In This Issue

  • A Letter from the CSSE founder
  • We Are Now Training the Lenders and Servicers Too
  • Backup BPO Assignments Are Opening Doors
  • Equator, Equity Shield and Xome Updates
  • The Numbers Keep Confirming What We Have Been Saying
  • The Scariest Number I Saw This Month
  • Members Are Winning with Social Media
  • Stop Chasing Foreclosure Lists
  • A Financial Trend Few Agents Are Watching
  • September Client Training Returns
  • One Final Thought
  • Quick Action Items This Month

Michael Krein

Opportunity follows preparation.

A Letter from the Author, Executive Educator and CSSE Founder

Over the past month we have been busier than ever, and the momentum we are seeing continues to reinforce everything we have been talking about for the last couple of months. The distressed housing market is not coming someday. It has already started. This is not another 2008, and I do not believe it will happen overnight. What we are watching is a slow, steady build in mortgage delinquencies, financial stress, and homeowners looking for solutions before they lose their homes. That is exactly why we created Certified Short Sale Experts.

This past month alone we trained real estate agents, brokers, asset managers, loss mitigation specialists, servicing companies, and investors. We conducted national webinars, expanded our relationships with major servicing platforms, and most importantly, watched more of our members begin receiving listings and referrals because they positioned themselves before everyone else.

One theme runs through this entire issue. Opportunity follows preparation. The agents who wait until short sales become obvious will spend the next few years trying to catch up. The agents who are learning, marketing, building relationships, and branding themselves today will be the ones everyone else is calling.

You will find a lot of encouraging developments in this issue. More clients are recognizing the value of professionally trained short sale experts, more servicing companies are reaching out, more agents are referring business, and the market data continues to point in the same direction. Several updates below could directly affect your business, along with action items I would encourage every CSSE member to complete over the next few weeks.

Thank you for being part of the Certified Short Sale Experts family. Together we are helping homeowners find solutions while building stronger businesses and stronger relationships with the clients who depend on experienced professionals.

Michael Krein
Author, Certified Short Sale Experts® | President, National REO Brokers Association

We Are Now Training the Lenders and Servicers Too

One of the biggest milestones this past month was the launch of our new Lender and Servicer Short Sale Fraud and Recovery Program. For years we have focused on training real estate agents and brokers to handle distressed sales properly. Now we are training the other side of the transaction as well, and the response has exceeded our expectations.

The course runs six hours, broken into three live two-hour webinar sessions, and is designed specifically for loss mitigation staff, asset managers, quality control personnel, servicers, and others responsible for reviewing and approving short sales. Our first class had 22 lender and servicing professionals in attendance. Before we finished the series, we were already receiving requests for the recorded sessions so entire departments could go back through the training, and several companies have asked for access so additional staff members can complete the program.

That tells me something important. Many of the people working in loss mitigation today have never been through a major short sale cycle. Short sales became such a small part of the market over the past decade that much of that institutional knowledge simply disappeared. As the market shifts again, lenders are realizing they need to rebuild that expertise, and that is where CSSE comes in.

We are teaching today’s servicing professionals how to recognize short sale fraud, improve recoveries, understand valuation issues, identify red flags, and manage today’s distressed transactions. Just as importantly, every class introduces these organizations to the Certified Short Sale Experts designation and the value professionally trained agents bring to the transaction.

Every lender, servicer, asset manager, and loss mitigation specialist we train now understands why working with a Certified Short Sale Expert makes their job easier. They know what our members have been taught, the standards we expect, and the difference between someone with specialized training and someone trying to figure it out as they go. That is one of the best forms of marketing we can do. We are not just promoting the designation to agents. We are educating the very people who assign and approve the business, and building credibility for every CSSE member one class at a time.

This is only the beginning. We expect many more servicing companies and institutional clients to participate in the coming months as short sale activity continues to increase. Our goal has always been simple. Make Certified Short Sale Experts the recognized standard for short sale professionals. Every class we teach brings us one step closer.

We are educating the very people who assign and approve the business.

Treat every backup BPO as a job interview.

Backup BPO Assignments Are Opening Doors

A major focus of our lender and servicer classes has been teaching clients how to identify potential short sale fraud and when to obtain an independent backup Broker Price Opinion. As a result, more clients are already reaching out for experienced brokers to perform these assignments, and that is a tremendous opportunity for our members.

Several servicing clients are now requesting backup BPOs on selected short sale files where they want a second opinion on value, marketing, property condition, or possible fraud indicators. One of our graduates recently identified another questionable transaction for a client, reinforcing just how important these independent reviews have become. If you are receiving these requests, accept them whenever possible.

Some agents look at a BPO and see just another valuation assignment. We do not. Treat every backup BPO as a job interview. The client is evaluating far more than your opinion of value. They are looking at your professionalism, market knowledge, attention to detail, and communication, and deciding whether you are someone they can trust with future assignments. Do a great job on one backup BPO and you may be the first person they think of the next time they need a coordinated short sale, a traditional short sale listing, an REO assignment, a local market expert, or additional valuation work. Relationships with institutional clients are built one assignment at a time.

Nearly all of our NRBA members, along with many CSSE members, have already completed our Backup BPO and Short Sale Fraud training, and the quality of work they have been submitting has received outstanding feedback from our clients. That is exactly the reputation we want to keep building. If you have not taken the Backup BPO and Fraud Detection course yet, another training class is coming soon. The more trained brokers we have available, the better we serve our clients and the more opportunities we create for our members.

Every assignment is an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise. Treat each one like the most important file you have ever worked on, because you never know which assignment leads to the next listing.

Equator, Equity Shield and Xome Updates

One of the questions I get almost every week is how to get more short sale assignments. The answer starts with visibility.

We have continued working closely with Equator, Xome, and several of the major servicing companies that use their platforms, and those relationships keep producing benefits for members. One of the newest opportunities comes through Equity Shield, an Altisource company that works closely with Equator. Their focus is coordinated short sales, and when they need qualified agents, they look for Certified Short Sale Experts through the Equator platform. That means your Equator profile matters more today than ever before.

Verify Your Equator Profile

Log into your Equator account and confirm your CSSE designation is checked. Then verify that you have uploaded your completion certificate. We have seen several members check the designation box but forget the certificate, and without it your designation is not verified and will not appear in searches. Members have already begun receiving assignments through this process, and I fully expect that number to keep growing.

Get Into the Next Xome Update

We have already submitted the names of everyone who completed the CSSE course during May to the Xome Expert Seller Program, and next week we will send another update covering everyone who completed the certification in June. If you have been putting off finishing the course, complete your certification before the next submission so your information is included.

The Xome Expert Seller database is separate from the REO side of the business. This is the group that handles coordinated short sales and related assignments for clients including Mr. Cooper/Nationstar, Rocket, and others. Those are exactly the relationships you want to be building.

Do not assume anyone knows you are certified. Take a few minutes today to verify your Equator profile, confirm your designation is active, upload your certificate, and finish your certification if you have not already. Those few minutes could be the difference between receiving an assignment and never being considered in the first place.

Do not assume anyone knows you are certified.

The Numbers Keep Confirming What We Have Been Saying

Over the past month we conducted several national webinars for Equator, Xome, and other industry organizations on where the distressed housing market is headed and what we are seeing across the country. We will be posting the latest webinar on the CSSE website shortly, and I encourage every member to watch it. The numbers have been updated and several new slides put today’s market into perspective.

Every time I update this presentation, one thing becomes clearer. The distress pipeline grows every month. Depending on the data source, approximately 2.2 to 2.3 million homeowners are now behind on their mortgage payments. More than 750,000 borrowers are already 90 or more days delinquent, and we continue to see over 40,000 new foreclosure filings across the country each month.

Those numbers alone should get your attention, but the progression behind them matters even more. Borrowers who are 30 days late today become the borrowers who are 60 days late. Borrowers who are 60 days late become the borrowers who are 90 days late. Eventually, a percentage of those homeowners will exhaust every available workout option and begin looking at selling their home. Most will not be able to sell conventionally, and most will not qualify for additional loss mitigation. They will need a Certified Short Sale Expert to help them. That is the pipeline we have been talking about. This is not a market that will suddenly wake up one morning looking like 2008. It is a slow, steady increase in financial stress that is creating more opportunities for knowledgeable agents every single month.

2.2–2.3M

homeowners currently behind on mortgage payments

750,000+

borrowers 90+ days delinquent

40,000+

new foreclosure filings every month

10x

an FHA borrower today is more likely to become seriously delinquent than a conventional borrower

The FHA Numbers Stand Out

Today the serious delinquency rate, meaning 90 or more days behind, sits at 0.59 percent for conventional loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and approximately 2.61 percent for VA loans. FHA loans are now at 6.10 percent. An FHA borrower today is already ten times more likely to become seriously delinquent than a conventional borrower.

That should not surprise us. FHA borrowers typically purchased with smaller down payments and have less equity, smaller financial reserves, and far more exposure to rising insurance costs, property taxes, inflation, and unexpected financial setbacks. This is exactly why we have continued to stress targeting FHA borrowers in your marketing. It is one of the largest concentrations of potential short sale business in today’s market.

These numbers are not just statistics. They are telling us where tomorrow’s listings are likely to come from, and the agents who understand these trends today will be far better prepared than the agents who wait until everyone else starts talking about them.

The Scariest Number I Saw This Month

Every month we all look at foreclosure filings. That is the number the media reports, and it is certainly important. But I came across another statistic recently that I think is more revealing.

According to the FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac completed 58,317 foreclosure prevention actions during the first quarter of 2026, up from 55,028 during the fourth quarter of 2025. Those are not foreclosure filings. Those are homeowners who were heading toward foreclosure and received some type of intervention before a foreclosure was filed, including loan modifications, payment deferrals, repayment plans, partial claims, and other foreclosure prevention alternatives.

Here is the part that really caught my attention. During the first quarter of this year we were already averaging more than 40,000 foreclosure filings every month while tens of thousands of additional homeowners were entering foreclosure prevention programs at the same time. Without those GSE programs, we would have seen close to another 20,000 filings each month, roughly 60,000 per month in total.

The distress pipeline continues to build beneath the surface.

The level of financial stress in this country is much larger than the foreclosure numbers alone suggest. Filings are simply the cases that have already exhausted most of the available options. Behind them sits a much larger group of homeowners struggling to make payments and working through the loss mitigation process. Will every one of those homeowners eventually lose their home? Of course not. Some will successfully modify their loans or get back on track. But history also tells us that not every workout succeeds.

That is why I believe this is one of the most important statistics we have looked at all year. It confirms that the distress pipeline continues to build beneath the surface, even where it is not fully reflected in today’s foreclosure filings. Today’s lenders are doing everything they can to keep borrowers in their homes. When that is not possible, that is where our members step in.

22

lending and servicing professionals...

were in the first Fraud and Recovery class.

3 million+

+ Americans over 62 ...
still carrying student loan debt, up 67% since 2018.

3 to 6

contacts before...

a distressed homeowner typically responds.

Certified Short Sale Expert Members Are Winning with Social Media

One of the things I have enjoyed most over the past month is watching so many of our agents embrace social media marketing. David Wainwright, Albert Hakim, Amy Gluch, Jim Bass, and several others deserve recognition for the educational posts, market updates, graphics, and videos that position them as the local short sale expert in their markets. Best of all, they are not spending hours creating this content. Many are using AI tools to help write posts, generate ideas, and create graphics, and they are taking advantage of the CSSE tools available today to build their personal brands faster than ever before.

If you have not started yet, now is the time, but keep one principle in mind. Real estate is hyper-local. Do not try to market to the entire country. Market to your city, your county, and your neighborhood. Every graphic should include your name, your photo, your contact information, and something that immediately identifies your market. If you are in St. Louis, use the Gateway Arch. In Seattle, the Space Needle. In Nashville, downtown. In Miami, the skyline or waterfront. The goal is not to become famous across the country. The goal is to become the very first person people think of when someone in your community needs help with a short sale.

Remember, homeowners do not search for “short sale expert.” They search for phrases like “short sale agent in Tampa,” “short sale Realtor near me,” “help selling my house in Phoenix,” and “foreclosure help in St. Louis.” That is exactly why your location needs to be part of everything you publish. Google is paying attention, the AI search engines are paying attention, and your future clients are paying attention. Every article you write, every graphic you post, every video you publish, and every LinkedIn or Facebook update builds your online reputation and your local authority.

The members who consistently create content today are building a digital footprint that will keep working for them for years to come. Consistency wins. Keep posting, keep educating, and keep branding yourself as the local expert. Six months from now you will be amazed at how much business you have gained.

A Financial Trend Few Agents Are Watching

When we talk about student loan debt, most people immediately think about younger homebuyers, and that is understandable. They bought recently, often with very little money down, and now they are restarting student loan payments while dealing with higher mortgage payments, rising insurance costs, property taxes, and inflation. But they are not the only group struggling.

One statistic I came across while updating my latest presentation honestly surprised me. More than 3 million Americans over the age of 62 still have outstanding student loan debt, up from approximately 1.8 million in 2018. That is roughly a 67 percent increase in just a few years among people who are entering or already in retirement.

Now add everything else that is happening. Many of these homeowners live on fixed incomes or are preparing to retire while property taxes, homeowners insurance, and the cost of everyday living continue to climb, and many are once again making student loan payments. Here is the part that really gets your attention. If they default on certain federal student loans, the government can garnish Social Security benefits, intercept federal tax refunds, and garnish wages for borrowers who are still working. That is a tremendous amount of financial pressure on a segment of the population most real estate agents never think about.

Will every one of these homeowners need a short sale? Of course not. But this is exactly the type of trend we should be paying attention to. Financial stress does not always show up in the same places, and every market cycle creates new groups of homeowners who begin struggling for different reasons. For years we have talked about recent FHA buyers, borrowers with little equity, and homeowners who have exhausted their loan modification options. This is another group worth watching closely and learning how to market to. The better you understand where financial stress is developing, the better prepared you will be when homeowners begin looking for solutions.

Stop Chasing Foreclosure Lists

One of the questions I get almost everywhere I speak is where the best short sale listings come from. Most people expect me to say foreclosure lists. I do not.

Can you get listings from Notice of Default lists? Absolutely, and several of our members are having success with them right now. But they are also finding exactly what I expected. By the time an NOD is filed, the homeowner has often already been contacted by investors, wholesalers, real estate agents, attorneys, mortgage companies, and just about everyone else who buys the same list. The competition is intense.

There is a better way, and it is exactly what we teach in the CSSE Marketing Module. Find the homeowner before the Notice of Default is ever filed. Instead of marketing to people after everyone else knows they are in trouble, identify the borrowers who are showing signs of financial stress and begin building relationships before the competition knows they exist. We are seeing increasing opportunities with FHA borrowers, recent homebuyers with very little equity, borrowers who have exhausted previous loan modifications, homeowners carrying high debt loads, and other targeted groups showing early signs of financial stress. This is not about sending thousands of postcards to random homeowners. It is about identifying the right people and delivering the right message before everyone else shows up.

There is another lesson our members are learning. Marketing takes consistency. One postcard is not a campaign, and neither is one letter or one Facebook ad. Most homeowners will not respond the first time they hear from you, or the second. It often takes three to six contacts before someone finally picks up the phone. Life gets busy, people set things aside, and some homeowners simply are not ready to ask for help the first time your letter arrives. That does not mean they will not call you later. Stay with the same targeted list, reach out every two or three weeks, and be consistent. The agents who stick with it are the ones who eventually receive the calls.

I have said this for years, and I still believe it today. The best listing is not the one everyone else is chasing. It is the one you found before anyone else even knew it was available.

September Client Training Returns

Since we wrapped up our most recent live client training class, the question I keep hearing is when we will do it again. The answer is September.

We will once again offer the complete Certified Short Sale Experts Fraud and Recovery Training for Lenders and Servicers over three separate days, with each session lasting approximately two hours. Just like our last class, we will break the material into manageable sections so everyone has time to absorb the information, ask questions, and interact throughout the training.

Every class is a little different. The market changes, guidelines change, and technology changes, which is one of the reasons I still enjoy teaching. Each time we run the program, we include new market data, new case studies, new client feedback, and new strategies that simply did not exist a few months earlier.

If you attended the last live class, thank you. The response was tremendous, and I appreciate all of the positive feedback. If you have staff members who could not attend, September is a great opportunity to get everyone on the same page. One well-trained asset manager or loss mitigation specialist can make a tremendous difference in how efficiently a short sale department operates and how investors and clients score its performance. We are also continuing to make the recorded sessions available to institutional clients and asset management partners, and several organizations have already requested access for additional staff members. Registration details will be announced shortly.

The agents who build the biggest businesses are not necessarily the smartest agents.

...

They are the ones who prepare before everyone else.

One Final Thought

I have been doing this for over 40 years. I have watched markets go up and down, interest rates hit double digits, the savings and loan crisis, the foreclosure crisis, COVID, and everything in between. If there is one thing I have learned, it is this. The agents who build the biggest businesses are not necessarily the smartest agents. They are the ones who prepare before everyone else.

I still hear people say they have not seen that many short sales yet. Maybe so. But here is what we are seeing every single week. Delinquency numbers are increasing. Financial stress is increasing. The number of homeowners looking for solutions is increasing. Servicers are investing in training again. Institutional clients are requesting backup BPOs again. Coordinated short sales are increasing, and agents are referring short sale business because they do not know how to handle it. Those are not opinions. They are observations.

I honestly believe we are still in the early innings, and the agents who are preparing today will be the ones everyone calls when the market really begins to accelerate. That is why we continue to stress education, why we teach agents and brokers, why we now teach lenders and servicers, and why we keep investing in relationships with companies like Equator, Equity Shield, and Xome. Everything we are doing has one purpose. Creating more opportunities for our members.

I appreciate each of you being one of the Certified Short Sale Experts. Keep learning, keep marketing, keep building relationships, and most importantly, keep helping homeowners. Do those things consistently and I truly believe the next several years can become some of the best years of your career.

Quick Action Items This Month

  1. Verify your Equator profile, confirm your CSSE designation is checked, and upload your completion certificate.
  2. Review your local marketing plan and begin identifying homeowners before a Notice of Default is filed rather than relying solely on foreclosure lists.
  3. Post at least one educational short sale article or graphic every week on Facebook and LinkedIn. Consistency builds credibility.
  4. Brand every social media post locally with your name, city or county, photo, and local landmarks whenever possible.
  5. Reach out to five local real estate agents this month and remind them you accept short sale referrals.
  6. Post in real estate referral groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, and other networking communities letting agents know you specialize in short sales and coordinated sales.
  7. Review your CSSE Directory profile and make sure your contact information, service areas, and profile details are current.
  8. Accept every qualified backup BPO opportunity you receive and treat each one as a client interview that can lead to future short sale, coordinated sale, REO, and valuation assignments.
  9. Watch the latest market webinar and become familiar with the current delinquency, FHA, foreclosure, and loss mitigation statistics.
  10. Follow Certified Short Sale Experts on Facebook and LinkedIn, and share, repost, or customize our content for your own local market.
  11. Lenders, servicers, and asset management firms should watch for our September live CSSE training and register staff early.

Michael Krein
Author, Certified Short Sale Experts® | President, National REO Brokers Association