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FiveMinutes Earl M. Cummings with Chairman and CEO of BestAssets In 2000, Earl Cummings served as the managing partner of BestAssets-CitiWest (BAC). At that time, the joint venture generated sales of $194 million a year. By 2004, he was managing single-family REO properties for clients in the public and private sector in 29 states, and he generated more than $600 million in sales each year. He now carries the title of chairman and CEO of BestAssets, Inc., developing its executive teams and a board culture around the ideals of integrity, commitment, and adaptability. His newest venture seeks to raise a $350 million fund to acquire single-family inventory for investors. Your leadership philosophy is to build your team on talent, strategy, execution, and community service. How important is that now, in the aftermath of the crisis? The strategy is more relevant today. It's critical to select talent that focuses on quality of service and integrity of work. Leadership teams that are driven by profit alone often lose their way. Teams need values, direction, and real attainable goals, both in business and in the community. One critical element of leadership is community service. It is an essential part of professional development and provides a bridge, connecting present leaders with young potential leaders. Today, BestAssets supports a local private school in Houston's Third Ward, Yellowstone Academy, and on a national scale, we support KIPP Academy and C-STEM (Communication, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). What are your thoughts about the upcoming election and its impact on the industry? An Obama win allows the country and the economy to build on the policy and goals of the previous four years. While the initial rollout of HAMP and other programs experienced challenges, they have matured. There have been policy changes to improve the programs, and the corporate sector has invested in staff and training to ensure compliance. We have real results. Home values are improving in most large metros, and across the country, owner-occupant sales are strong. A new administration, though, brings new policies with new compliance requirements. The time required to implement new policies and programs or to eliminate current ones presents new challenges and brings new unknowns. What market indicators signal a recovery? Indirectly, I'd say investor participation in the economy and new capital projects by corporations are a sign we've turned the corner, as well as underwriting guidelines that forgive past transgressions and of course, declining unemployment numbers. For indicators directly tied to housing, I see recovery in the uptick in property values, reductions in inventories of existing homes, and growth in new residential construction. How do we kick-start the housing recovery into high-gear? We need to get to the bottom of our distressed pool of loans without saturating the market again. The recent announcement by the Fed chair to apply another round of quantitative easing will go a long way toward creating jobs and increasing lending. In addition to the Fed's injection of dollars into the economy, we need long-term capital investments from the corporate sector to create more jobs, and we need private equity and hedge funds to provide new opportunities for growth and venture capital. The politics of the day has a lot of players tentative. If we can get past the election, I think we can get everyone participating in the economy again. 31 ยป VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM