Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Do you remember what you were doing in the fall of 1999? Cher’s “Believe” was likely playing on your car radio. You patiently waited for the dialup modem to cycle and miraculously load pages from AOL, Ask Jeeves or the brand-new Napster. You were sweating the upcoming Y2K crisis. Your work product was a blend of a few simple documents printed out from your DOS-based computer program and a plethora of forms typed in triplicate, on a thing called a typewriter.
In Ohio, a new company, October Research, was born to help inform an industry.
It was difficult to find broad-spectrum industry news and viewpoints in those days. Times were extremely busy in the real estate finance world. Our days were long and our minds were partitioned, hopping seamlessly between the closings of today, the closings of tomorrow, and the funding of closings from three days ago. We worked mostly with the aid of an inelegant system of precisely arranged paper files in standups, reminders dashed on sticky notes, and workflow check-sheets stapled to file folders. Microfiche delivery from the county recorder once each month was a big day. Our handwritten and manually calculated HUD-1s would take a backseat that autumn to an exciting new Windows-based software (the conversion necessitated by the DOS system’s predicted inability to successfully roll over to the year 2000). It was difficult to stay informed regarding the issues of the day; our views were necessarily myopic.
Times have certainly changed. The way we work today would be nearly unrecognizable to our 1999 selves. But the core of what you do has remained the same. At October Research, the core of what we do remains the same, too.
Back in 1999, the fight against fraud looked like locking up physical check stock, not leaving seller proceeds checks sitting at an unattended front desk and ensuring that the caller asking you to fax over wiring instructions was in fact a legitimate buyer, seller, or lender on a transaction. You also had to scrutinize incoming payoff letters via fax, to ensure they hadn’t been intercepted, manipulated with white-out, typed over, and faxed in by a dishonest party to your transaction. It wasn’t exactly a simple time, but it was in some ways an easier time. Unless you were seeking information.
We might have had email, but most of us didn’t have the new device called a Blackberry email pager. So, when market intelligence walked in our door, via the postal carrier who delivered those physical publications, we raced to learn firsthand what topics and trends were happening nationally. We devoured the stories of tranches of loans that were becoming slightly suspect, we read to understand the new but spreading mortgage fraud trend known as “flipping,” and we learned to accept the notion that leveraging one’s home equity was a highly promoted financial tool for use by even average ordinary homeowners.
Today, the market runs faster. Changes come quicker. Threats are far more sophisticated. New entrants proliferate. The key to success remains the same, however: knowledge, action and quick and informed reactions are what keeps our industry vital, healthy and adroit.
From all of us, to each of you, thank you for your trust and partnership over the years. Just like you, we’ve changed much of the way we work over our 25 years. We’ve seen circumstances and industry participants come and go. We’ve survived booms and lean times. We’ve ushered in and back out multiple presidential administrations, whose policies have impacted us positively and negatively. But we’re still here. All of us, together.
What we do is important because what you do is important. While the opportunities and threats evolve, the core of the mission remains the same. Private property rights are some of the most fundamental and essential elements of freedom and liberty. Your role in that process changes lives. For generations.
I never imagined in 1999 that I’d still be working in this industry 25 years later. But I’m so glad it worked out that way. At October Research today, just as then, it’s our pleasure to bring the news, information and education to help you navigate rapidly changing markets, protecting your business.
Whether you’re reading our work today on a smartphone or tablet, or if in another 25 years we’re delivering on a heads-up display via your smart glasses or our articles are being read to you via your neural implant, we’ll keep bringing you the knowledge you need to maintain your competitive advantage.
Thank you for your trust. Thank you for what you do. Together, let’s thrive for the next 25.
Until Next Time,
Mary Schuster
Chief Knowledge Officer
October Research, LLC