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FiveMinutes Don St. John with President and COO of Home Servicing Don St. John joined Home Servicing, LLC, in 2007 as COO and in June of this year was promoted to president, adding additional responsibilities that include business development and trading. He spent the previous 15 years in subprime mortgage servicing and securitization, including a decade as Ocwen Financial's SVP in charge of default servicing. As early as 2004, Home Servicing's management team saw an opportunity to create a servicing model for an underserved segment of the market—low-value residential mortgages. Its early success has enabled the company to grow into a nationwide special servicer, working directly with investment banks, hedge funds, and large loan servicing providers to maximize returns on assets. How has Home Servicing's business changed, pre- and post-crisis? Home Servicing was a servicer and principal investor in low-value assets, serving a small niche in a thriving real estate market from 2004 through 2007. After the financial crisis and collapse of housing values, this niche expanded dramatically, as did our servicing platform. We entered into subservicing relationships to assist larger investment banks and primary servicers with loss mitigation for their low-value portfolios. During this period, we expanded licensing to more than 40 states and expanded our network of regional employee field representatives to assist with "on the ground" loss mitigation and property preservation work. What are the keys to Home Servicing's success bringing seriously delinquent borrowers back to "performing" status? We have expanded our reach through field representatives, and this has increased our ability to connect with borrowers and given us a better understanding of the harder-hit markets. With our servicing model, we recognized the need years ago to restructure seriously delinquent borrowers' debt through reasonable principal writedowns. This method provides borrowers affordability and a renewed sense of ownership equity in their homes. Your mission statement is "Keeping the Door Open to Home Ownership." Do you think the crisis has dampened consumers' views of homeownership? Yes, I think this crisis has dramatically changed the view of homeownership for an entire generation of homebuyers. However, like all previous real estate cycles, we believe this will normalize over the next several years as values stabilize and liquidity returns to the real estate lending markets. How has Home Servicing worked to rebuild communities impacted by the foreclosure crisis? Home Servicing has been instrumental in restoring thousands of homes in the hardest-hit areas of the Midwest and Southeast in the wake of the crisis. We've accomplished this through effective loan modifications, real estate short sales, and REO repair and rehabilitation programs. Where does the special servicer fit in the realm of default servicing going forward? Our experience and success throughout this market cycle makes it clear to us that there is always a need for an innovative approach to special servicing and loss mitigation. Firms just need the ability and foresight to conform to current needs in all stages of the market cycle. 27 » VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM