Carrington Property Services has joined forces with financial services company LendingXpress to offer small lenders Carrington’s asset management services to handle their inventory of bank-owned homes.
San Antonio, Texas-based LendingXpress, a Southwest Business Corp. (SWBC) company, will market the services to the credit unions and community banks in its customer base, offering them a new approach to managing REO (real estate-owned) inventories based on best practices of major lenders, the companies said in an announcement.
Santa Ana, Calif.-based Carrington Property Services, which specializes in REO asset management, is an indirect subsidiary of Carrington Holding Co., the parent company of the Carrington family of companies.
As part of the agreement, Carrington and LendingXpress plan to roll out REO asset management services catering to credit unions and community banks in the second quarter.
"While credit unions and community banks have traditionally held smaller inventories of REO properties than major national banks, the complexities associated with the day-to-day management and servicing of those assets can be just as challenging," the companies said.
Carrington’s REO asset management services include a property assessment to help lenders determine whether to rent or sell the property and if repairs are needed; occupant resolution; property repairs; and either rental management or the marketing and disposition of REO properties, the announcement said. Asset management is handled by the company’s national network of real estate and property management professionals through a platform that functions as a central point of contact.
LendingXpress will incorporate these services within its existing offering of third-party products and services, the companies said.
"This strategic relationship with LendingXpress and SWBC will enable Carrington to expand its reach and extend its full continuum of services to the credit union and community banking market," said Steve Ozonian, chief real estate officer for Carrington Holding Company LLC, in a statement.
"Blending Carrington’s detailed knowledge of end-to-end REO workflow with SWBC’s intimate understanding of what these financial institutions need will enable us to produce a solution specifically designed to maximize returns and minimize costs in a highly regulated environment for our business partners."
Carrington and LendingXpress are not the only companies interested in helping smaller lenders work like bigger ones. Los Angeles-based customer relationship management software company Leads360 earlier this month began offering a new CRM platform, Leads360 Express, specifically designed to help small business owners, including small mortgage companies and loan officers, compete effectively with larger rivals.
Such products may be of particular interest to mortgage companies or real estate brokerages with in-house or affiliated mortgage businesses.
In November, Carrington Property Services launched a national network to help real estate brokerage firms work with institutional investors interested in distressed properties.