Examples Of How Technology Is Changing Special Servicing
As I've noted in in a prior posting, the informed borrower might have some angst about using technology for the public disclosure of loan level information - although (for example) you will be amazed at the amount of information available on CoStar and other databases built by the brokerage community.
But from the perspective of the lender or servicer handling distressed loans, technology will bring solutions to some very pressing problems.
This movement to use technology to solve points of pain in commercial real estate was foretold by a great white paper written by Joseph Rubin with E&Y. (I've had this paper since 2005 - so it is a least 6 years old.)
This paper literally opened my eyes to "how" technology will impact commercial real estate.
Once you read Rubin's white paper, you'll have a deeper understanding and appreciation of the technology and transparency movement in commercial real estate, and an understanding that the SEC's proposed rule on loan level information disclosure simply is an extension of Rubin's paper (in addition to being responsive, in part, to investor demand for more and better information).
Indeed, the push for common data standards (or "language" where a computer can transmit data to another computer without human involvement [referred to as "B2B"]) through MISMO is closely related to the problems, concepts and solutions articulated by Rubin in his paper.
Sure, none of this directly addresses technology uses in CMBS special servicing, bank special asset work or distressed investments, but there currently are uses of technology that address the same or similar problems and solutions covered by Rubin. Yes, technolgy helping to solve problems.
These technology tools include:
- blogs (like this one) (training)
- on-line libraries containing papers, speeches and other materials on distressed investments (like the Winstead resource materials site [look at the "client resources" tab at the top of this page]) (training)
- legal collaboration sites, which collect or aggregate legal blogs, papers, etc. (such as LegalOnRamp and Martindale-Hubbell Connected) (training)
- on-line, restricted access sites where companies and law firms post documents and information as data (like our VistaSync tool) (document collaboration; data collection) (Note: I'll be discussing our tool next Monday at a 4p panel presentation at the MBA Loan Servicing & Technology Conference)
If you have questions or comments, please post a comment below.
