From time-to-time Foreclosurepedia stands in awe of certain people; folks whom come from both Labor and Management. One of those is Milan Thompson. Sixteen years or so ago, Thompson began his ascent to the top of the pinnacle of that which we call ASONS. Thompson lead ASONS for years as it’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and now serves as their Chairman of the Board. As he puts it,
A little over 15 years ago I was given the opportunity to become the 1st employee at ASONS. We sure have come a long way from that first day when I started. I was given a desk with paper, blue pen, and phone.
I shared a fax machine, had no computer, and there was no internet connection to the outside world even if I had a computer. That day I had a choice and an opportunity. I chose to accept the responsibility for recruiting vendors, writing work orders, creating sales, updating vendor completions, performing all accounting and invoicing duties.
Within a month I had created an internal network that I had to manage and purchased a computer for myself. At times, I was even responsible for taking out the trash.— Thompson’s Company Email Retirement Speech, 28 August 2014
Over the years, Thompson has been both a maverick and always modest about his accomplishments. That modesty, at least with me, has never been ascribed to fear; that modesty has always been a station of a true leader. That is why when I need to take the Pulse of the Industry, Thompson is generally the last stop. Many may say, Why not the first stop? Because I want to be able to gauge the veracity of statements which I already possess. It is fact checking, if you will, in a manner not dissimilar to how the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR) defense analyst used my #OpISIS material to back check that which he was receiving initially with respect to the cyber war against the Islamic State by Anonymous.
When I caught up with Thompson the A2Z Field Service‘s shoe in contract with BLM REO had just been turned down hours before. In full disclosure, ASONS performs services on behalf of BLM. As always, our conversation was on point and informational.
On the US Department of Housing and Urban Development‘s (HUD) peculiar requirement which tends to hamstring the Management and Marketing (M&M) Field Service Manager (FSM) Awardee,
Did you know that HUD will only allow their FSM’s (in this case BLM) to give a max of 47% of their work to any one large business.
Thompson on A2ZFS turning down BLM’s Contract,
I can’t speak for BLM or A2Z but I would assume that they had some type of agreement where A2Z was going to get close to the 47% business volume number.
ASONS has a great working relationship with BLM and great respect for Bill McMullen & Amie Sparks over at A2Z and what they have accomplished over the years.
Thompson on how a Contract or lack thereof between A2ZFS and BLM would have an impact upon ASONS,
If what you are saying is true, it will not increase or decrease ASONS work load due to HUD contractor rules and the volume we already receive.
Thompson on the HUD Contractual Circus and the prognosis of pricing in the near future,
Competitive pricing to win HUD awards these days is very challenging. To service these properties as the 2nd or 3rd tier contractor is no picnic.
As long as HUD chooses the low cost provider and only opens up the majority of the bidding to small businesses I don’t see the downward spiraling of prices getting any better.
With that said I will point out that in 1999 when ASONS worked for Golden Feather as a contractor, here in Indiana, we were paid $350 to trash out, mow, and clean each property. Back then we had an average of 12 cys of debris at each property.
Thompson expresses that which most Industry C Level personnel believe; however, are terrified to even think, let alone publicly state. What Thompson clearly elucidates upon is something that neither Craig Karnes nor other Beltway Politicians want discussed openly. It is also why Milan Thompson is accorded the respect not only from Foreclosurepedia, but from the Industry as a whole.
We are going to roll out more on Mr Thompson over the next several weeks and hopefully be able to give the Industry a never before seen view of the how and why of Mortgage Field Services from Management’s perspective.
Stick with Foreclosurepedia as we begin to open the tomes and relate the ups and downs of the Industry Godfathers.
