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24 DELGADO CALLS FOR NATIONAL SOLUTIONS ON 'VACANT HOME EPIDEMIC' e Five Star Institute had a strong presence at the 12th Annual National Property Preservation Conference (NPPC), in Washington, D.C. Five Star President and CEO Ed Delgado presented the opening remarks for the event on and moderated two panel discussions, a State of the Industry discussion and a panel focused on Transforming Blighted Communities. Delgado spoke on the growing crisis of vacant and abandoned properties that is sweeping the country. ese properties, called "zombie foreclosures" because the owner has abandoned the property but the foreclosure process is not yet complete, are often a drag on the communities in which they are located because they potentially lead to lower property values as well as more blight in the surrounding areas, vandalism, squatting, and violent crime. Delgado called for national solutions for what he termed the "vacant home epidemic" and praised the recently-passed Ohio State Bill H.B. 134, which expedites the foreclosure process lowers the amount of time that a property is vacant, as "an important template towards the introduction of a national course of solution for vacant and abandoned properties." He also called on the Obama Administration to redeploy some of the billions of dollars in fines it has collected from various financial institutions into blighted communities that have suffered from years of urban deterioration. At the NPPC, leaders from HUD, the GSEs, mortgage servicers, and field services companies gathered at the Mayflower Renaissance hotel to collaborate on the best practices for preserving and protecting vacant and abandoned residential properties. In his opening remarks, Delgado called for balance and a common sense approach to regulation in regard to the mortgage industry. Following the opening remarks, Delgado introduced a keynote address by Fannie Mae SVP and Chief Economist Doug Duncan, who noted that the economy in the United States was on the "wrong track" based on results gathered from a recent Fannie Mae survey. A panel moderated by Delgado discussed the "State of the Industry" and included Michael J. Frueh, Loan Guaranty Service, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Ivery Himes, Director, Office of Single-Family Asset Management at HUD; Benjamin Gottheim, Director of Mortgage Servicing Policy, Freddie Mac; Mark McArdle, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Financial Stability, U.S. Department of Treasury; Caroline Reaves, CEO, Mortgage Contracting Services; and Alan Jaffa, CEO, Safeguard Properties. Experts on the panel presented a high- level overview of the most current issues in mortgage servicing, including the declining homeownership rate, finding the balance between expanding credit access and mitigating risk, dwindling REO inventory, VA loans, the government's Making Home Affordable Program, Freddie Mac's 3 percent down payments, the lengthy foreclosure process, technology in property preservation, regulations such as Section 342 of Dodd-Frank that stress diversity and inclusion, compliance, and servicing best practices. Delgado also moderated another panel on "Transforming Blighted Communities." at panel included Robert Klein, Chairman and Co-Founder of SecureView, Chairman and Founder of Safeguard Properties; Richard Monocchio, Executive Director, Cook County Housing Authority; Honorable Mark Pryor, Partner, Venable LLP and former U.S. Senator (D-Arkansas); and Jim Taylor, SVP of Asset Management and Property Preservation, Wells Fargo. is panel of experts discussed best practices for solving neighborhood blight issues, including the hidden cost of blight and finding sustainable solutions for building communities. Editor's note: e Five Star Institute is the parent company of DS News and DSNews.com. LOANDEPOT DELAYS IPO AT THE 11TH HOUR On the day before it was set to go pub- lic, loanDepot Inc., announced it would delay its initial public offering amid volatile market conditions. According to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the lender was planning to offer 26.4 million shares of its common stock valued at $16 to $18 per share. e move was expected to raise $475 million for the company, which was to be valued at $2.6 billion. According to NASDAQ , the company planned to offer as many as 30 million shares. Conditions, have, of course, been stormy on Wall Street to say the least. LoanDepot was founded in the darkest days of the recession in 2010, billing itself as an antidote to big banks that disrupted the home loan market. It has grown into the second-largest non-bank lender in a field that now claims 40 percent of the mortgage market. e IPO, for which the company filed in October, was well-anticipated, but given the recent underwhelming performances of IPOs among financial-technology companies, per- haps it is unsurprising that the lender reacted to recent stock market news with cold feet. CEO and Chairman Anthony Hsieh, however, was considerably more optimistic a month ago, when the IPO-to-come was announced. "Our vision is to deliver a diversi- fied lending model sustainable in all market conditions," he said then. "We look forward to leading the development of marketplace lend- ing through the introduction of new products and services that provide credit solutions for borrowers with attractive returns for inves- tors." Somewhat ironically, the Dow Jones in- dustrial Average was higher when loanDepot pulled the IPO than it was during the week it announced it would be going public. LoanDepot has not said when it will make a new IPO, nor whether it will offer the same shares or per-share values.

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