The 2024 Five Star Conference at the Omni Hotel in Dallas concluded Thursday, and among the networking opportunities and closing Women in Housing Leadership Awards Luncheon, education was again on the agenda.
A new addition to the Five Star Conference, Thursday morning’s NPL Forum, presented by Forum Lead Sponsor Altisource, tackled topics ranging from non-performing loans (NPLs), foreclosures, bankruptcy, and the buying and selling of distressed assets. Attendees listened to an array of speakers, ranging from servicing executives to economists as they guide you through the current headwinds and best practices within the non-performing assets arena.
The NPL Forum kicked off with Welcome Remarks from Mary Best-Brill, VP SaaS Sales for Altisource outlining the important topics that will be covered during the upcoming discussions. Best-Brill serves as the VP of SaaS Sales, specializing in the Equator Asset Management platform, RentRange, NestRange, and Hubzu sales for Altisource. She is an experienced industry partner who began her career in real estate as a Realtor with Coldwell Banker. She moved into institutional asset management, managing wholly owned portfolios of California assets, then on to managing a national portfolio with JPMorgan Chase & Company. She also specializes in complex litigation cases providing resolution and testimony when needed in Court. She spent six years managing US REO Partners as Director of Member and Client Relations, where she successfully created opportunities for the agent members and was responsible for raising over $500,000 for the St. Jude Children’s Hospital.
Best-Brill introduced the first of three panel discussions of the day, “Non-Performing Loans: Best Strategies & Practices.” During this session, panelists engaged in a broad discussion of the current state of the NPL landscape, with topics ranging from resolution strategies, compliance and regulatory considerations, collaboration among stakeholders, and foreclosure best practices. Panelists included Michael Merritt, SVP of Customer Care & Mortgage Default for BOK Financial; Clayton Gordon, Director of Default Mediation and Litigation for Carrington Mortgage Services LLC; Cheryl Marchant, SVP of Default form Freedom Mortgage Corporation; Shawn Miller, SVP from Xome; Allen Price, SVP, Business Development for BSI Financial Services; and Shubha Shivapurkar, Senior Director of Loss Mitigation for Freddie Mac.
With a presidential election just weeks away and the industry facing many questions and challenges regardless of who occupies the White House in 2025, the “Economic Update: Housing Market Outlook” panel discussion featured a panel of expert economists sharing their forecast of what they anticipate for the back half of 2024, and what lies ahead in 2025.
“Economic Update” panelists included Michael Waldron, President of Compliability Solutions; Daren Blomquist, VP of Market Economics for Auction.com; and Molly Boesel, Senior Principal Economist for CoreLogic, as the trio engaged in a lively dialogue of what lies ahead for the industry.
In the third and final session, with both commercial and individual bankruptcies having risen year-over-year throughout the first half of 2024, the “Navigating Bankruptcy” session assembled subject-matter experts discussing bankruptcy trends and challenges that within this sector have on their radar. A panel including Candace Russell, VP of Post-Sale Activities, Default Servicing for Carrington Mortgage Services LLC; Deloise Browne-Milner, Senior Operations Manager for Freddie Mac; Bill Bymel, CEO & Chief Investment Officer for First Lien Capital; Alicia Female Byrd, Senior Bankruptcy Manager for Flagstar Bank; and Jeffrey Fraser, Partner in the Bankruptcy Department for Albertelli Law took to the stage and detailed recent changes in bankruptcy laws, and what is trending in the market.
The NPL Forum was just one of many informative sessions presented throughout the 2024 Five Star Conference. Additional sessions covered a number of niche industry topics, including the Mortgage Servicing Forum, the Single-Family Rental Roundtable, the MTech Forum, Property Preservation Forum, and FORCE Rally among others.
Click here for the full agenda of events from the 2024 Five Star Conference.
