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» VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM 75 that something innovative is being done, Klein said; something that could prove to be a model for other states to follow that doesn't make the mortgage servicer out to be the bad guy. And he's not the only one thinking optimistically. Five Star Institute President and CEO Ed Delgado, who called vacant and abandoned properties a "community crisis of national proportion," said of the Ohio fast track foreclosure legislation, "is bill will take steps to ensure that these magnets for crime will be more quickly rehabilitated and promote the safety of neighborhoods across the state." Delgado, speaking on the topic of finding solutions for neighborhood blight and vacant properties at the National Property Preservation Conference in Washington, D.C. last November after the bill passed in the Ohio House, called it "an important template toward the introduction of a national course of solution for vacant and abandoned properties." Another side to this coin is what to do with the properties themselves, in terms of maintenance once they get into the hands of servicers. Remember, most municipal regulations in the U.S. spell out that an abandoned or decrepit property needs to be secured with boarded-up windows. One problem: "e moment you put up these plywood boards, the property next door loses value," Klein said. "is is the beginning of community blight." is isn't hyperbole either. According to a 2001 study at Temple University in Philadelphia, houses within 150 feet of vacant or abandoned properties suffered a net loss of $7,627 in value. Moreover, plywood boards are opaque. Remember all those calls emergency responders get for vacant properties? Well, police offers and firefighters don't have X-ray vision any more than the rest of us. Nor does anyone who might need to go inspect the property or prep it for rehab. Klein, consequently, has become a champion of polycarbonate clearboard panels, and is chairman and co-founder of SecureView, which makes these panels for residential and commercial window spaces. Polycarbonate clearboards are essentially airplane glass, which means they're exceedingly difficult to break, but also exceedingly clear, clean and scratch- resistant. From the safety aspect, polycarbonate panels allow property owners or emergency personnel to know what they're about to walk into, Klein said. But they also serve to make the building appear occupied and maintained, while providing the level of security needed for a vacant property. e panels "cost a little more up front," Klein said, but pay off in the long run by being reusable (though customizable) and not prone to decay and replacement like plywood panels. Plus, they save communities money by reducing vandalism and deterring squatters and criminals. According to Klein, SecureView has done about 15,000 installations in 2,300 areas and actively lobbies communities about the benefits of removing the word "plywood" from its books and replacing it with "polycarbonate." Slowly but surely, Klein said, communities are listening. First, the number of vacant properties is way down from its recession-era heights. In 2011, roughly 11 percent of U.S. homes‒‒about 9 million‒‒were vacant. By the first quarter of this year, that percentage was down to 1.6, according to RealtyTrac. is ebb of vacant homes makes it easier for community leaders to cope with vacant properties, Klein said. ose that adopt the use of polycarbonate panels have less work and fewer properties to spend money on. Secondly, more communities are seeing the result of the chances other towns took on polycarbonate panels and are following suit, Klein said. e fight's far from over, but given that he helped get Ohio's state government to listen, he's hopeful. Overall, Klein's message is, stop blaming mortgage servicers for vacant properties and do something active to fix these eyesores, because no one up to any good wants them. "I often tell people, vacant homes are not like a bottle of wine," Klein said. "ey don't get better with age." COVER STORY INDUSTRY INSIGHT INDUSTRY INSIGHT Cutting the time it takes to foreclose allows the mortgage servicer to take possession of the property before it rots, Klein said. This, in turn, increases the chances that a property can be rehabilitated, sold and reoccupied.

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