Foreclosure Trends, AI, and Staffing Smarts with Matt Podmenik

Host: David Wharton

Episode Title: Foreclosure Trends, AI, and Staffing Smarts with Matt Podmenik

Duration: Approximately 7 minutes and 7 seconds

Episode Summary:
In this episode of MP Access, we’re joined by Matthew Podmenik of McCarthy & Holthus LLP, speaking from the Velocity Conference floor. With over 20 years of legal experience in mortgage servicing and title litigation, Matt brings a clear-eyed look at today's dynamic market conditions. He discusses the increase in foreclosure referrals, the critical need for smart staffing, and how evolving tech and remote work have reshaped operational models. Matt also shares takeaways from teaching a course on title issues, reflecting on lessons learned from a room full of asset managers. If you're navigating post-COVID industry shifts, this episode delivers both practical advice and professional perspective.

Key Discussion:

• Foreclosure volume is rising, but resolution rates remain high
• The staffing challenges of a hybrid and remote workforce
• Teaching title issues—and learning just as much in return
• The value of Legal League for education and networking
• Real-world conference moments that reinforce lasting relationships

Resources & Links:

• MortgagePoint Magazine
• Contact Us

Subscribe & Listen:

Available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Google Podcasts, and iHeartRadio.

Transcript

All right. Welcome, everybody. We are here on the floor at the Velocity Conference in Fort Worth for our force membership. We were talking to various luminaries here on the floor today. And today. We have with us Matthew pod medic from McCarthy and holdfast LLP. Matthew, welcome. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you. And thank you for calling me a luminary, I appreciate.

I try to try to butter people up. That's what I do. So, I know you've worked with us for many, many years, in various capacities with legally get everything else. This is a very force focused conference, but, I know you're here speaking on panels, and, you did some, some, of course, training yesterday.

So to start with, just it's a very chaotic marketplace right now. There's a lot going on in Washington, a lot to keep track of. What are some of the advice you would have for anybody working in this market right now, whether that be for other firms, whether it be for services that you guys work with? What is just some general advice you've got?

Sure. Right now we are seeing a slight uptick in foreclosure referrals, which, of course, for our industry is a good thing. However, we're still seeing a high percentage of those files not going to completion, which also is generally a good thing. Certainly good for, homeowners. But as you see the work picking up, you know, caution everyone about staffing levels.

You know, we've been it seems like the last couple of years been trending downward and now things are picking up. You gotta make sure you stay ahead of that because the last thing you want is the work to come in and not have the capacity to do it. We're all investing in AI and other technologies to help us, but you're always going to need people on the ground and good people.

So be cognizant of your file counts per, employee, and be prepared to start interviewing and staffing up. What does that staffing look like over the last few years since we came out of Covid, obviously that changed a lot of things. Is it become more difficult to to maintain staff, or is it just about keeping kind of a your eye on the horizon so you know what levels to maintain?

Yeah, it's definitely hard to keep the entry level staff. There's a lot of opportunities, a lot of opportunities to work fully remote. You know, our our firm does a great job. We're hybrid. Still being said, a lot of applicants want full remote. So that's difficult. But again, our folks, I'm pretty lucky that the average tenure of an employee is over ten years.

So we've got a lot of good seasoned staff. But again, there are, limitations on how much anyone can handle. So you're always going to be looking for that next wave of, employees that come in and then again, in a hybrid or a fully remote makes it a little more difficult to do the initial training where it's better for people to be in the office.

So, we're focused on that when we get new hires. But, you know, we've been pretty lucky with the staff we had. Well, I know here at, here at force yesterday, you were, you were teaching on the understanding title issues course. Can you tell me a little bit about that course? How'd it go? And what are some, some kind of takeaways from that?

Yeah. Well, you know, part of the one of the two reasons I come to conferences like force is to learn something. Right. And I thought it was slightly ironic that, I'm doing a class on teaching, and you end up learning so much. Right. So I was presenting to a roomful of asset managers that had decades of experience on average.

As an attorney who's practiced for 20 years, I filed thousands of title claims. I've been involved in hundreds of lawsuits involving title issues, and it seems like they all had more experience than I did. So as far as a, education goes, I think we all learned there was tons of war stories going back and forth.

It was great. Right? Start talking. Then you start getting questions and all of a sudden you're completely off script and just, you know, talking. And then of course, after the sessions, everyone wants to come up and tell you their crazy a story. And through that you get to meet people, which is, you know, another reason to come here to network, but you'll meet a lot of good people, a lot of potential clients and learned a ton.

And certainly, you know, it's fun to hear someone else's war story because it's not your case. That took five years to resolve. Yeah. So again, the the interesting part for me was to hear others or stories. It's always nice when it's not your story that took so long that, resolved, but also hearing how they resolve it gives you that ammo to take back to your office.

Like, hey, if you ever see something like this, try this as a solution. And you know, sure enough, it'll it'll come up eventually. Absolutely. Well, that also brings up, another natural association. Like I mentioned, you guys have been with legally for, for some time. Been involved in kind of everything that they do, webinars and, and stuff.

What are some of the, the real benefits you've seen, some of the things you've learned from that association and what would what would you, you know, what would you say to someone who's considering joining legally? Yeah, I, I love the legal aid. The Legal League has been great. Our firm it's been great to me comparative to other trade organizations.

I think you get a lot more for your money. For example, this conference is not spot on with everything our firm does, but we get, to come to this conference for free. Certainly get an opportunity to speak, which is always good. But you get a lot of bang for your buck. And there there are potential clients here.

The legal league membership gives you a lot of discounts or admissions to different conferences versus some of the other organizations where you got to pay for everything you do, and it adds up quite a bit. You know, it's pretty easy when you get a discounted admission, when you get to be around, professionals that are at a conference like force.

So I get a lot of bang out of the buck for the legal league. I'm involved with a publication committee. We put out a newsletter, once a quarter. There's great information on our case updates. It helps you stay current. In working with others in the industry from different geographic regions. Whatever they're saying, we're going to see, you know, three months and vice versa.

So it's a great way to keep, on the pulse of what's going on in the industry and certainly hear how others are navigating the space. And it's a great community in terms of sharing best practices. So I get a lot out of the legal league and I, I really enjoy it. Last question. You mentioned some of this just talking about your, your course that you, you, led the other day, but, it's early in the day on day two here at the Force Conference.

But had there been any real highlights, any any moments you want to share with us about, so far? Well, I, I guess on a personal level, I ran into a client I hadn't seen in a couple of years. I, I had thought he had retired, ran into him. And, you know, it's conferences like this that you say that you you always hope to meet the the new client.

But I ran into a client that, had changed jobs. So he's not a referring client anymore. But it was awesome to catch up with him and see him, and and sure enough, you know, our paths will cross again. So that was, that was a personal highlight for me. That's great. Well, awesome. Well, thank you for taking some time to talk with him that appreciate you.

And, thank you. Thank you everybody, for tuning in.