The Vacant Blight and Code Enforcement Industry Working Group conducted a conference call on January 16, 2007 to continue discussions around their shared initiatives.  The Working group was created as a follow up to the Vacant Blight and Code Enforcement session at the 3rd Annual National Property Preservation Conference.  Over 160 participants joined the call from all facets of the housing and mortgage industry, including servicers, HUD, Fannie Mae, Department of VA, numerous code enforcement officials, M&M contractors, and attorneys.

Deb Oakley, SVP Homeownership Preservation with National City Mortgage and Vicki Vidal, Senior Director with the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) have agreed to lead this industry working group with the intention of improving the communication channels between code enforcement and loan servicers.  Robert Klein, CEO Safeguard Properties, has agreed to facilitate the working groups and provide the minutes of each meeting to the working group and the industry.

During the call, two key initial initiatives were discussed. 

• Creation and maintenance of a centralized contact list
• Creation of two (2) subcommittees

Centralized Contact List

Servicers and code enforcement officials have expressed interest in sharing their contact information so that timely notifications concerning code violations can be efficiently communicated and remedial action taken.  Servicers are extremely proactive in their commitment to resolve violations timely in order to preserve the property and its value, but are challenged with communicating with so many cities across the country. 

Discussions centered around the creation of one centralized list of all servicers and their Property Preservation point of contact as the initial step in narrowing the communication gap.  Based on feedback received during the conference call, servicers are willing to post and share their contact information with city code enforcement personnel.  The MBA is evaluating their ability to provide web access and host the contact information on their Website.  They are currently gathering information, and defining requirements.  It is expected that they will require technical assistance in order to facilitate such access.

As an alternative and to expedite this communication channel, Safeguard is able to share the servicers contact information with over 3,000 city code officials currently available within their database.  In order to so Safeguard will request consent as well as a proper contact person (P&P contact name and phone number) so that they can be included within an electronic distribution to the code officials.  Servicers wishing to update their contact information or be added to the list should email Deborah.Oakley@nationalcity.com  or robert.klein@safeguardproperties.com

Subcommittees
Deb Oakley provided a recommendation that the Working group create two specific subcommittees; one for Servicers and one for Code Enforcement officials and interested industry practitioners.  These two sub committees will be responsible for soliciting the issues and recommendations from their peers and communicating them to the Working Group for discussion and resolution.  The Working Group enthusiastically accepted the recommendation.

As a starting point, potential issues for discussion were identified. Vicki Vidal challenged both working groups to identify and address the easy (low hanging fruit) to resolve issues first.

Servicers challenges/issues include:

• Need cross communication and increase sensitivity of each group
• Too many cities to communicate with and obtaining contact information
• County delays in recording deeds/title
• Assignment of the mortgages
• Foreclosure filing

 City Code Enforcement challenges/issues include:  

• Process of identifying the correct lender/servicer of record
• Obtaining the correct contact for the servicer/lender of record
• When the deed is recorded late the Code enforcement folks don’t have the right information.

The Code Enforcement Subcommittee does not have the luxury of a central communication channel such as the MBA. While representatives on the conference call are members of numerous trade organizations such as the American Association of Code Enforcement (ACE) and the US Conference of Mayors, the Industry association network is typically state or locally based.  As a result, it was recommended that the Code Enforcement Subcommittee concentrate efforts to properly identify a point of contact for the servicing industry involvement.  The following individuals have stepped forward to provide leadership to the group.

• Keith Woodcock, City of Dearborn, MI
• Doug Leeper, City of Chula Vista, CA
• Pura Bascos, City of Chicago, IL
• Dee Dee Gillis , City of Gastonia, NC

City code enforcement officials and industry practitioners willing to commit as working group participants should contact Keith Woodcock with the City of Dearborn, at mailto:kwoodcock@ci.dearborn.mi.us. . City Code officials can also email their issues or recommendations for working topics to Keith as well.

The Servicing Industry Sub Committee will leverage the MBA as a communication channel to solicit industry involvement. The first Sub Committee meeting for servicers and investors will be held at the National Mortgage Servicing Conference & Expo in San Diego on Tuesday, February 20th from 10 a.m. to noon.  Vicki Vidal will reserve the room and follow up with additional details.  City Code Enforcement is also encouraged to attend and meet with the Sub Committee. Servicers and investors willing to commit as working participants should email Deborah.Oakley@nationalcity.com, vvidal@mortgagebankers.org or Robert.klein@safeguardproperties.com.