Industry Standards

The MBA Commercial/Multifamily Servicing and Technology Conference I just attended was much more about business issues that servicers face (covenant violations, defaults, foreclosures and a general lack of liquidity) than how technology can help solve those issues. While words like transparency and efficiency were sometimes used, the belief that technology is need to achieve these goals seemed lacking.

That being said, there were several positive signs that standards might be achievable:

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We announced at the MBA Commercial/Multifamily Servicing and Technology Conference in New Orleans that C-MISMO has authorized the creation of new standards for rent rolls and operating statements.

To better aid all CRE investors/lenders, we have reduced our focus on the CMSA’s CMBS-centered IRP 6 (which we support) to instead concentrate on establishing broader commercial real estate standards.

I was named Chairperson of the effort. We plan to have these standards finalized by the end of summer.

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I sit on the Commercial Mortgage Industry Standards and Maintenance Organization’s Commercial Board of Governors (C-MISMO BOG) and we have been active this month working on two things:

• Creating a MISMO action plan to make MISMO relevant and to help the CMSA get IRP 6 approved.
• Preparing for our panel session at the MBA Commercial/Multifamily Servicing and Technology Conference in New Orleans May 12–15.

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The CMBS Investor Group has a new proposal to improve the CMBS market. This is the same group that spoke at the January CMSA conference. I applaud the group for being proactive in trying to solve the crisis, and they have come up with many valid points. In their latest round of comments, they introduced the idea of a “centralized underwriter” to “assemble and present” underwriting and surveillance information for CMBS Investors. Basically the entity would be responsible for analyzing all financial reporting data and presenting it to investors in a concise, standardized way.

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As MISMO’s liaison to the CMSA, I have spent the past few weeks calling around to contacts at Lenders, Rating Agencies, Servicers and Investors, to see what each firm’s position is on IRP 6. Other than the servicers, most firms I spoke with did not know the specific issues with IRP 6 and had no official position. After explaining the benefits of IRP 6 several times, and getting several firms to send in emails of support, it occurred to me we have a marketing problem.

To address this problem, we are putting together a press piece explaining the benefits of IRP 6 and releasing it through MISMO. Plus, I will keep dedicating space on the blog to promoting IRP 6. Toward that end, i case you want to support IRP 6, I drafted a form email to save you some time.

>> Click here to email a message to the IRP Committee >>

The text of the message is on the remainder of this post.

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