LandAmerica Sees Growth Opportunity From Defaults.

Here in what might be considered the real estate title industry's world capital, LandAmerica Financial Group has seized an opportunity to add default services to its plate.

Like other players in the title industry, LandAmerica sees default services as an area of business that might provide some countercyclical relief from the vagaries of loan origination. When the economy slows down is when lenders are typically most in need of help managing loan defaults and foreclosures.

"You need to have a revenue source that will grow when the cycle turns," said Carl Brown, executive vice president of LandAmerica Default Services.

LandAmerica unveiled its REO and foreclosure services unit in the first quarter of this year. The specialized services unit also provides reconveyance processing for lenders.

The default outsourcing unit provides lenders with national outsourcing to affiliates and associates, non-judicial foreclosures, national asset management, national broker price opinions and national lien release service.

In a refinancing boom, there is no shortage of lien release work related to loan payoffs. But while the slow economy has not caused too much trouble for homeowners yet, companies like LandAmerica are starting to see the impact of higher delinquency rates.

That generates demand for broker price opinions, as lenders find themselves addressing the possibility that loans might go sour. One of the first steps in deciding how to manage a troubled loan is finding out how much the collateral is worth.