In this season of celebrating the joy of giving, LERETA is proud to partner with Operation Homefront to give back to military families who’ve sacrificed so much to ensure our freedoms. The LERETA Tax Grants program provides homeownership assistance to military veterans with one-time grants that pay their annual property taxes. The initiative is [...]
By Mike Whiting, SVP, Senior Tax Operations Manager In part one of this two-part blog, my colleague, Jonnine Eras, examined some of the forces that are converging to create a perfect storm for borrowers with escrow accounts and their servicers. These trends include dramatic increases in homeowners and flood insurance [...]
A Q&A with Douglas Dick, Vice President, Escrow Manager Q. Several years ago, you coined the term "The Cheesehead Challenge" in describing tax processing in Wisconsin? What is it about Wisconsin taxes that make them so complicated? Some things are just different in Wisconsin. Take the Green Bay Packers, for example. All other National Football [...]
A Q&A with Aaron Anderson, Director of Business Development, American Property Guard, a LERETA Company Q. Aaron let’s start off with the basics. What is Senate Bill 2? This past August, Governor Greg Abbott of Texas signed legislation delivering the largest property tax rebate in Texas history due to a surplus in funding at [...]
Every month, we'll be spotlighting someone from the LERETA roster. This month we're kicking it off with Heather Amick one of our Senior Client Success Managers. Get to know Heather, below! What is your role with LERETA? I foster outstanding relationships with my clients and help them navigate the complexities [...]
By Jonnine Eras, SVP, Senior Tax Operations Manager Unexpected increases in escrow accounts are one of the major reasons why borrowers contact servicer call centers. Resolving these calls often take time and require a fair amount of explaining to help homeowners understand why their monthly payment is going up. Over the next few years, however, [...]
If you’ve been with your real estate tax service vendor for a while, switching vendors is likely not top of mind. However, there are times when it makes sense to evaluate your current services and explore other available options. Here are some signs that it might be time to switch. How quick is [...]
By Elly Leonida, FVP Operations Manager Floods are the most common natural disaster in the U.S. In fact, 90% of all natural disasters involve some type of flooding. As a result, floods cause more property damage and loss of life than any other natural hazard. And yet, American homeowners are typically confused when it [...]
Legislative Updates By Staci Hardy, VP Internal Audit & QC Manager LERETA's compliance team regularly monitors and tracks statewide property tax legislation that impacts tax service for our customers. This quarter we are including details on introduced legislation and the progression of seven new bills that we are following. None of these will have any [...]
By Jim Micali, COO Wise Ben Franklin said, “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” If good ole Ben were alive today, he might amend that and say, “Nothing is certain except death, taxes, and the fact that a significant percentage of property taxes will be due at the end of each year, creating [...]
Legislative Updates By Staci Hardy, VP Internal Audit & QC Manager LERETA's compliance team regularly monitors and tracks statewide property tax legislation that impacts tax service for our customers. This quarter we are including details on introduced legislation and the progression of seven new bills that we are following. None of these will have [...]
The sharp slowdown in new originations has resulted in significant downsizing for many lenders, with reductions occurring across the organization, including servicing as well as loan origination. But as executives look at the forecast for lower volumes of new loans coming in the door, they also need to consider how much servicing volume was [...]
Legislative Updates By Staci Hardy, VP Internal Audit & QC Manager LERETA's compliance team regularly monitors and tracks statewide property tax legislation that impacts tax service for our customers. This quarter we are including details on introduced legislation and the progression of nine bills that we are following. None of these will have any impact [...]
By Tiffany Keohane, Client Implementation Manager & Susan Portnoy, SVP Product and Enterprise Operations It may sound like a “stretch,” but some of the basic principles of yoga offer a surprisingly relevant checklist of best practices to look for when assessing a tax servicer – practices that will pay off [...]
By Pat Hedges, SVP Senior Tax Operations Manager Typically, it’s not property taxes – which are most often escrowed and included with monthly mortgage payments – that pose the biggest headaches for lenders and servicers, but rather special-lien tax assessments that can be hard to identify and even harder to [...]
By Jonnine Eras, Senior Vice President, Senior Tax Operations Manager Tax assessments lag home price appreciation (HPA), but eventually they result in tax hikes, unpleasant surprises for homeowners and more work for servicers. Given the dramatic gains in HPA over the last two years, larger tax bills for many [...]
By Kelly Hebert, First Vice President, Sales Operations & Marketing How many times have you heard the phrase, “We have great customer service?” What does this mean exactly? Is there a proven formula that shows empathy + smiling through the phone + knowledge = happy customers? I’m sure a Silicon [...]
By Mike Whiting, Senior Vice President As baby boomers age – with an increasing number saying they want to age at home – and home appreciation continues to bolster home equity values, experts predict a growing interest in reverse mortgages. According to a new Freddie Mac survey, 66% of [...]
By Elly Leonida, FVP Operations Manager Over the last decade, mortgage lenders have seen dramatic changes in how loans are approved, processed and closed with technology and automation improving speed, accuracy and the customer experience. The improvements have permeated all aspects of the mortgage life cycle, including the flood [...]
Legislative Updates By Staci Hardy, VP Internal Audit & QC Manager LERETA's compliance team regularly monitors and tracks statewide property tax legislation that impacts tax service for our customers. This quarter we are including details on introduced legislation and the progression of seven new bills that we are following. None of these will have any [...]
Most servicers understand the benefits of a standard tax service as well as a fully outsourced solution. But many are less familiar with LERETA’s Total Tax Solutions® (TTS®), which can give servicers even greater insight and control over their tax process. To bridge this gap, we recently interviewed Susan [...]
By Tiffany Keohane, & Jonnine Eras We often hear that our clients postpone bringing on new vendors because they’re uncomfortable with the implementation process. They would rather put up with inefficiencies, look the other way on broken systems, or accept a lower grade service than disrupt the process. The idea [...]
Legislative Updates By Staci Hardy, VP Internal Audit & QC Manager LERETA's compliance team regularly monitors and tracks statewide property tax legislation that impacts tax service for our customers. This quarter we are including details on introduced legislation and the progression of seven new bills that we are following. None of these will have any [...]
By Jim McGurer, Senior Vice President, Operations For the past few years, real estate prices (and home appreciation) have been on a tear. In 2020, the average U.S. home price increased by 10.2%, and this year it’s up again at an average increase of 18.5% year over year. But sooner or later, depending on [...]
By Kim Doyel, Senior Client Executive During my 19 years in mortgage servicing, I’ve experienced everything you can imagine good (and not so good) when it comes to managing taxes on both in-house or on an outsourced basis. And I’ve been able to learn what it takes to make those relationships successful. Tax servicing [...]
Legislative Updates By Staci Hardy, VP Internal Audit & QC Manager LERETA's compliance team regularly monitors and tracks statewide property tax legislation that impacts tax service for our customers. This quarter we are including details on introduced legislation and the progression of seven new bills that we are following. None of these will have any [...]
By Michael Whiting, Senior Vice President, Dallas Tax Operations Every year, in-house tax groups and tax service companies grind well into the holiday season with late shifts and weekend hours to get all applicable taxes paid before the dreaded December 31 deadline. But last year, and again this year, that won’t be the case [...]
By Priscilla Anand, Vice President / GIS Technical Manager Mapping Tool Helps Protects Servicers and Homeowners Alike If you’ve read any of our previous blogs, you’ve probably picked up on a common theme: tax servicers need to be extremely diligent setting up tax lines. Miss a parcel or a taxing agency and down the [...]
Legislative Updates By Staci Hardy, VP Internal Audit & QC Manager LERETA's compliance team regularly monitors and tracks statewide property tax legislation that impacts tax service for our customers. This quarter we are including details on introduced legislation and the progression of seven new bills that we are following. None of these will have any [...]
By Shelley Lucas Vice President Tax Operations LERETA Hard to Identify Lower Liens Can Cause Loss of First Lien Position and Collateral Risk Today, it’s hard enough for servicers and tax servicers to keep up with the 23,000 taxing authorities across the U.S., which is why the additional thousands of [...]
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