HUD taps Marshall & Swift for REO Cost Data

The Department of Housing and Urban Development's Office of Single Family Asset Management will use Marshall & Swift's cost estimator data and solutions to provide repair, replacement, maintenance and improvement costs on Federal Housing Administration-owned housing units in a pilot initiative. M&S, a provider of building cost data and estimating technology based in Los Angeles, says the cost estimator responds to the industry need to estimate repairs on the growing number of residential properties now in or entering the foreclosure market. The move will help HUD simplify and ultimately eliminate the manual cost allowable updates routinely performed to develop and confirm costs on a consistent and verifiable basis. "The objective third-party information will provide a conduit for the agency and industry to work more closely with each other and reduce unneeded time, costs and expenses associated with the protection and preservation of assets," said Salil Donde, CEO of Marshall & Swift/Boeckh.