Course Category: Single Courses

Protecting the Asset – 3 Credits

Knowing how to properly secure, stabilize, and preserve a property makes you a valuable resource. Maintaining distressed, vacant, or abandoned properties can be one of the most difficult parts of an agent’s job, and REO properties are particularly hard to maintain. In this course, you will learn skills of property maintenance and management as well as recommended preservation options.

About the Authors:

REO Maintenance Module:

Clint Welser, VP of Laudan Properties, is a motivated, results-driven individual with a proven track record of exceeding goals and optimizing processes. With a background of over 16 years’ experience in finance and sales and an unfailing work ethic, Welser brings a unique and customer-focused view to all clients.

Property Management Module:

Taft West is the VP of Technical Assistance and Sustainability at the Chicago Community Loan Fund. During his 30-year real estate career, West has worked in various management assignments including condominiums, affordable housing and public housing. In 2001, Taft received his Broker’s License and began working with Community Investment Corporation as a contract trainer in the Property Management Training Program, teaching preventive & routine maintenance systems to property management students.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.

Services Offered – 3 Credits

Here you will learn how to avoid foreclosure, navigate the system more painlessly, and gain the skills to evict tenants when needed. Learn how to accurately estimate how much REO properties will sell for and communicate this information to asset managers in the form of broker price opinions and comparative market analyses. We will also discuss providing valuable services like BPOS, cash for keys, deed-in-lieu, and loss mitigation.

About the Authors:

Cash for Keys, Deed-in-Lieu, and Avoiding Foreclosure Module:

Jim Hastings, Broker/Owner of Hastings Brokerage, has been selling real estate since 1983. He created Broker Brain, the Web-based REO tracking system. He has served as a Pro Standards Judge and on the BOA Las Vegas Vendor Advisory Council, BOA National Short Sale Roundtable, Fannie Mae Vendor Advisory Board, and Freddie Mac’s SmartTank.

Valuation Module:

Nancy Braun is the owner of Showcase Realty in Charlotte, North Carolina. Backed by 20 years of experience as a top producing real estate broker, she focuses on innovation, attention to detail, and creating a winning team of professionals in order to provide exceptional and professional service.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.

Short Sale – 3 Credits

Make sure you have the essential skills to handle short sales. Here you will learn to examine a property for anything that could hinder a short sale, make sure everything is filled out correctly in the listing and title transfer, and ensure that the seller and buyer can both move through the process without any unnecessary difficulties. Ethics throughout the short sale process, working with the lender, and coordinating the closing process will all be discussed.

About the Authors:

Basics Module:

Steve Pagano, Broker/Owner of Pagano Properties, specializes in all aspects of the default market transaction, including asset evaluation and preservation, cash for keys, marketing, and inspection. Before opening Pagano Properties, he served as the chief operating officer of a mortgage company. In addition to working with REO, short sale, HUD, estate sales, and private equity firms, he is also a speaker for investment groups with a focus on real estate.

Evaluation Module:

Wendy Martin is a broker at Windermere Realty Trust and provides a full suite of best-in-class REO services and guarantees tasks are completed on time, every time. Fully versed and proficient in all aspects of Real Estate Owned Property disposition and management, her team gets the home on the market quickly, presents it in the most strategic manner to attract the right buyer, and influences them to purchase that property at the price we command.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.

Best Practices – 3 Credits

Save yourself time chasing down leads by ensuring repeat business from your current clients. Being a great real estate agent goes beyond technical skills. Learn how to build a brand for yourself and market it with maximum efficiency. We also discuss ethical business practices and principles that you should adhere to as an REO real estate agent. Learn what to disclose and how to treat buyers and asset managers in a way that will put you in a positive light.

About the Authors:

Become Indispensable Module:

Dustin Raye, REO Director and Associate Broker at Spyglass Realty and Investments, has extensive experience in mortgage banking, specifically loss mitigation and REO asset management. He works with mortgage banks in an effort to facilitate successful disposition of foreclosed assets while preserving maximum value for investors and securities holders.

Raye’s specialties include distressed real estate sales and investment, technical stock market analysis, mortgage banking default resolution.

Ethics Module:

Tara Nagelhout is the owner and managing broker of Emerald Valley Real Estate. Real estate has been her passion for more than 20 years. Her philosophy for taking care of REO properties is to treat each listing as if it were owner-occupied. With her team of buyers’ agents, she fully market assets, including online and print marketing as well as open houses.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.

Asset Management – 2 Credits

Get an inside look at the world of asset management. Hear about their greatest challenges and their agent/broker partnerships. Learn what they value most in agents and brokers and what makes them call an agent back with future listings.

About the Authors:

This course information was provided by contacts from the following companies: Assero 24, Chronos Solutions, Irongate Realtors, Matt Martin Real Estate Management, Reliance Realty, Resolute Asset Management, SingleSource Property Solutions, Specialized Asset Management, and Wells Fargo Home Mortgage.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.

Technology in REO – 2 Credits

This course will discuss the best tools for the trade by some of the leading tech firms serving the mortgage industry. Learn how you can leverage technology to streamline your business, enhance in-house and client communications, and address compliance concerns.

About the Author:

Jessica Chandler is the Marketing Project Coordinator at RES.NET. RES.NET provides a virtual meeting place where servicers, agents, vendors, and consumers can connect, and communicate around a transaction. With tools built to increase efficiency and transparency, all parties can be sure their assets are being handled with the utmost care.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.

REO Market – 2 Credits

REOs aren’t what they used to be, but they will always be a necessary part of the housing industry. In this course, we will discuss what’s new in REO, best practices, and where the market is going next.

About the Authors:

Al Freedman, CEO of First Freedom Preservation, has a solid background and passion for construction, REO maintenance and property management. He recognizes a need for assisting and working with REO real estate brokers and agents every step of the way to enable them to do what they do best.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.

Vacant and Abandoned Properties – 3 Credits

Vacant properties pose a threat to communities. What are the ramifications for the foreclosure process and what approaches are different jurisdictions taking to combat the issue?

About the Author:

Richard Nielson is the Managing Partner at Reimer Law. He supervises IT and Compliance for the law firm and is the managing shareholder for Kentucky default legal services including bankruptcy, foreclosure, eviction, litigation, compliance, and loss mitigation services.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.

Emerging Litigation Trends in Mortgage Lending & Servicing– 3 Credits

This course is refreshed on a semiannual basis. Participants will learn the developments in housing litigation from around the country. What trends are emerging?

About the Author:

Stephen Hladik is a partner at Hladik, Onorato & Federman Law Firm.  Formerly a Deputy Attorney General in charge of the Harrisburg office of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Consumer Protection, Hladik brings a broad range of experience to his mortgage foreclosure, bankruptcy, tax sale and UDAP legal practice.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.

HOA Liens 201: Super-Priority States– 2 Credits

Homeowners Association liens can be confusing for most mortgage servicers and their attorneys. This course covers legal and process issues that affect a servicer’s ability to assert their position in a property and goes more in-depth about HOA liens on the local level.

Jessica Mazariego is an Attorney at Gilbert Garcia Group. Her professional career has focused on business transactions, complex title resolution, creditor foreclosures, real estate closings, title insurance, and compliance law, including legal, regulatory, licensure, and corporate operational compliance. Mazariego manages the firm’s compliance in all practice areas and services several of the nation’s largest corporations as clients.

As you progress through a course, please ensure to click the ‘Mark Complete‘ button at the end of each lesson.