DS News

62 Due to the wave of federal regulations in the mortgage and servicing industry over the past half-decade or so, the role of field service providers today is changing. Many of the changes are for the better. While traditionally field service providers focused only on inspections, preservation, REO rehab, and the like, new regulation has resulted in the need to expand services. Field service providers still provide tradi- tional services, of course, but the "new norm" has led us to grow in ways that were not possible or practical before regulatory changes. ese changes allow us to provide an expanded suite of services to ensure compliance and to help mitigate risk for banks, servicers, and clients. To get a better idea of the more universal ef- fect of the new regulatory environment, let's roll the clock back seven or eight years. Back then, the lay of the land was rather unsophisticated to say the least. Field servicing itself was a neces- sary evil at best. e companies that operated in the sphere—often small mom-and-pop shops —were disjointed, unfocused, and still mostly analog. Amazingly, we were still faxing, taking Polaroid pictures, and keeping records on paper as recently as 2007. When the bottom fell out of the economy and sent the mortgage, banking, and field ser- vices industries reeling, things changed quickly. New federal regulations concerning how property transactions and recordkeeping needed to be conducted and organized were swift and sweeping. Amid this thicket of new regula- tions were rules from federal agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on how mortgage servicers need to manage vendors. ese rules called for greater vendor oversight, better transparency, more frequent (and more thorough) investigations of foreclosed properties, more in-depth audits, and better data security, among other things. To say these new regulations changed the game would be an understatement. e new regulations created a framework system in which everyone must work and forced the industry to step back and evaluate the way it does business. While it might seem cumbersome (and in- deed it can be for some), the new regulatory real- ity is actually a great thing for the field services industry itself, as well as for the communities they serve. For those in the industry, stringent new regulations, whether from CFPB, HUD, or a local municipality, have created a 100 percent button-down approach to doing business and have forced us to find and implement best prac- tices across the board, from data security to the care and management of vacant properties. is, of course, has led to a paradigm shift in the industry itself. e two most obvious changes are the shift in the type, scope, and amount of services field servicing companies provide and the growth in consolidation within the industry. When it comes to vendor manage- ment, larger field services companies now stay in closer communication with vendors in the field, better manage vendor scorecards, and both offer and demand better training for vendor service providers that make them more accountable through advanced (and real-time) scorecarding. ere are also new services that many national field services companies are now pro- viding as a result of regulatory change, investor changes, and the focus on compliance, such as municipal property registrations to help us keep more complete track of who owns and is responsible for a vacant or abandoned property, enhanced HOA and utility management (an off- M A R K E T P U L S E / C H A D M O S L E Y A NEW WORLD, A NEW OPPORTUNITY P

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