Big Easy showed early seeds of transparency

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.

Read more

C-MISMO to create rent roll and operating statement standards – Flaherty to chair

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.

Setting a CRE standard while supporting IRP 6

If it includes full rent rolls and is adopted by the CMSA, IRP 6 will solve the transparency issues for CMBS deals.

However, getting IRP 6 approved and adopted is a big challenge, especially because the critical players (the servicers and the trustees) are resistant to making the required investment. Also, while IRP 6 has the potential to fix reporting for CMBS, it does not automatically fix the problem for commercial real estate lenders in general; the IRP has data and structures (bond level data, for example) that are not needed by portfolio lenders.

Therefore, MISMO is moving ahead with adopting standards for the two most critical missing pieces: rent rolls and operating statements. These standards will be identical to the “rent roll” and “operating statements” containers found in IRP 6, as both are based on the already-approved MISMO XML schema.

We think pushing ahead with independent C-MISMO rent roll and operating statement standards will not only solve a critical need for portfolio lenders, but will also help the CMSA with its adoption challenges, as the benefits of the transparency improvements will become evident and the servicers can start implementing the change.

— — —

Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.

www.cmbs.com

www.backshop.com

CMBS Leads is launched; now off to the Big Easy

CMBS Leads launched on Friday! It feels great to have the launch push behind us. Now we can focus on selling!

This week I’m headed to New Orleans for the MBA Commercial/Multifamily Servicing and Technology Conference. I am speaking on three panels:

1. MISMO® – Data Standards for the Brave New World of Transparency & Efficiency

2. Where can Investors get their data

3. The Future of Reporting

At the MISMO panel, we will announce our support of IRP 6 plus our own initiative to promote data standards. The other two panels should provide opportunity to debate how we use data to help solve the credit crisis. In last week’s pre-calls preparing for the panels, it was clear not everybody was on board with my views so, hopefully, the sessions will be entertaining.

We will also have a booth at the conference where we will be demoing Backshop, CMBS Leads, CMBS Investor, and our next tool: a MISMO-compliant XML reporting tool that takes feeds from servicing systems and allows primary servicers to report upstream in XML compliant format.

Stay tuned for the latest developments from the Big Easy.

— — —

Jim Flaherty is CEO of CMBS.com and the creator of the Backshop loan origination system. He is a trained credit professional with experience installing enterprise underwriting systems for commercial real estate lenders, rating agencies and investors.

www.cmbs.com

www.backshop.com