REOMAC’s Newest Member

I cannot believe it’s been almost five years since my most recent blog post here on Foreclosure Exposure!  As any close watcher of the default industry will tell you, the REO business is a shadow of its former self in most parts of the country.  The volume just dried up and blew away, especially here…

REOMAC Dinner Roundup – December 9, 2011 – Los Angeles

Avid readers of this blog may recall that a few months ago, I sent my assistant down to the REOMAC fall conference in Hollywood, Florida.  Since i myself wasn’t able to personally go this passed October, I decided I would for sure go to the REOMAC dinner in Los Angeles in December.

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I’d never been to a REOMAC dinner, and I was curious to see what it would be like.  I have a lot of respect for REOMAC – I’m not a member, but I’d love to be.  Unfortunately they are chock full of real estate brokers and agents – you literally have to wait for someone to die to get in as a real estate professional at this point.

I decided to drive down there.  I calculated that it would take about 4 hours door-to-door if I went via airplane, and about 6 hours door-to-door driving.  The drive down was a breeze, a little rainy to begin but later it was smooth sailing all the way down past Santa Barbara, when the traffic choked up with typical LA snarl.

The reception began at 5:00 PM – unfortunately, I had a few tasks I needed to complete in various portals, so I sat down, whipped out my laptop, and worked quietly for an hour or so until dinner was served at 6:00 PM.

The festivities were opened by Ivan Choi, the present of REOMAC.  I’ve met Ivan before, and he strikes me as a really nice guy.  His remarks were humorous and to-the-point as always, he’s got a great speaking style.  I met Ivan when he was with Prospect Mortgage; it now seems that Ivan, according to his LinkedIn profile, has stared at outfit known as Savvia Home Loans – props to you Ivan for stepping out!

At 7:00 they started a panel discussion.  The discussion started off talking about robo-signers and foreclosure affidavits and the crisis in confidence of the foreclosure process.  As you may recall (and as I blogged about) this was big news a short while ago.  The panelists included a title professional and a lawyer, and the message is that if there are mistakes in a foreclosure, it happens less than 1% and probably less than 0.1% of cases.  And, if there are any technical errors in a particular foreclosure, it does not change the fact that in most cases the foreclosures are valid because of the essential fact that the borrowers did not make their payments as per the contract.

Ray Methoda was one of the panelists – formerly of IndyMac, now with her own outfit called AssetPlanUSA which provides training and for HAFA certifications.  I’ve seen her speak a couple of different places before, and she’s always a pleasure to hear – very sharp and informative as always.

I left shortly after 8 PM, but I understand the festivities were to continue until about 9 or so – I had a long drive home.  The drive was uneventful, but the fog was so thick in so many places the drive home took about seven hours all together.

All in all it was a great trip.  I enjoyed the drive (I got a chance to catch up on some podcasts), and I enjoyed meeting some of my colleagues in the REO business.  From what I can hear, it sounds like the REO business will continue to be strong for several years yet to come – for better or worse, the market we have today has got legs – but it’s not going anywhere.

 

REOMAC Is Back! Fall Education Summit

The leaves are changing colors and the air is getting crisp – so it must be time once again for the REOMAC Fall Education Summit.  Not surprisingly, the summit this year is being held in Hollywood, Florida.  Many of the default servicing industry’s best and brightest will be there to schmooze, network, gossip, and actually disseminate information about the recent events and trends in the REO industry.

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As I said, the best and brightest will be there – so naturally you’re expecting you’ll be able to find me roaming the halls and plying the hotel bars.  Alas, you’d be wrong about that.  As it turns out, things have been very busy here at the Silicon REO Group, and I didn’t feel I could take the time away from my business at the moment to go larking on down to Florida.

However, in a burst of inspiration, I decided to send one of my team members down there in my stead.  If you’re attending the REOMAC Fall Education Summit, please be sure to look out for one John Brown.  He’s hard to miss – he’s quite the tall fellow, head and shoulders above the rest in more ways than one!  So if you see John, be sure to say hi and grab one of my business cards off him.

I’ll admit, I’m not sending John just to schmooze and booze it up with my colleagues and charm the asset management – although I have no doubt he’ll be very good at that. What I’m really after is the session audio.  John’s going to be packing a digital audio recorder, and I’m going to have him record all the trainings and sessions he attends.  When he gets back, I’ll copy the audio files on to my computer and listen to the MP3 files of the sessions.  I’m very curious to know what’s going on in the foreclosure industry from the perspective of lenders, servicers, outsourcers, and economists.  If I hear anything eye-opening or noteworthy, I’ll be sure to pass it along to you here on the blog.