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Industry Leaders Take On Housing Challenges at National Property Preservation Conference

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Housing industry leaders gathered Thursday at the 11th annual National Property Preservation Conference (NPPC) to discuss some of the greatest challenges facing housing today and collaborate on how to tackle them head-on.

Hosted by Safeguard Properties in Washington, D.C., this year's conference featured pannel discussions boasting a host of policy experts offering insights on what's happening inside the  beltway, including Laurie Maggiano, program manager for servicing and secondary markets at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; Ivery Himes, director of HUD's Office of Single Family Asset Management; and Meg Burns, former senior associate director at the Federal Housing Finance Agency and current managing director at the Collingwood Group, among others.

Some of the housing industry's leading minds—including representatives from Freddie Mac, Safeguard, SolutionStar, and TSI Appraisal—were also in attendance to discuss the current state of housing and property preservation and expectations for the future.

Together, the panels, led by Five Star Institute President and CEO Ed Delgado, fielded questions on topics ranging from compliance challenges to the government's growing oversight of the housing industry, including what's on the agenda for 2015.

"It's clear that property preservation companies are increasingly playing a larger role in the stabilization of homeownership and communities" said Caroline Reaves, CEO of MCS, one of the nations leading property preservation companies and a key sponsor of NPPC.  "The dialog from this event will go a long way in establishing best practices and compliance as an industry for 2015 and beyond."

The event kicked off Thursday morning with remarks from Delgado, who described the outlook for housing as one of "reserved confidence." That was followed by a keynote address delivered by Leonard Kiefer, deputy chief economist at Freddie Mac.

Alan Jaffa, CEO of Safeguard Properties, said the conference serves as a jumping-off point for dialogue that will hopefully continue.

"I'm hearing a lot of great conversations taking place around the roles we all play in maintaining properties and communities," Jaffa said. "We all come from a different perspective, but property preservation is a team effort."

Safeguard's founder and chairman, Robert Klein, echoed Jaffa's sentiment.

"When I initiated the conference 10 years ago, my goal was to create a platform for open communication—an opportunity for truly honest dialogue about the issues we face as an industry," he said. "In these discussions, everyone's perspective is important, and everyone, from lenders to policy makers, GSEs and community groups, has a seat at the table. A decade later, the conversation continues to evolve and produce real solutions."

Editor's note: The Five Star Institute is the parent company of MReport and theMReport.com.

About Author: Tory Barringer

Tory Barringer began his journalism career in early 2011, working as a writer for the University of Texas at Arlington's student newspaper before joining the DS News team in 2012. In addition to contributing to DSNews.com, he is also the online editor for DS News' sister publication, MReport, which focuses on mortgage banking news.
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