Growing in Service, Organically and Exponentially
SingleSource celebrates 20 years in real estate with a dynamic new twist.
When three friends from childhood joined forces in 2000 to form an REO asset management company paired with a broker price opinion forum, they knew their foundation was a firm one. They could not have dreamed, however, of just how broad their reach into the real estate industry would one day become.
In 2020, their company, SingleSource, is celebrating two decades of service to real estate originators and investors with what has become a somewhat typical announcement: They are growing again.
SingleSource’s extensive network of valuation services, REO services, field services, title and settlement services, and document management services has been joined by a dynamic new company with all the power of the SingleSource network backing it and all the creativity and adaptability of a startup at its disposal. This hybrid, named Resolute Diligence Solutions (Resolute), is already serving investors and originators as it grows and builds with them, creating an investing environment that will enable them to respond quickly and effectively to changes in today’s economically challenging and volatile marketplace.
Purposeful, Organic Expansion
For many companies, this type of growth might be a once-in-a-decade sort of expansion. Or, it may occur via myriad acquisitions of other industry operators. For SingleSource, however, it is just part of the growth pattern.
“Everything we have done in our space has been organic,” said Brian Cullen, CEO of SingleSource and one of the company’s founding members.
Cullen cited the company’s organic (but exponential) growth as one of the biggest factors in its success.
“Probably the most important thing anyone can know about SingleSource is that we actually do everything under one roof. We are not a company of separate silos,” he said.
This means that SingleSource evolved and grew over time rather than being assembled in pieces as various component companies were bought and sold. Although SingleSource may not be the only company operating in the real estate services industry, it is one of the few that has built up and outward rather than acquiring new elements and service providers.
“Everything we are and have accomplished has been grown organically, even Resolute, which has a different location and more independence than some of our other product lines,” Cullen said. “For example, Brent Taggart, the managing principal, is not a new hire. He is someone already with the company who is going to have the ability to think and function like an entrepreneur but with the backing of the entire SingleSource pool of resources.”
Cullen and Taggart said this unique combination will enable Resolute to focus on customer growth and service while streamlining costs and timelines.
“We will have the benefit of all the best practices already in place, but we will also be able to grow our new systems to fit our new clients in this niche space. We have no legacy issues, so we will be able to grow and build with our clients from advanced starting points, like our new portal,” Taggart said. “Of course, for standard transactions, our system is ‘plug-and-play,’ so clients can begin using it immediately. But one of our biggest assets is the ability to make changes to scopes of work and provide unique services to our clients that others do not.”
Launching a Startup 20 Years In
Resolute serves single-family rental and bridge loan aggregators, originators and warehouse lenders. The company specializes in property/asset-level reviews for an array of transactions. And, like the mountains in its logo, Resolute is solid and unwavering in its determination to provide clients with the clarity and data they need to invest wisely Taggart said.
The company is a standalone subsidiary of SingleSource with a proprietary technology platform that reduces transmission of manual reports and a staff of experienced single-family rental and bridge loan diligence operators. However, Resolute retains access to the financial backing and additional services that SingleSource provides, granting it both quick decision-making abilities and solid internal support.
“When we first started talking about Resolute as a concept, we wanted it to be a wholly-owned subsidiary of SingleSource so it would have that huge power underneath it, but we also wanted it to function more as a startup,” said Taggart.
The managing principal spent more than 20 years in the mortgage industry in various roles at industry giants like Green River Capital, Fairbanks Capital, Credit Suisse, 406 Partners and Clayton Holdings before moving to SingleSource. He was named a 2015 Rising Star by Housingwire magazine and leads the charge at Resolute.
“Ultimately, SingleSource is our parent company and Resolute is operating in a new and very timely niche [to SingleSource]. That startup element keeps us successful and agile so that we can grow with our clients, be flexible and adapt to changing client needs,” Taggart said.
Cullen and Taggart said this unique combination will enable Resolute to focus on customer growth and service while streamlining costs and timelines.
Independent Vision and Momentum
The clients who work with SingleSource tend to rely heavily on the company for multiple services, and they can leverage the entity’s interconnected offerings to stay ahead of the curve when the economy is volatile.
“Needless to say, our clients have been seeing some pretty wild swings in terms of what they can expect out of their properties and strategies right now,” Cullen said. “We see so many different sides of the market that we are able to help them adjust quickly to changing guidelines and leverage emerging opportunities.”
The ability to work in sync across various divisions of the company fosters an independence the founders cherish.
“There are no competing interests,” Cullen said. “We are independent, and that makes us a true advocate for our clients. We can help them make decisions about what will work best in their situation without any other factors in play.
“The massive amount of information we can access is an advantage as well,” Taggart said. “Investors need to be able to make accurate forecasts. Income streams only work if the data makes sense. We can help investors digest information, process their investments’ performance, and keep moving through volatile times, and that enables them to keep the momentum that will help the client and the market bounce back faster.”
Considering the recent national shutdown in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Cullen believes this comprehensive viewpoint and ability to evolve processes quickly will be invaluable.
“We see this as an opportunity to leverage our ability to see so many different sides of things, see every weak point and every opportunity, and then move and grow with the flow our clients require,” Cullen said.
“Right Box” for the Right Time
SingleSource also benefits from its long-term hindsight. The company was co-founded by Brian Uffelman (chairman), Andre Lacouture (president) and Cullen, and they each hold the same positions they did when they started the company two decades ago. The three credit a shared vision and strong friendship for their company’s longevity.
“We knew from the start we wanted to craft unique, highly valuable service solutions that would work across disciplines,” Cullen said. “Over the years, we have adapted to the ever-changing technology of the industry by developing software solutions and investment portals, but they have always served in an integrative role rather than being separate functions.”
Today, Cullen and Taggart look back to the housing crash of the mid-2000s for guidance to help their clients and to adapt to current challenges.
“In 2009, the company had been around for a while already,” said Cullen. “At that time, the industry and the government were doing things that seemed to make the most sense [to them], but a lot of the decisions that were made prevented investors from predicting what was going to happen with their investments. It created a sharper wound in their portfolios than it might have otherwise.”
Taggart, who was working elsewhere in the industry in business development and was integrally involved with his firm’s clients at that time, agreed.
“For companies like us that are set up to adapt quickly, the more information that is available up front to us and to real estate investors, the better,” he said. “That does not mean regulations or legislation cannot evolve, but having that hindsight gives us experience and momentum that will help in the recovery.”
What Recovery Means
The team at SingleSource talks a lot about “the recovery” of the real estate market and of their investors’ returns. But clients, founders and employees alike also recognize a common, greater goal in their efforts.
“As an industry, real estate investors promote and preserve the vitality of neighborhoods,” Cullen said. “As a company, we do the same. It is our goal to unlock the door to homeownership whenever possible and operate in a corporate culture that encourages diverse ideas and creativity in good times and in tough ones. These shared goals are really the ‘true north’ for SingleSource and for Resolute. We are always progress-based as a company, but the greater goal helps motivate us and remind us why we work together and how we deliver value to our clients, our partners and to each other.” n
Sidebar: Accurately Assessing Value in an Era of Social Distancing
Perhaps nothing represents a greater threat to the real estate industry than social distancing. It creates an invisible barrier between many investors and the property values, estimates and inspections they rely on to make educated decisions about acquisitions, strategies and liquidation.
Although real estate services were deemed essential by the federal government and industry professionals can still travel to and from their physical work locations, many are unwilling or unable to accommodate the physically “invasive” nature of home inspections, open houses, showings and traditional appraisals.
In response, the market veered sharply toward remote and virtual options, with many lenders permitting virtual inspections and “corona clauses,” entering contracts to allow for major (and itemized) issues that might have been overlooked or underestimated prior to closings. The SingleSource family of companies took several steps to protect employee and client health while keeping ahead of the curve in evaluation technology.
“It is strange at the office,” Cullen said. “Instead of 250 people in the building, there are more like 15, and even then, some days the building is completely empty.”
Fortunately, the group was used to communicating across disciplines, so to speak, and was able to integrate daily briefings with executive and managerial teams into their remote routines.
“We followed up with an end-of-day roundup to find out how things had gone and help every leader keep a master list of what they were working on,” Cullen said. “We already had a lot of the right tools for holding ourselves accountable because we already were tracking so many different angles in the industry.”
SingleSource clients reported adjusting in real time to changing guidelines on state, local and federal levels that first recommended and then demanded virtual and remote options for valuations.
“We had to change our own guidelines so they could meet theirs,” Cullen said. “Sure, it will always take a week or two to get comfortable with a new type of valuation product, but once you are there, you can start funding outstanding term sheets and being active in different markets that need us there to leverage the opportunities that are out there.”
