The state of being preserved, especially to a specified degree.
There lies the challenge of Property Preservation, “to a specified degree.” Investors, insurers, servicers, and field service providers all have their own regulations, expectations, or “specified degree” to which the properties need to be preserved. As soon as a property is determined vacant (first time vacant) the clock starts and it is off to the races. In order to meet the time requirement, time is of the essence, which heightens the importance of expeditious communication, accurate information, and, most of all, transparency.
To obtain the specified degree of a property’s insurer or investor requires us to conduct a situation analysis so that we can learn which conditions at a property need to be addressed. The first step is to identify and document the property’s conditions, understand all the timeframes that were met or missed, and their ramifications. Obtaining the proper data is key, the analysis of that data allows us to better focus by defining the strategic choices in front of us.
Having confidence in our data and information is essential in allowing us to align our strategy and action plan. Our key goal is to execute our plan and be successful with a win. If not, we learn what didn’t work, and go back to conducting a situation analysis. We all do this, each and every day in many areas of our lives.
Property Preservation includes constant and continued questions that we ask as we deal with each vacant property, or even each bid line, one by one. How long do I have before I need to convey this property? What repair bids do I need to submit to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)? What repair bids have I submitted to HUD? Are there items I submitted to HUD that were denied? Why were they denied? Can I do something more to potentially get them approved? Peak efficiencies and strong transparency solutions are needed to meet insurer/investor guidelines on time to minimize these types of questions and ultimately reduce risk.
At NFR, we specialize in these areas by using system tools that track stages of repair bid events from their inception to the final decision. Our powerful tracking application, Bid Milestones, was developed to solve the transparency challenge relative to bids. Bid Milestones quickly and easily allows the client and NFR to track and identify what stage the bid is in and what steps it took to get to that point.
Through close collaboration with our clients, we have found Bid Milestones to be successful in meeting not only the challenge of current bid status but also historical tracking which has proven immensely valuable for claims purposes. Here is what some of our clients have to say:
“NFR’s Bid Milestones allows us to build robust line-item-level reporting around each step of the bid review, and over allowable processes, and to much more easily ‘tell the story’ to our clients and various stakeholders.” —Dan Stack, AVP Property Preservation, Celink
“Bid Milestones is a great tool that NFR created. It offers at-a-glance information on specific line-item bids that help the servicer understand what HUD is looking for in their over allowable decisions. Further, the reporting that comes from Bid Milestones shows a breakdown of every loan in the servicers’ post-sale conveyance process. We were pleased to be a part of the program development and use Bid Milestones to come to business decisions effectively as we have all the information available to us through that program without having to search each line item.” —Matt Douty, Liquidation/Property Preservation Supervisor, Planet Home Lending
Imagine the relief that comes with having better transparency and good information, allowing the ability to make decisions faster and being more confident in the submissions provided to insurers and investors. Timeliness is the goal while working to meet and achieve that specified degree. How transparent is your Property Preservation vendor? NFR is excited to share our Bid Milestones solution, please call us today for a demonstration.
Chris Ford is VP, Florida Operations, and Chad Soppe is VP, Property Preservation, both with National Field Representatives, a national inspection and property preservation services company that is relied on and trusted to protect properties through proven quality performance at the highest of standards of accuracy, timeliness, customer service, and technological innovation.
