Although the national foreclosure rate has fallen dramatically in the past year, along with the number of homes that are bank-owned (REO), there remain a significant number of REO properties – many of them unoccupied – that are at risk of damage from severe weather events and other natural disasters. As such, servicers need to keep continuous track of potential damage to properties in their portfolios resulting from storms and other events.
Helping them to achieve this is Safeguard Properties' new MapAlert system, which integrates weather data with property condition and inspection data so that mortgage clients can quickly assess the potential for damages to properties in their portfolios. Using this new system, Safeguard's clients can take appropriate actions to protect properties in targeted zones, mitigate damages and initiate outreach to troubled borrowers.Â
As per a company press release, MapAlert provides both pre-disaster and post-disaster information to support client decision-making. It utilizes multiple national weather data sources and overlays them with advanced geospatial mapping technologies that identify the locations of client properties to provide a visual representation of affected areas.
The system also incorporates property condition updates from Safeguard's internal system to allow mortgage servicers to analyze their portfolios and make targeted asset preservation decisions at a national, regional, neighborhood or property-specific level.   Â
"This is the first property management technology that combines external weather data with property inspection condition results so that clients can be as general or as specific as they choose, to evaluate and make decisions about their nationwide property portfolios," says George Mehok, chief information officer for Safeguard. "It is capable of tracking millions of properties and analyzing hundreds of variables for any potential weather event, so clients can monitor many different "what if' scenarios in preparation for the unpredictable."
Through this new system, servicers also can receive alerts of weather events in specific areas to immediately identify properties that may be affected.
For more, click here.
