Until recently, the deterioration of properties didn’t pique the interest of servicing agencies until it was clearly designated REO and, until recently, this was all well and good. But the winds have changed.

Field service companies need to maintain a quality vendor network to complete property preservation work effectively and to show theirs and their clients’ commitment to strengthening communities across the country.

If your Loss Mitigation and REO Departments interact with listing agents in the traditional fashion, then you are enabling fraud.

No single solution will repair the damage done by the lingering housing crisis. And “one-off” loan-by-loan solutions can’t happen fast enough to make an impact on the fragile housing stock that balances at a tipping point in cities across the country.

Steve Jobs, the visionary leader of Apple computer who died last October probably never gave much thought to the REO business. Use of his creations, however, have become pervasive worldwide in the business and entertainment industries. iPhones, iPads and Mac computers are everywhere.

In a recent ruling, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that mortgage servicers have the right to protect and maintain their collateral interest in defaulted and foreclosed properties prior to the property going to sale—validating the work field service companies perform.

Field service companies must continuously evolve their best practices to develop and maintain the most effective vendor network possible. Key areas of focus are: recruitment, training, diversity and technology.

Break out the bubbly! The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that the unemployment rate in the U.S. dropped from 8.5% to 8.3%. According to BLS numbers, U.S. non-farm payrolls grew by 243,000 jobs in January, up from a revised 203,000 jobs in December 2011.

Here’s a current-day dilemma to ponder: a listing agent lands a new bank-owned listing. Before marketing, the property needs an occupancy check, a clean-out, some minor repairs, and a few other maintenance items. Agent hurries to get the sign in the yard. A week or two passes before the bank approves expenses and determines list price based on BPO and appraisal.

When it comes to finding an advantage to using social media to market your REO assets while still managing all the other associated tasks, it can be a real challenge.

Most Americans are probably glad to see 2011 slip into the past, or at least those who own homes are. 2012 may hold the promise of a return to rising home values, something that didn’t happen last year.

The number of words written about the REO industry in 2011 makes 'War and Peace' seem like a Reader's Digest short story. So what's new for 2012? Good question ... tough answer.

Quick regulation is rarely great regulation. This will ultimately prove true for Single Point of Contact (SPOC) as well. The idea of a single individual as liaison for a borrower looking to avoid default is a brilliant core concept if the only problem is to simplify the process of navigating the “waterfall” of options currently available.

Depending on whose foreclosure data you believe, the case is that more than five million units make up the current excess housing inventory in the United States. CoreLogic reports that north of 1.6 million units are in the foreclosure process, with more than 750,000 units that are “seriously delinquent,” meaning that the attached mortgages are 90 or more days late.

When we turn the calendar to 2012, the U.S presidential race will heat up. America's housing crisis is certain to be a hot campaign issue, and we will have no shortage of suggestions to stabilize communities—from expanded programs to purchase and redevelop vacant and foreclosed properties, to assistance to either buy a home or prevent foreclosure.