RISMEDIA, June 5, 2008-Real estate expert Rick Sharga, vice president of marketing at RealtyTracTM, an online marketplace for foreclosure properties, will speak at the annual 2008 USFN National Default Servicing Seminar and Technology Forum on Friday, June 6, at the Grand Hyatt in San Antonio, Texas.
Sharga is slated to speak about the latest foreclosure prevention legislation at a 9:00 a.m. panel discussion titled “In the News: Current Issues Affecting Default Servicing Industry.”
“The housing slump – accompanied by a surge in foreclosures – in the midst of a presidential election year has pushed foreclosure prevention legislation to the top of many politicians’ priority lists,” Sharga said. “The U.S. House and Senate both recently passed legislation aimed at providing relief to homeowners facing foreclosure, and many states have passed or proposed similar measures. Many of the laws being considered, or already enacted, could have a significant impact on the default servicing industry. In addition, the Executive Branch has also attempted to address the issue via programs such as HOPE NOW and FHASecure, which are designed to provide lifelines to distressed homeowners.”
Foreclosure activity increased 112% in the first quarter of 2008, according to the RealtyTrac U.S. Foreclosure Market Report, and Sharga noted that myriad state and federal governmental entities, including the U.S. Senate Joint Economic Committee and Banking Committee, Treasury Department, Federal Reserve, FBI and New York State Banking Department, have requested in-depth foreclosure data from RealtyTrac to help inform public policy decisions.
Sharga is responsible for building and maintaining the RealtyTrac brand, corporate positioning and messaging, public relations and investor relations, as well as all sales and marketing communications activities. As a spokesman for the company, Sharga has been quoted extensively in the news media on real estate, foreclosure activity, mortgage banking as well as real estate trends. He has appeared on the NBC Nightly News, CNN, CBS, ABC World News and NPR. He is frequently quoted in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, among other major daily newspapers.
Prior to joining RealtyTrac in 2004, Sharga spent more than 20 years developing corporate and product branding strategies for technology start-up companies and international corporations such as DuPont, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Toshiba. Rick began his career with one of the world’s largest ad agencies, Foote, Cone and Belding, and also had successful engagements with Ketchum Communications and McGraw-Hill.
RealtyTrac is also a sponsor and exhibitor (Booth #4) at the 2008 USFN National Default Servicing Seminar and Technology Forum. The USFN Seminar runs from Wednesday, June 4 through Friday, June 6.
For more information, visit http://www.realtytrac.com and http://www.usfn.org.
