adding a few dollars to our own books," she said.   Reaves also spoke of cooperation between all parties involved as an important facet of the code compliance piece of property preservation. She said the collaboration MCS sees with its clients and with individual cities' code enforcement officials is something that was nonexistent five years ago. West-Chenoweth noted it's important to instill a sense of ownership and responsibility in both the company's vendors and its own internal staff to support community stabilization efforts and minimize the effects of blight. "We have one vendor who takes ownership of each property," she said.   "We're kind of like a good neighbor," WestChenoweth added. "The biggest improvement we've seen in some cases is that we're not just providing a simple service anymore, but we're taking pride and care in the property, in the neighborhood, in the town, where we work—all in the spirit of furthering neighborhood stabilization."  West-Chenoweth says it's important to get vendors and subcontractors involved on the technology side as well. Atlas gives its contractors direct access to its own scheduling and project management system, so they can see from their end what the status is and with whom the responsibility lies.    Mobile technology is one of the sector's most significant advancements, according to Jaffa, allowing work to be streamlined all the way from the home office to the field, no matter to which corner of the country subcontractors are dispatched. Five years ago, the technology existed, but it was in the form of pricey Dell pocket PCs that allowed some vendors to do some functions.  "It's a different world today. We have developed technology our folks need in the field to get quicker turnaround times.," Jaffa said.   Tony Maher, director of business development for Cyprexx, says one of the biggest differences he's seen over the past five years is increased oversight from the investors and servicers themselves. "You've got multiple layers of people looking at properties, more 'boots-on-the-ground' reviewing the work that's been done, whether it's investors themselves or third-party inspectors," Maher said. "That in and of itself has created an evolution of field services." Maher went on to explain that the expectation is not just that a property is clean and free of debris as it was five years ago, but now the work of property preservation companies must undergo what he calls the "white glove test." This added oversight has reduced timelines and improved quality, he said, but it also requires more effort on the part of the service providers and means a significant investment by the servicers and investors that are actually in the field overseeing the work. Today's property preservation leaders look at a completely different landscape than they saw five years ago. While the view is certainly a daunting one, there is a select group of standout companies that welcome the challenges today's market brings.  "Every day is a challenge, and to figure out a solution to that challenge is why we come to work," Mertins said. "Every day you go in to compete, and when you put in the extra work and effort that you know is required and come out ahead with a solution that not only works but exceeds expectations, that's what it's all about. At the end of the day we have to be more efficient so we can provide the same, if not better, quality of service that positions us as a vital partner in our clients' response to this unprecedented crisis." 

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