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Say His Name: Michael Evangelo Closed NMFS With An Apology And Left Labor Holding The Debt

Michael Evangelo. Say it plainly, because he did not say it to the people he owes. He announced the death of National Mortgage Field Services by no-reply email, signed it “Former CEO,” and sent it to the Field Service Technicians and Inspectors who completed the work and have not been paid for it. And while Labor is not paid, Evangelo is living it up on social security payments compensated by Labor through their taxes. And make no mistake, there will be no bankruptcy. He will fade into the night like the rest of his fellow toxic National Association of Mortgage Field Services (NAMFS) pals have.

Foreclosurepedia has written to HUD about what that letter admits and about the pattern behind it. Three firms, the same sequence, and an agency that moves contracts while Labor chases the wreckage. This is the part HUD will not answer. The rest belongs to Evangelo.

Michael Evangelo Wrote The Confession Himself

Read the letter for what it concedes. Evangelo says NMFS closed because it could not pay people. He says the company chose to stop before “even more” Inspectors performed work it would probably not be able to pay for. The word “even” carries the whole case.

It means Inspectors were already working for nothing, and Michael Evangelo knew it. And simply closing the doors does not stop the litigation. He has a very nice home he moved to from Texas to Georgia and that should be the first move any lawyer makes — seize the assets!

He says clients began redirecting payments in January. He says staff and Inspectors were not being paid by February 1. He says he waited until March 28 to act, then spent roughly six more months assigning inspections, recruiting new Inspectors, and promising a rebuild.

Foreclosurepedia has also reported that NMFS announced a change of ownership to its contractors on December 30, 2025, and that Labor kept inspecting and kept getting dispatched into 2026 while the company’s own owner was telling staff the company had zero dollars. These are the scurrilous #Fraudsters that created the pump and dump playbook at NAMFS.

A man who knows the account is empty and keeps dispatching work is not describing a collapse. He is describing a decision. Whether that decision meets a legal standard is for a court. What it did to the people who did the work needs no court to describe.

What Michael Evangelo Counted, And What He Did Not

The letter counts to the dollar what NMFS owes its staff: more than $5,000. It does not state what is owed to Inspectors. By his own account hundreds of them quit or stopped taking work because they were not being paid, and the debt to them remains a number he declined to write down.

A man who can count the staff debt and cannot count the Inspector debt has made a choice about whose losses deserve a figure. And we should note that Scott Nerdin and InspectorADE certainly had no problem posting his message below.

Then comes the appeal for sympathy. Evangelo writes that he took no salary for more than three years, that the purchase price was never paid, and that his family suffered hardship. The letter has a paragraph for his family and a link to job listings for Labor. Foreclosurepedia has not verified the salary claim, and the letter offers no document for it. Would seem extremely hard to live for three years without cash.

Inspectors who fueled their vehicles on the strength of NMFS dispatches have hardship too. Theirs comes with unpaid invoices.

The Letter Counts The Premium, Not The Debt

The letter says the decision became unavoidable when NMFS could not make its next business insurance payment and open inspections had fallen to about 250. It also says the inability to pay Inspectors and staff was “one of the primary reasons” for closing. It does not say whether premiums were paid during the months Inspectors went unpaid, and it does not state what Inspectors are owed. Foreclosurepedia is asking both questions.

One manager was fired for asking when she would be paid. The letter places that in the stretch it ties to Clinton Penny’s control, and says she remains unpaid today.

The Photograph Paragraph

In a letter explaining why he cannot pay Labor, Evangelo found room to write that “in a small number of cases” there were serious documentation problems, and that photographs from earlier inspections “appeared to have been reused on new inspections.” One paragraph later he writes that he is not blaming Inspectors.

The letter names no Inspector, no inspection, and no client complaint. It raises the accusation in the same document that tells Labor there is no money, and it leaves the accusation on the record of a company that cannot answer for its own books.

The Board Seat He Left Out

The letter tells Inspectors that NMFS has not been a member of NAMFS for about three years and that the closing is “unrelated to NAMFS.” The sentence is carefully built. It speaks to NMFS’s membership. It says nothing about the man signing it.

Michael Evangelo appears as a board member on NAMFS’s Form 990 filings for FY2016 and FY2017, and in FY2017 he is listed as a director. He sat in the governing room of the trade association that markets itself to this industry as its standard-bearer. Today he is a former member of nothing.

A man cannot hold a board seat at the association, run a company that collapses on Labor, and then tell Labor the two have nothing to do with each other. NAMFS owes this industry an answer on its own ground: what it knew about NMFS, when it knew it, and whether any member that Labor trusted dispatched work on the strength of that name.

Three Firms, One Pattern, One Agency

Foreclosurepedia told HUD what Labor already knows. When National Field Network collapsed, the agencies scrambled to move the contracts, not to pay the people. When NMFS collapsed, Labor was left chasing the wreckage. 24 Asset Management now owes more than $400,000 to Labor, with no payment and no word from HUD, despite itemized spreadsheets, victim confirmations, and more than a year of notice.

Federal contracting already requires a prime to certify that its subcontractors are paid. HUD has never made payment confirmation to Labor a condition of keeping the work. When an agency has the evidence and does nothing, that is a decision, and Foreclosurepedia told HUD so in writing.

Fuel is climbing. Tariffs are lifting material costs. Inflation is eating the last of the margin. Every unpaid invoice pushes more Field Service Technicians and Inspectors out of this industry for good, and a contractor without a workforce is a logo and a phone number. Alpine Companies can be handed the awards. It cannot be handed Labor’s trust.

Say The Name

Michael Evangelo ran a company for sixteen years under one name. He took Labor’s work for months after he knew the money was gone. He closed it only when the insurance payment came due. He then wrote a letter that told the people he owes to apply elsewhere.

Say his name when an Inspector asks why the invoice never cleared. Say it when a Field Service Technician decides the next unpaid job is not worth the fuel. Say it when the next owner promises that this time it will be different. Michael Evangelo made the word “dispatch” mean something Labor now has to fear, and the people who did the work should not have to carry the debt and the silence.

What This Is, And What It Isn’t

This is the former Chief Executive of a field services company stating in writing that the company could not pay, kept taking Labor’s work, and has no plan to pay now. Will there be a finding of civil and/or criminal fraud? Intent under any wage, contract, or federal statute is a question for a court, and the letter proves knowledge and timing, at minimum. Labor has a much differently toned accusation other than fraud. And I personally do not blame them.

Document every unpaid invoice. Keep every dispatch, every message, and every photograph. File your claims. Foreclosurepedia expects more Inspectors to come forward, and it will report what they say.

NMFS is closed. The invoices are not. The name is Michael Evangelo, and it stays on the record. The Clients paid Evangelo and NMFS, it is time to go after the Clients whom will, in turn, sue Evangelo and NMFS as they did in the NFN Involuntary Bankruptcy!


From: Michael Evangelo <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, Oct 6, 2026 at 9:40 AM
Subject: Important Notice: National Mortgage Field Services Has Ceased Operations
To: [Redacted]

 

InspectorADE Logo


To All NMFS Inspectors,

This is one of the most difficult messages we have ever had to
write.

National Mortgage Field Services has ceased operations and is no
longer in business.

We know that many of you will have questions, and the most important
question for inspectors who have completed work is whether you will
be paid for outstanding inspections. We do not want to give anyone
false hope or leave that question unanswered.

NMFS does not have the funds available to pay the outstanding
amounts owed to inspectors, and we do not expect that financial
situation to change.

There is no future payment date that we can give you. There is no
reserve of money from which these outstanding inspector payments can
be made. In fact, the inability to pay inspectors and staff is one
of the primary reasons we made the decision to close rather than
continue assigning work when we knew there was a high probability
the company would not be able to pay for it.

Those of you who completed work and are still owed money deserve an
explanation of how we reached this point.

National Mortgage Field Services became an LLC in 2010, although our
field service operation began several years before that under
another company name. Over the years, we worked with many excellent
inspectors, employees, clients, mortgage companies, preservation
companies, and other organizations throughout the country.

Some members of our management team have spent a large part of their
working lives with this company. Lori has been with us for
approximately 18 years, including the years before NMFS became an
LLC, and Melissa has been a manager for approximately 15 years.

The event that began the financial decline that NMFS ultimately
could not overcome occurred earlier this year.

In January, control of NMFS was transferred to Clinton Penny under
what was intended to become the sale of the company. As part of that
transition, several of our larger clients began directing their
payments to him.

By February 1, it had become clear to me and our management staff
that something was seriously wrong.

Our staff members were not being paid. Our inspectors were not being
paid. In fact, during that period, virtually nobody who was supposed
to be receiving payment for their work was being paid. One of our
managers was terminated after raising the question of when she was
going to be paid, and she remains unpaid today.

We knew by February 1 that we could not allow the situation to
continue.

However, under the terms of the agreement we had signed, there was a
contractual period that prevented us from immediately terminating
the transaction. We could not simply declare the agreement void and
take the company back.

We had to wait until March 28 before we could formally act.

When March 28 arrived, we retained an attorney who prepared and
delivered a formal letter of rescission terminating the proposed
sale. We then took control of NMFS back and began trying to recover
what remained of the company.

At the time, we believed there was still a possibility that we could
repair the damage and rebuild NMFS.

What we did not fully understand at the time was that the damage had
already been done.

For nearly two months, a substantial portion of the revenue normally
coming into NMFS from some of our largest clients had not been
available to the company while inspectors, staff, and company
obligations were going unpaid.

For a company such as NMFS, losing that cash flow created a
financial hole that became extremely difficult to overcome.

Hundreds of inspectors understandably stopped accepting work or
resigned because they were not being paid. We do not blame them.
They had bills to pay and families to support.

But losing that many inspectors also damaged our geographical
coverage. Reduced coverage made it more difficult to satisfy
existing clients and even more difficult to obtain additional
inspection volume. That created a downward spiral that we spent the
following months trying to reverse.

Some people will understandably ask whether we attempted to recover
the money or pursue Clinton Penny legally.

The answer is yes.

I contacted the appropriate authorities in California seeking action
concerning what had occurred. The matter was reviewed, but
authorities declined to pursue it.

We therefore had no practical means available to us to recover the
money that had already been lost.

There was another substantial financial loss as well.

The agreed purchase price for National Mortgage Field Services was
never paid.

That caused serious financial hardship to my family personally. For
approximately two years before the proposed sale, I had postponed
receiving money from the company because we were trying to keep NMFS
financially healthy. My family and I expected to recover some of
those sacrifices once the company was sold.

That money was never received.

I personally have not taken a salary from NMFS for more than three
years because I wanted as much of the company's available money as
possible to go toward keeping the company operating and paying
inspectors.

After regaining control on March 28, Lori, Melissa, and I spent the
following months doing everything we reasonably could to save NMFS.

We worked to rebuild our inspector network.

We provided clients with updated coverage information.

We improved our website and recruiting efforts.

We encouraged better communication and more accurate ECD reporting
so that we could improve our performance with clients.

We explored expanding into property preservation work.

We continued trying to obtain additional clients and additional
inspection volume.

We also spent months attempting to find a financially qualified
buyer who could take over NMFS, provide the resources the company
needed, retain our clients and inspectors, and allow the company to
continue under new ownership.

Unfortunately, we were never able to find the right buyer.

The mortgage field services industry itself has also changed
considerably. A greater percentage of available inspection volume
has been moving toward some of the largest national companies, while
smaller companies such as NMFS have been competing for a much
smaller amount of available work.

There were also operational problems we continued trying to correct.

Late inspections, failure to provide ECDs, incomplete communication,
and, in a small number of cases, serious problems involving
inspection documentation made it even more difficult for us to
compete for additional work. We recently discovered instances where
photographs from previous inspections appeared to have been reused
on new inspections.

We want to be very clear that we are not blaming our inspectors for
the failure of NMFS.

The overwhelming majority of the people who worked with us were
honest, hardworking inspectors trying to do their jobs and support
their families. These problems were additional contributing factors
to an already extremely difficult recovery. They were not the root
cause of the company's financial collapse.

At our previous operating levels, NMFS needed approximately 5,000
open inspections in the system at any given time to generate enough
revenue to support inspector payments and the expenses required to
operate the company.

Recently, we were down to approximately 250 open inspections.

A company of this size simply cannot survive at that level.

There are substantial expenses involved in keeping an operation such
as NMFS running, including business insurance, inspection software,
communications systems, telephone services, administration,
accounting, staffing, and the many other expenses necessary to
receive inspections from clients, assign them, process them, review
them, and return the completed work.

The revenue coming into NMFS was no longer enough to cover those
expenses and pay the people performing the work.

Our own staff has now gone weeks without being paid, and NMFS owes
staff members more than $5,000. The amount remaining in accounts
receivable from our clients is not even enough to cover what NMFS
owes its staff, much less what is owed to inspectors.

We also reached the point where the company did not have sufficient
funds to make its next business insurance payment.

At that point, the decision became unavoidable.

We could continue accepting and assigning inspections and hope that
something changed, or we could stop before even more inspectors
performed work that the company would probably not be able to pay
for.

We chose to stop.

We believe it would have been unethical to continue assigning
inspections knowing there was a high probability that NMFS would not
have the money to pay the people completing them.

Our clients have now been notified that NMFS has ceased operations.
Inspectors should not perform any additional NMFS inspections.

There is another part of the closing process that we want everyone
to understand.

It is common business practice when a field service company closes
for clients to retain unpaid balances for a period of time to
protect themselves against possible chargebacks, corrections,
claims, or other expenses associated with previously completed work.

Depending upon the client and its policies, funds can sometimes be
retained for many months and, in some circumstances, as long as a
year.

Because of that, we are not expecting substantial additional funds
to begin arriving simply because NMFS has closed.

If any funds are eventually received, they will have to be handled
in accordance with the company's remaining legal and financial
obligations. The possibility that a client may eventually release
money should not be interpreted as a promise that outstanding
inspector balances will later be paid.

We understand how painful that is to read.

If you completed work for NMFS with the expectation that you would
be paid, you have every right to be disappointed and angry.

We also understand that many of you may look back at what happened
and believe NMFS should have closed its operations months ago.

We understand that point of view.

At the time, however, we genuinely believed there was still a
possibility of saving the company. We believed we might find the
right buyer with the financial ability to restore NMFS. We believed
rebuilding our inspector coverage might result in increased volume
from our clients. We believed we might obtain additional clients or
expand into other areas of field services.

For months, we continued working toward those goals because we hoped
NMFS could recover.

Ultimately, it did not.

Our staff understands the frustration of not being paid because they
are experiencing it themselves.

Lori, Melissa, and the other people who continued working to keep
NMFS operating have gone without being paid as well. They continued
working even while their own unpaid balances increased, and they are
not expecting to recover all of those losses themselves.

The inspectors who are owed money are victims of the same financial
collapse that ultimately ended NMFS.

We know that saying there is no money does not replace the money you
earned. But closing the company does not create funds that the
company does not have.

We also want to address those inspectors who joined NMFS during the
last several months.

We continued recruiting inspectors because we were still trying to
save the company.

We hoped rebuilding our geographical coverage would help us obtain
more inspections from existing clients. We hoped to bring on
additional clients. We hoped inspection volume would increase. And
we continued working to find a financially qualified buyer who could
take over NMFS and provide the resources necessary for the company
to recover.

That is why we continued bringing new inspectors into the company.

We did not recruit people because we wanted them to perform work
without being paid. We were trying to rebuild a company that we
genuinely believed still had a chance to survive.

Unfortunately, that recovery did not happen.

For clarity, National Mortgage Field Services has not maintained
active membership in NAMFS, the National Association of Asset
Management & Field Services, for approximately three years. The
circumstances surrounding the closing of NMFS are unrelated to
NAMFS.

This is not the way we wanted National Mortgage Field Services to
end.

For more than 16 years as National Mortgage Field Services, and for
several years before that under our previous company operation, we
provided work to inspectors throughout the country.

We have had some outstanding clients.

We have had an extraordinary staff.

And most importantly, we have had thousands of good inspectors over
the years who got in their vehicles every day, drove hundreds and
sometimes thousands of miles, dealt with weather, dogs, difficult
properties, homeowners, deadlines, and all of the other things that
come with this business.

Many of you have worked with us for years.

To those inspectors, thank you for your loyalty and for everything
you did for NMFS.

To those who joined us more recently, we are deeply sorry that your
experience with NMFS ended this way.

And to every inspector who completed work and is still owed money,
we are sincerely sorry that NMFS does not have the financial
resources to pay those outstanding amounts.

We know an apology does not replace the money you earned.

We wish there were a different answer that we could give you.

There is not.

Before closing this letter, we also want to provide a resource that
may help some of you find work with other mortgage field service
companies.

The following page provides information and direct application links
for companies including FAR Inspections, Direct Connect Field
Services, Mortgage Bankers Field Services, and 61 Inspections:

https://mortgagefieldservices.com/apply-with-field-service-companies/

Coverage needs vary by company, state, and county, and there is no
guarantee that any company will have work available in your area or
approve an application. However, we encourage you to review the
companies listed there and apply with those that service your
geographical area.

The knowledge and experience you gained performing inspections for
NMFS may be valuable as you pursue work with other field service
companies.

Thank you for the work you performed for National Mortgage Field
Services, for the miles you drove, for the inspections you
completed, and for the trust so many of you placed in us over the
years.

We are truly sorry that it had to end this way.

Sincerely,

Michael Evangelo
Former CEO
National Mortgage Field Services
2010-2026

Vendor Says 24 Asset Management Re-Dated Old Photos And Sent Them To HUD. Labor Reports $326,644.50 Unpaid.

Nearly a thousand work orders attached below with addresses and a warning to any potential homebuyer that litigation may be pending and that the there may be title issues.

Foreclosurepedia described the method in 2014. A former Assero employee described a version of it in 2023. HUD has now been handed the allegation again.

A longtime HUD vendor in Pennsylvania wrote Foreclosurepedia with a claim that should stop a federal contracting officer cold. 24 Asset Management, the vendor says, has been taking Labor’s old photos, changing the dates, and submitting them to HUD as new work.

The vendor says he holds proof. Foreclosurepedia has not seen it. We are reporting the claim as told, and we are reporting what sits behind it.

A Photo Is How You Get Paid

Photographs are how a contractor proves the work was done and how a prime justifies what it bills HUD. Change the date on the photo and the claim becomes something it never was.

The same vendor says the amounts 24 Asset Management reports on 1099s differ from what it actually paid. Foreclosurepedia does not yet know which direction the gap runs. We will say so when we do.

The Playbook Has A Name

In 2014, Foreclosurepedia described a technique the industry calls Screen Shotting, Desk Topping, or Mirroring. You crop the date and time stamp off a photo and enter your own. A careful operator rewrites the EXIF data to match. Most do not bother.

That reporting centered on Asset Management Specialists, where our sources placed Lee Mertins at the top of the operation. We laid out how we believed it worked. Load a stack of old photos, tell temporary staff there was a system glitch, and have them re-upload. Craig Karnes, the the HUD M&M Director was advised via email.

We also described HUD’s P260 system, where only the person issued a C Number may use its credentials. We wrote that the IP logs show one person working multiple terminals, in multiple cities, at the same time.

Mertins now appears beside Eduardo “Fast Eddie” San Roman on West Virginia’s Secretary of State record as a manager of Assero Services, LLC. Foreclosurepedia has reported that Assero is the field services brand that grew out of 24 Asset Management. The record is a state filing, not a rumor.

Fannie Mae Was Told In 2023

A former Assero employee wrote Foreclosurepedia in 2023 describing the same method aimed at Fannie Mae. The employee said Assero filed EFRs, requests to bill Fannie Mae for debris overages. Assero then paid the vendor for the smaller quantity that actually went out. The employee also said some EFRs used photos from other trash-outs.

The weak point, the employee said, is the PDF. Fannie Mae requires the EFR package as a PDF, and the conversion strips the photo detail needed to check it. Foreclosurepedia wrote in 2014 that Fannie Mae’s servers sit outside FOIA. HUD’s do not.

The employee said the report went to Fannie Mae’s fraud unit. Foreclosurepedia is not identifying the employee.

Iowa: The Properties HUD Owns Are Failing

A property preservation contractor in Iowa who works for 24 Asset Management wrote that he is owed between $25,000 and $30,000. Some of his unpaid work orders are two years old. Orders he completed in 2026 are running 130 days late by his count.

He describes properties left to fail. One has had water in the basement since March and ceilings caving in, and 24 Asset Management told him it was waiting on HUD to approve bids. Another has large cracks in the ceiling and walls and mold starting to form. A third has a basement full of mold. He says nothing has been done on any of them.

Most recently he found four inches of water or more over a dead sump pump in a house already listed for sale. When he asked about the mold, he says 24 Asset Management told him HUD’s point of contact said HUD is doing nothing about mold anymore. Foreclosurepedia has not confirmed that with HUD.

He keeps almost every check stub, the envelopes, and every email. Four dates attach to each check: the date printed, the date metered, the postmark, and the day it arrived. He says they run up to ten weeks apart. A check dated in June is not a payment in June.

What Labor Is Owed Now

Three new sets of records on paper document $117,644.50. Puerto Rico audits show $42,900.00. An Illinois invoice sheet shows $29,286.50. One vendor’s formal claim covers 1,023 HUD invoices, 703 in Texas, 311 in New Mexico, and nine in Puerto Rico, and totals $45,458.00 for work done in 2024.

Vendors report $209,000 to $214,000 more without paper. That is about $100,000 across two Pennsylvania vendors, $38,000 for a contractor covering four counties in Central Florida, and $25,000 to $30,000 in Iowa. It also includes $33,000 on a single asset unpaid since April and $13,000 outstanding since March.

The total is $326,644.50 to $331,644.50. It is a sum of separate claims, not an audited figure, and Foreclosurepedia has counted each claim once. The Pennsylvania vendor says a group chat of about eight vendors is comparing balances. More is coming.

HUD Cannot Say It Didn’t Know

Foreclosurepedia put the photo allegation in writing in front of Sharon Washington, LaShura Ford, and Craig Karnes, with the passage highlighted. We told them it is the same issue we raised years ago on the AMS contract.

HUD has already written that it “is aware of the relationship between 24 Asset Management and Assero.” Foreclosurepedia will update this piece if HUD answers. Don’t hold your breath, though. It is the mid-terms and I am sure they all hope this will simply go way.

What This Is, And What It Isn’t

Foreclosurepedia has not seen the re-dated photos. We have a vendor’s statement that proof exists, a 2014 account of the method, and a 2023 insider account aimed at Fannie Mae.

If photos were re-dated to support payment, the False Claims Act asks whether a false record was material to a claim for federal money. That is a question for HUD’s Office of Inspector General. A photo that proves old work does not prove new work, and the EXIF data will say which.

What Labor Does Now

Keep your original photo files. Do not crop, resize, convert, or re-save them. The original EXIF data is your alibi, so back it up today.

Keep every check stub, envelope, postmark, and email. File a FOIA for the identity of the bond holder. A bond claim needs a judgment or a suit against the underwriter, so build that file now and talk to counsel before you file. If nothing else, file a pro se complaint.

As the work moves to Alpine and others, get the rate and the payment window in writing before you accept a single order.

Say these names. Eduardo San Roman. Lee Mertins. Both appear on the West Virginia record for Assero.

The contract is going. The photos are not. The invoices are not. The names are the same.

If 24 Asset Management owes you, send your records to [email protected].

Addresses For Central Florida and Amounts Owed By 24 Asset Management Submitted to HUD


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Alpine Companies Awarded $51,568,665. Three Contracts. Will Labor Stay To Work Them?

HUD signed the contracts. It did not sign the workforce. Field Service Technicians and Inspectors decide whether this work gets done, and the math gives them every reason to walk. As opposed to the past, Alpine Companies is the underdog in the onboarding process. They face an enormous uphill battle due to the hundreds of thousands of dollars owed to Labor on the contracts they are attempting to roll out. In addition to our reporting on 24 Asset Management, this just came in today,

It’s great to see your posts about 24 asset.  I’ve been doing the HUD FSM contract over 15 years.  Your estimates of only owing around 100k very low.  We have a Facebook group chat of about 8 vendors puts. Just between myself and one other vendor we are over $100k.

 

If you need any other information let me know. I filed  for the FOIA and am waiting on a response for who holds the bond.

 

In addition the amounts he 1099 people are not the amounts that were actually paid . We also have proof that 24 Assett [sic] has been using our old photos and changing the dates to submit to HUD.

HUD has handed $51,568,665.00 of Field Service Management work to Alpine Companies Inc. of Alpine, Utah. April Cooper signed all three awards as CEO on September 30, 2026. HUD’s Contracting Officers, Ryne W. Joyner and Charles W. Hoyle, countersigned between 8:38 p.m. and 9:24 p.m. Eastern. That was the last night of the federal fiscal year.

Two Vehicles Replaced. One Added.

24 Asset Management ran six HUD Field Service Management vehicles. Alpine’s awards replace it on two of them. The third award, 4S/6S, replaces a vehicle held by Spectrum Solutions Acquisitions.

Award Area States and territories Amount
86614526D00001 3A/4A Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky $17,248,185.00
86614526D00002 5A/8A North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands $26,512,520.00
86614526D00008 4S/6S Idaho, Nevada, Alaska, Oregon, Washington $7,807,960.00

HUD posted all three on SAM.gov as Original Award Notices on September 30, 2026, under notice IDs FSM_312_3A4A, FSM_312_5A8A, and FSM_312_4S6S.

Count them. 11 states, plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The four 24 Asset Management vehicles not in these awards are 1D, 4D/5D, 5P, and 3S/5S.

Look at 5A/8A. 24 Asset Management’s contract carried a $68,001,505 ceiling. HUD ordered through it in three annual task orders: $8,736,007, $11,450,600, and $10,124,600. That totals $30,311,207, or 45 cents of every dollar of the ceiling. Alpine’s new award is $26,512,520.00.

All six 24 Asset Management vehicles were awarded on November 2, 2023. All six stop taking new orders on November 1, 2026.

HUD Set Its Price. Labor Has Not Seen Its Own.

Each award runs 115 to 119 pages. The signature pages show who gets paid and when. They show nothing about what Alpine pays the people who do the work. That number is private, and it is the whole fight.

One term stands out. The 3A/4A award carries a 3/10 net 30 prompt payment term. That is a 3 percent discount if HUD pays within 10 days. On $17,248,185.00, that is up to $517,445.55. Someone absorbs it. Labor has watched this story before.

The Truck Does Not Care Who Won The Contract

On September 14, diesel hit $6.285 a gallon. That was the first reading above $6 since the EIA series began in 1994. The old record was $5.81, set in June 2022. Diesel was up 68 percent from a year earlier. Regular gasoline stood at $4.319, up $1.151 a gallon, or 36 percent.

It kept climbing. By September 21, diesel reached $6.529 and gasoline reached $4.478.

Run the arithmetic at the September 14 gap. A Field Service Technician who burns 15 gallons of gasoline a day pays $17.27 more per day than a year ago. Over 22 working days, that is about $380 a month. It comes before a single lawn is cut.

Insurance does not stand still either. Construction contractors pay an average of $264 a month for commercial auto insurance, about $3,173 a year. An independent contractor is typically not covered under a client’s policy. One industry guide reports that even clean fleets are seeing rate increases of 7 to 15 percent in 2026.

Tariffs on steel, aluminum, lumber, and auto parts raise the cost of every repair and every replacement. Consumer prices rose 3.4 percent in July from a year earlier. Every cost line moves in one direction. The rate Labor is offered has not kept pace.

Who Gets The Rest?

Alpine holds three awards. They are numbered 00001, 00002, and 00008, and all three cite the same HUD solicitation, 86614526R00001. HUD’s last generation of Field Service Management contracts had eleven vehicles, all awarded on November 2, 2023.

Eight of them run out on November 1, 2026: six held by 24 Asset Management and two by Spectrum Solutions Acquisitions. Alpine replaces three of the eight. That leaves five open: 24 Asset Management’s 1D, 4D/5D, 5P, and 3S/5S, and Spectrum’s 2D.

The other three vehicles belong to JGM Property Group: 3P, 1P/4P, and 6A/7A. Those contracts run to November 1, 2027. They are not in play yet.

Foreclosurepedia has not seen who gets the five open areas. Whoever does walks into the same math: fuel, insurance, tariffs, and a workforce deciding whether to stay.

The Industry Has Been Sued Over This Before

In 2018, the California Supreme Court decided Dynamex Operations West v. Superior Court. The ruling presumes a worker is an employee unless the hirer proves three things: freedom from control, work outside the hirer’s usual business, and an independently established trade. Governor Newsom signed AB 5 on September 19, 2019, and codified the test.

Mortgage field services has been in this fight for over a decade.

Brad Hurst lived and worked in Northern California. In 2007, he answered a Craigslist ad for landscape work and signed an independent contractor agreement with Buczek Enterprises, a property preservation company based in New York. In November 2010, he sued in California Superior Court and alleged misclassification. Buczek removed the case to federal court in San Francisco. Buczek paid him only if and when its client paid it.

A New York company. California work. In Hurst v. Buczek, Judge Edward Chen ruled in 2012 that Buczek was doing business in California. The court dismissed Buczek’s counterclaims against Hurst because the company had not qualified to do business in the state.

Vinson was a California vendor. His case against Asset Management Specialists and Mortgage Contracting Services, two national companies, sits in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 5:14-cv-00369. Mortgage Contracting Services went on to buy Asset Management Specialists. The claim: misclassification as independent contractors. Potential liability was put at about $160 million. After AMS opposed class certification, Vinson settled individually and dropped the class allegations.

Both plaintiffs worked in California. Both took on companies with national reach.

Field Asset Services faced the same theory in Bowerman. In July 2022, the Ninth Circuit reversed class certification for 156 property preservation vendors. The panel also voided the workers’ win and scrapped a $5.1 million attorney fee award.

Companies won rounds. They won on procedure. The court held that individual questions predominated, so the vendors could not proceed as one class. A class is the cheapest way to sue. Without one, every Field Service Technician and Inspector fights alone.

Alpine’s Map Is Not California. The Theory Travels.

None of Alpine’s three areas include California. Dynamex binds California work and nothing else. But the idea behind it is not a California idea.

Five of Alpine’s 11 states apply an ABC-style test to unemployment insurance: Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Alaska, and Washington. Those tests decide who owes unemployment taxes and who collects benefits. The other five, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Idaho, lean on the older right-to-control standard.

That is the difference between a Field Service Technician who can claim benefits when the work dries up and one who cannot.

The Old Debt Is Still Open

Foreclosurepedia reported this week on one vendor’s claim against 24 Asset Management. 1,023 invoices. $45,458.00. The claim does not say who decided that Labor would wait.

West Virginia state records list Eduardo San Roman, known as “Fast Eddie,” as a Manager of Assero Services. Assero is the field services brand that grew out of 24 Asset Management. New letterhead. Same invoice.

So Will Labor Stay?

Look at what the model asks. HUD pays Alpine. Alpine pays Labor. The gap between those two numbers is the margin. Fuel, insurance, tariffs, and inflation squeeze that gap from the Labor side only.

A company that needs Labor at pennies on the dollar will find Labor has already done the arithmetic. Field Service Technicians and Inspectors will stay for a rate that covers the truck. They will not stay for a promise.

A company whose public face stopped in 2022 now asks Labor to trust it with 2026 invoices.

What Labor Does Now

Do not send a W-9, an insurance certificate, or bank details through any site your browser calls unsafe. Ask how Alpine collects them first.

Do the math before you accept the first order. Fuel. Insurance. Dump fees. Then the rate. If the rate does not clear the costs, you are paying to work.

Get the pay rate and the payment window in writing. No handshake deals. Not Alpine’s, not anyone’s. Ask whether pay depends on the client paying first. Additionally, demand to know information about Alpine’s performance bond including all contact details for the underwriter and request its verification.

Keep every invoice, photo, and message from the old work. If 24 Asset Management owes you, file your claim now. A contract ending does not end your rights.

If you work in a state that uses an ABC-style test, get legal advice before you sign a contractor agreement.

The contracts are signed. The invoices stayed. Whether Labor stays is the only question left.

Alpine Awards


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Fast Eddie’s 24 Asset Management Was Never A Contractor In Trouble. It Was A Business Model, And HUD Paid For It.

IAFST NAMFS

The Contract Is Gone. The Method Is Not.

24 Asset Management is losing the HUD Management and Marketing Field Service Manager 3.12 awards. Six awards across ten geographic areas, first-year value reported at roughly $51 million. Taxpayer money, handed to a company with a long record of not paying the people who did the work.

This is an opinion piece, so here is the opinion. HUD did not stumble into this. It was warned for years, in writing, and it kept the awards anyway.

When You Take Federal Money, Your Record Belongs To The Public

A private contractor who stiffs a customer has a private dispute. A federal awardee who stiffs Field Service Technicians and Inspectors on federal work has made it everyone’s business.

HUD owes the public a contractor with adequate financial resources and a satisfactory record of integrity and business ethics. That is the responsibility standard in FAR 9.104-1. Ask yourself whether this record meets it.

The Paper

Foreclosurepedia has stopped asking Labor to take our word for it. We now hold the invoices.

One vendor’s formal claim covers 1,023 HUD invoices across Texas, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico. It totals $45,458.00. A total of 113 invoices were never paid, and 910 were paid short. The vendor billed $89,198.00 on the short-paid invoices and received $61,707.50. That is 69.2 percent.

The pattern is blunt. Of the short-paid invoices, 569 were billed at $65. A total of 267 were paid $35. Nobody has told those Inspectors why the rate changed.

Add the Puerto Rico and Illinois ledgers we published earlier, and documented unpaid work reaches $117,644.50. That is before the roughly $33,000 vendors report outstanding since April, before a new $15,500 claim that arrived this morning, and before one dollar of Assero.

The Claims Keep Arriving

On October 3, a North Carolina vendor wrote to Foreclosurepedia. The vendor says 24 Asset Management owes $15,500 and has promised a check for more than two weeks. Texts from the company’s contact say the check is on the way. It never arrived.

The vendor says that contact answered promptly until October 2 and has not responded since. Its work covers nine North Carolina properties, eleven counting open work orders. About $30,000 in work orders sit unfinished until the check clears. That is exactly what Foreclosurepedia has told Labor to do.

The vendor says it is sending written notices of claim to San Roman and to its HUD contacts. That is one more notice aimed at HUD. Foreclosurepedia treats the $15,500 as sourced, not documented, until the invoices and texts arrive.

The Pattern Is Older Than The Contract

Assero Services collapsed owing Labor close to a million dollars and never filed bankruptcy. It simply stopped. A West Virginia Secretary of State record lists Eduardo San Roman and Lee Mertins as its managers.

LoanCare, LLC sued Assero, 24 Asset Management, and San Roman personally in Virginia Beach, case CL25-6432. One caption. Three defendants. A source tells Foreclosurepedia that San Roman, not Mertins, was the money behind Assero.

Then there is Stewart Valuation Intelligence, LLC. It sued 24 Asset Management over invoices dated June 2021 through August 2022. A clerk’s default was entered on September 26, 2024. A final judgment of $26,261.90 followed.

On June 3, 2025, the parties filed a joint stipulation to vacate the default and the judgment under a confidential settlement. We do not know what Stewart received or when. We do know it took a default and a judgment to get there.

Court papers in three separate Miami-Dade cases direct service on the company to Eddie San Roman at 13155 SW 42nd Street, Suite 200. One writ calls him the registered agent in so many words. The same suite has appeared in our Assero reporting for years.

HUD Knew. In Writing.

As early as January 2023, Foreclosurepedia put this in front of HUD procurement officials, repeatedly and in writing. HUD answered. Craig Karnes wrote that HUD “is aware of the relationship between 24 Asset Management and Assero.”

He added that any continuing award would require the company to “mitigate any identified Conflicts of Interest.” The awards continued. So did the non-payment.

We sent HUD a $21,000 Assero check that was stopped after the contractor deposited it. We sent HUD an Illinois vendor owed about $30,000 whose HUD assets sat unserviced because Labor had stopped working for free. Karnes, Sharon Washington, and LaShura Ford never once replied to the plight of Labor.

Foreclosurepedia knows of no award pulled, no payment review opened, and no warning to the vendors still working HUD properties. In our view, a federal agency that holds years of written notice and says nothing has made a choice.

Whether that choice was lawful is a question for the HUD Office of Inspector General and Congress. If invoices were certified as paid to subcontractors who were not paid, it is also a False Claims Act question. HUD should answer on the record.

The Questions HUD Still Has Not Answered

The HUD M&M FSM awards were 24 Asset Management’s flagship business. Foreclosurepedia expects its W-2 staff touched HUD data, and anyone who did needed a C number.

In 2026 alone, creditors obtained two writs of garnishment against the company as an employer, and a third was served in 2021. We are not naming those employees. They are private people, and their paychecks are not the story. The employer is.

HUD should say what it requires its Field Service Manager to vet and report about its own staff. It should say what it actually received, and why a company with a court default and a string of writs kept the awards.

Say These Names

A vendor’s formal claim lists the people it says it contacted about the unpaid balances: Breanna Byars, Jaime Mackle, Virginia Lorenzo, and Eddie San Roman. These are the names the vendor identified. The claim does not say who decided Labor would wait.

Our earlier reporting also named Lee Mertins, Jim Hillsman, and Greg Seale, along with San Roman’s son Zach. Say those names. Repeat those names. Write them down before the recruiting emails start.

This LinkedIn page will give you a fairly accurate list of who has worked there. A LinkedIn listing shows where someone worked. It does not show who decided Labor would wait.

Avoid Them Like The Plague

New Awardees are ramping up. They will need Field Service Technicians and Inspectors fast, and they will want people who already know the territory and the HUD portals. Foreclosurepedia expects some of those people to come from 24 Asset Management, with their C numbers intact.

Do not take the work. Anyone who dispatched you under 24 Asset Management or Assero and then stopped paying you has earned your suspicion. A firm that puts these names back in front of Labor has told you how it values your invoices. That is our position, and we stand behind it.

Ask in writing who your point of contact is and who handles payment. Get payment terms in writing before you do one inspection. If you see a name from this article, walk away and tell us.

What Labor Does Now

Build the claim. List every work order, the service, the date, the amount invoiced, and the amount paid. Keep every email and text where you asked to be paid.

File with HUD in writing and with HUD OIG. Ask a qui tam attorney whether your records support a False Claims Act filing.

Do not count on a lien. It can be filed, but the other side can post a bond to release it, and it rarely gets Labor paid.

Most important, file your lawsuit now. Small claims or regular court, with a lawyer or pro se. Foreclosurepedia understands that HUD looks at judgments when it applies the performance bond. A judgment is what puts your claim in front of HUD.

If you have not filed, you are not in line for anything. If 24 Asset Management owes you, send your records to [email protected].

The Playbook Has Not Changed

Take the federal award. Pay part. Stall the rest. Ignore the calls. Wait until Labor gives up or the contract is gone.

Then change the letterhead and call the next recruiter. The contract is gone. The invoices are not. The names are the same.

Fast Eddie’s Own Vendors Are Now Naming Names – $45,458 In The Latest Fraud Report At 24 Asset Management

2026 10 03 11 32 18 RANO LLC 24Asset Formal Payment Claim Package UPDATED.pdf Adobe Acrobat Reader

The Contract Is Gone. The People Are Not.

24 Asset Management is losing the HUD Management and Marketing Field Service Manager 3.12 awards. The people who ran its accounts are not leaving the industry. Foreclosurepedia expects them to land at the new Awardees.

We have watched this move before. Assero collapsed owing Labor close to a million dollars, and the same operation kept going under a new name. The staff keep their HUD C numbers and their credentials. A new letterhead does not erase an old invoice.

One Vendor. 1,023 Invoices. $45,458.00. Two new states including New Mexico and Texas.

A vendor has put a formal claim in writing against 24 Asset Management. It totals $45,458.00 for HUD property preservation and inspection work in Texas, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico.

The package has two reports. The Non-Payment Report lists 113 invoices with nothing paid, totaling $17,967.50. The Partial Payment Report lists 910 invoices paid short, totaling $27,490.50.

Foreclosurepedia ran every line. The invoice counts and both totals tie to the penny. Texas accounts for 703 invoices, New Mexico for 311, and Puerto Rico for nine. The work dates run from February 27, 2024 through September 13, 2024.

That is more than two years of waiting on money for work that was finished.

Say These Names

The vendor says it tried to settle this in writing and by phone. The claim lists exactly who it contacted: Breanna Byars, Jaime Mackle, Virginia Lorenzo, and Eddie San Roman. These are the names the vendor identified.

The vendor says it never received a formal response from 24 Asset Management’s legal or management representatives. No resolution. No explanation. No check.

Foreclosurepedia is reporting what the claim says. These are the people the vendor says it asked to pay. The claim does not say who decided Labor would wait. That question belongs to them, and our door is open.

Eddie San Roman is the principal. He is named personally in the LoanCare lawsuit beside Assero and 24 Asset Management. A West Virginia Secretary of State record lists him as a manager of Assero.

Our earlier reporting also named Lee Mertins, Jim Hillsman, and Greg Seale, along with San Roman’s son Zach. Say those names. Repeat those names. Write them down before the recruiting emails start.

This LinkedIn page will give you a fairly accurate list of who has worked there. A LinkedIn listing shows where someone worked. It does not show who decided Labor would wait.

Paid Short, Page After Page

The Partial Payment Report shows $89,198.00 invoiced and $61,707.50 paid. The vendor received 69.2 percent of what it billed.

The pattern is hard to miss. Of the 910 shorted invoices, 569 were billed at $65. A total of 267 of them were paid $35. Another 155 were paid $45, and 122 were paid $40. Thirteen were paid $15.

A $65 inspection paid at $35 is a 46 percent cut. The unpaid balance on those 569 invoices alone is $14,960.00.

Routine inspections make up 841 of the 910 shorted invoices. They account for $21,489.00 of the $27,490.50 owed. That is 78 percent of the partial payment debt sitting on the cheapest, most repeated work in the industry.

Those are Inspectors who drove to the property, took the photos, and uploaded the report. Nobody has told them why the rate changed. The vendor has asked in writing.

Where The Big Money Sits

Two work orders in Abernathy, Texas make up more than a quarter of the claim. A HUD initial services invoice for $9,885.00 shows no payment at all.

A second Abernathy invoice for $9,585.00 was paid $7,110.00. That leaves $2,475.00 unpaid. Together the two orders are $12,360.00, or 27.2 percent of the whole claim.

The Non-Payment Report also lists a $900.00 approved bid pass-through in Eunice, New Mexico, with nothing paid. Labor carried the cost, did the work, and got nothing back.

The Number Moves Again

Foreclosurepedia’s last accounting documented $72,186.50 in unpaid work. That was a Puerto Rico audit at $42,900 and an Illinois ledger at $29,286.50.

Add this claim and the documented total is now $117,644.50.

That figure does not include the roughly $33,000 vendors report outstanding since April. It does not include the smaller balances from other firms. It does not include one dollar of the Assero debt.

We said sources put the total above $100,000 and climbing. The paper now agrees.

HUD Was Told. Again.

This claim is for HUD work. Craig Karnes was told about this pattern for years, in writing. More recently, Sharon Washington, and LaShura Ford, both HUD employees were brought into the loop via emails directly with the victims. Karnes even wrote that HUD was aware of the relationship between 24 Asset Management and Assero.

The awards continued anyway. Now there is another invoice-level record of what that decision cost the people who did the work.

Sources report that HUD is assessing liquidated damages against 24 Asset Management. Foreclosurepedia has not seen the amounts. Every dollar HUD recovers is a dollar that does not reach Labor.

They Will Be Back. Avoid Them Like The Plague.

Here is the hard part. When the new Awardees ramp up, they will need Field Service Technicians and Inspectors fast. They will also need people who already know the territory, the systems, and the HUD portals.

Some of those people will come from 24 Asset Management. They will have their HUD C numbers and their credentials. They will have friendly emails and promises of fast pay.

Do not take the work. Foreclosurepedia’s position is simple. Anyone who dispatched you under 24 Asset Management or Assero and then stopped paying you has earned your suspicion. Treat them like the plague.

The same goes for any firm that hires them. A firm that puts these names back in front of Labor has told you how it values your invoices. That is an editorial position, and we stand behind it.

Before you accept a single work order from a new Awardee, ask in writing who your point of contact is. Ask who handles payment. If you see a name from this article, walk away and tell us. If you find that they were former 24 Asset Management employees, refuse the work.

Get payment terms in writing before you perform any work. Do not float a week of inspections on a handshake. Do not give up your W-9 and your credentials until you know exactly who you are working for.

We kept a list of every name Labor sent us. If you want to know whether someone has a history, ask.

HUD Cannot Say It Didn’t Know

HUD was told in writing as early as January 2023, and it answered in writing. Craig Karnes wrote that HUD “is aware of the relationship between 24 Asset Management and Assero.” Foreclosurepedia then sent HUD a stopped $21,000 check, a National Field Network in the making warning, and an Illinois vendor owed about $30,000 whose HUD assets sat unserviced. Karnes, Sharon Washington, and LaShura Ford never once answered the plight of Labor. Nobody in that chain pulled an award, opened a payment review, or told the vendors who were still working HUD properties for free. HUD took the inspections, took the photos, and kept dispatching. A federal agency that holds years of written notice, keeps the awardee, and says nothing to the people carrying the cost has made a choice. Whether that choice was lawful is a question for the HUD Office of Inspector General and for Congress. If invoices were certified as paid to subcontractors who were not paid, it is also a False Claims Act question. HUD should answer it on the record.

What Labor Should Do Right Now

Our advice has not changed. Build the claim. List every work order, the service, the date, the amount invoiced, and the amount paid. Keep every email and text where you asked to be paid.

File with HUD in writing and with HUD OIG. Preserve lien rights property by property. Ask a qui tam attorney whether your records support a False Claims Act filing.

Most important, file your lawsuit now. Small claims or regular court, with a lawyer or pro se. If you have not filed, you are not in line for anything least of all potential access to 24 Asset Management’s performance bond which is in the millions of dollars.

If 24 Asset Management owes you, send your records to [email protected]. Every documented claim is one more entry in a record that Byars, Mackle, Lorenzo, and San Roman cannot answer with silence.

The Playbook Has Not Changed

Take the federal award. Pay part. Stall the rest. Ignore the calls. Wait until Labor gives up or the contract is gone.

Then change the letterhead and call the next recruiter. The contract is gone. The invoices are not. The names are the same.

Complaint Against 24 Asset Management With 24AM Staff Names


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