Splerlonga Registers 225,000 HOAs for Database Project

""Sperlonga Data and Analytics"":http://sperlongadata.com/ registered the 225,000th homeowners association (HOA) in its database, but its work is still not completed.

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Based in Arlington, Virginia, Sperlonga Data and Analytics is an affiliate of ""MMREM"":http://www.mmrem.com/, a national asset management firm, and was created to bridge the gap between HOAs and servicers to help stakeholders minimize losses associated with HOA claims.

According to the company release, HOAs and similar ownership groups number about 350,000 across the U.S. Prior to Sperlonga's efforts to maintain information on HOAs, mortgage lenders and servicers had no consistent way to find associations, or even to become aware of HOAs attached to their transactions until claims for unpaid accounts surfaced, sometimes delaying or even ruining re-sales.

Matt Martin, founder and chairman of Sperlonga and CEO of MMREM, realized the problems that occurred due to the difficulty of reaching HOAs and settle unpaid claims. In 16 states states, HOA claims can take precedence over first mortgage rights, which puts lenders and investors at risk.

""We created Sperlonga Data & Analytics to find associations and put them together with servicers wanting to avoid these expensive problems,"" said Martin. ""There are tremendous amounts of money at stake for both sides.""

Sperlonga executive VP Tim Walsh explained that the first 100,000 were the easiest to get on record because they were more visible, but the vast majority of HOAs are smaller and run by homeowners who rotate the duties with annual elections, which makes finding addresses and contact information very difficult.

While a trade group of HOAs does exist, called the Community Associations Institute, it has about 35,000 members, which is about 10 percent of the associations in the U.S.

Walsh said their goal is to have 300,000 communities on record by the end of the year, and eventually all of them.

""It's an important project for the financial community and for America's estimated 26 million HOA member homeowners,"" said Walsh.