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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 85 Federal Savings Bank for four years, where he launched their appraisal department. He also served as the Operations and Qual- ity Assurance leader and primary liaison for regulatory agencies and offices. Prior to his time at USAA, he worked in the Fraud Investigation and Repurchase departments at Fannie Mae's National Underwriting Center, and successfully ran an appraisal firm for 10 years. StreetLinks also appointed Samir Agarwal as Director of Vendor Administration. Agar- wal's focus is to develop, build, and manage an employee arm of StreetLinks' appraiser panel. is initiative is a top enterprise priority origi- nated in an effort to adapt to an increasingly demanding industry where emphasis on top- rated customer service is paramount. Agarwal's aim is to hire more than 100 appraisers by the end of 2016. Agarwal is a seasoned senior leader with a substantial record of excellent business acumen and delivering enterprise solutions in the finan- cial services and technology industries. Prior to joining StreetLinks in the fourth quarter of 2015, Agarwal served as an Executive Director at JPMorgan Chase. Agarwal's leadership and experience spans multiple consumer, technol- ogy, and corporate departments. His specialty and discipline are resolute with product devel- opment, operations, organizational change, vendor management, strategy planning, and execution. Agarwal brings more than 17 years' experience to Assurant, Inc., with the last nine dedicated to the mortgage industry. NEBRASKA Buffett: There is No Housing Bubble As home prices continue to surge upward, many in the industry are beginning to wonder if a housing bubble is imminent, or worse, if yet another financial crisis is in the making. Warren Buffet, Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, a multi-national conglomerate holding company, believes that the chances of home prices collapsing are very low, according to a recent report from For- tune by Stephen Gandel. Although now may be a good time to buy a house, it is not as good a time as it was four years ago, Buffett stated at the Berkshire Ha- thaway annual shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Fortune reported that Buffett thinks the chances of housing prices collapsing are very low Although home prices continued their upward trek all over the country, they are doing so at a much slower pace, according to data on the recent U.S. House Price Index (HPI) released by the Federal Housing Finance Agency(FHFA). e report showed a national 0.4 percent month-over-month increase from January to February, and a 5.6 percent annual jump be- tween February 2015 and February 2016. Janu- ary's HPI report showed a 0.5 percent increase, which was revised downward to reflect a 0.4 percent increase. e S&P/Case-Shiller U.S. National Home Price Index (HPI) found that home prices rose for the 43rd consecutive month in November 2015. According to the HPI report, home prices rose 5.3 percent year-over-year in Novem- ber, slightly up from the 5.1 percent increase recorded in October 2015. "Home prices extended their gains, sup- ported by continued low mortgage rates, tight supplies and an improving labor market," said David M. Blitzer, Managing Director and Chairman of the Index Committee at S&P Dow Jones Indices. "Sales of existing homes were up 6.5 percent in 2015 vs. 2014, and the number of homes on the market averaged about a 4.8 months' supply during the year; both numbers suggest a seller's market." e topic of bubbles forming in the housing market is something that has been thrown around for quite some time. As home prices soar to new heights—with no sign of de- cline—housing bubbles appear to be popping up in many markets and may be here to stay, according to Zillow's Home Price Expectations Survey. "Without 20/20 hindsight, it's difficult to identify bubbles as they're happening, but it is very clear that nationally we are not seeing a return of the conditions that caused the last na- tional bubble," said Dr. Svenja Gudell, Zillow's Chief Economist. "Tighter lending restrictions today mean we aren't seeing buyers get loans they realistically can't pay back, like we did in years past. It's significant that some experts are starting to worry about bubble conditions, but in my opinion, there's no real danger of a severe crash like the one we all remember from the last decade." Minnesota www.MinnesotaREO.com 612-669-6324 952-829-2938 763-432-7640 612-821-7500 952-844-1511 763-533-9133 651-209-8444 507-424-6026 Bruce McAlpin Jeff Detloff Long H. Doan Maribel Garcia Garth Johnson Craig Murphy Michael Olsen Brian Rossow THE LEADER IN DEFAULT SERVICING NEWS Help shape the next issue of DS News. Drop us a line at Editor@DSNews.com. Minnesota's foreclosure inventory rate of 0.4 percent for March 2016 was tied with six other states for second- lowest in the nation, according to CoreLogic. KNOW THIS

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