Lender Processing Services Inc. (LPS), a provider of integrated technology, data and analytics to the mortgage and real estate industries, has announced that its LPS Applied Analytics division has released a new product to provide default servicers with an alternative to broker price opinions (BPOs) for evaluating residential real estate in their portfolios. LPS' Distressed Asset Review will combine the accuracy and consistency of an automated valuation model (AVM) with property condition information. Traditionally, AVMs have not accounted for property condition, which is why BPOs have become the valuation tool of choice among default servicers. Conversely, while BPOs evaluate property condition, the inherent subjectivity and inconsistency in these valuations can present challenges for default servicers.
"This new product gives default servicers the best of both worlds—values that take into account property condition and an AVM that is not subject to the inconsistencies inherent in BPOs over the distressed property's lifecycle," said Robert Walker, managing director of LPS Applied Analytics. "In this market, we know clients are eager for this more reliable data about underlying assets' values, so they can make critical loss mitigation decisions."
LPS Distressed Asset Review taps the LPS ValueSure AVM and incorporates a real estate professional's property condition report to produce a more reliable value that also meets both the letter and the spirit of the federal Treasury Department's new Interagency Appraisal and Evaluation Guidelines, resulting in a single, comprehensive, easy-to-read report that utilizes AVM intelligence and factors in property condition.
"Default servicers now have an alternative to BPOs. Research has shown that servicers may order three or more BPOs throughout the lifecycle of a non-performing asset. Replacing one of these with LPS Distressed Asset Review is a cost-effective way to obtain a reliable and accurate value, and to give a higher degree of confidence in BPO results," Walker said.
LPS' Distressed Asset Review also provides detailed market analysis on foreclosure and real estate-owned (REO) activity in each subject property's neighborhood down to the ZIP code level. It includes both current analysis and forecasts market trends over the next 12 months.
