HUD Expected to Raise Some Property Fees.(management of properties mortgage servicers obtain through foreclosure)

Representatives of the field services industries have lobbied HUD to revise procedures and allowable costs for property maintenance work, and HUD is likely to bend to at least some of the requests.

Several people who have been involved in the effort say they expect HUD to revise its guidelines for property preservation and protection, which govern servicers' responsibilities for managing real estate acquired through foreclosure and the allowable costs that lenders can be reimbursed for.

Marc Insul, chairman of the National Association of Mortgage Field Services and president of Fidelity National Field Services, Solon, Ohio, said that the HUD property protection and preservation issue is a top concern of the field services industry this year.

He said the industry wants "to get work done with prices that are more in line with the times."

He said the industry needs to have changes made so that they can be fairly compensated for the work they provide to the mortgage servicing industry.

Earlier this year, HUD revised its guidelines for the first time since 1997 (Mortgagee letter 2020-10), adjusting the allowable costs for field services work and raising some of the price limits, but that revision has received a mixed reaction from servicers and their vendors.

Under the new mortgagee letter, field service providers have raised some question about the "reasonableness" of compensation guidelines. In addition, because some fees have been aggregated, there are questions about how to interpret the new guidelines and what lenders need to do when special circumstances require an exception.