MORE WITH LESS

February 10, 2011 | 7:00 am ET Staff Reporter

It took seven days to create the world, so coming out of a recession, it's fair that the Mortgage Bankers Association required a second day in San Diego to talk money. The real estate crisis put loanservicers under the klieg lights and highlighted the role they play. GEMSA Loan Services' Joe Beggins, Fitch Ratings? Stephanie Petosa, Prudential Asset Resources? Catherine Rodewald, Amherst Securities? Darrell Wheeler, MetLife?s Gary Otten, and Wells Fargo?s Jose Becquer say servicers are trying to do more with less and keep troop morale up. Over half of borrowers are struggling. Internally, a lot more risk management units are driving servicers to produce tangible results. Externally, they're getting more scrutiny from ratings agencies about their financial condition. A servicer?s wish list? Better documentation and more standardization, meaning fewer exotic covenants and triggers buried somewhere within 1,000 pages.

We snapped Trigild president Bill Hoffman just before hisdistressed loans and properties panel. (Though he had a more pressing concern: finding a cup of joe.) He's seeing a big boost inreceiverships compared to previous down cycles, especially for hotels. Lenders and servicers view receiverships as an effective means to speed up the disposition process and deal with inevitable failures. Bill just sold some multifamily units in Arizona, establishing that receivers can sell property there instead of go into foreclosure, and the special servicer was able to leave some debt in place, yielding a $50M higher selling price.

MORE WITH LESS

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