JACKSONVILLE, FL - Mortgage loan servicing professionals dealing with a growing inventory of hundreds of thousands of unoccupied foreclosed properties are in a constant state of fear and agitation over the responsibility of monitoring and maintaining their pre-sale and REO portfolios. In addition to the traditional concerns like undetected water leaks, smoke and excess humidity, vacant homes are increasingly becoming shelters for the homeless and labs for drug dealers. Portfolio managers have had few tools to mitigate their risks until now, according to Rich Rollins, CEO of REO Sentinel, who says these real world, everyday concerns are about to become significantly reduced.
Rollins’ company, REO Sentinel of Jacksonville, Florida, has announced a new technology that offers an inexpensive but high-value solution to this very serious problem. “For the first time, lenders and their property preservation managers can have real-time views into what is occurring in every defaulted property they are trying to market thanks to a small, patented device installed in each house,” he explains. This device, named REO Sentinel, is a collaborative creation architected by renowned mortgage technologist Rollins, who previously developed and managed NewInvoice, the bill presentment and payment technology used by 75 percent of servicers today. The other side of the collaborative effort was provided by input from leading loan servicers and one of the nation’s largest and most respected property inspection and preservation companies.
The market has a critical need for a way to monitor the growing number of unoccupied pre-sale and REO properties, which are highly exposed to vandalism and damages due to loss of power to sump pumps, theft, high humidity and fire. Even a broken window can lead to extensive water damage in many areas, as well as other problems caused by weather. “Lots of things can happen to vacant properties,” Mr. Rollins says, “and most of them are expensive. REO Sentinel is the next best thing to having a house-sitter on staff. Our device can detect many types of gasses, the presence of smoke and high humidity conditions, and even takes a photo of anyone entering the property.”
REO Sentinel is a “smart technology” device that is completely autonomous and self-powered, and even performs daily “heartbeat tests” to ensure working order. Lenders and property preservation managers have total visibility into all events at a portfolio level, or they can drill down to an individual property for a more granular review. A web-based “dashboard” is available, showing the status of each property and any alerts that have occurred over a user-configurable time frame. Client-specific scripts allow notifications of events at the property to be made to a lender’s property preservation company, Realtor, or other designees. Preferences on alerts and notifications are fully configurable by the client.
Given Rollins’ reputation in the industry for delivering reliable and innovative technologies, REO Sentinel has generated industry-wide excitement and has received numerous commitments from major servicers and other industry players. The company expects to have thousands of units deployed monthly beginning early in the second quarter of 2008. Rollins reports that preliminary client reactions indicate that “REO Sentinel will likely save the industry millions of dollars over time, and will create a paradigm shift in how the mortgage market monitors the hundreds of thousands of REO properties in the future.”
