TRW Real Estate Unit Wins HUD Appraisal Contract

TRW Real Estate Loan Services said it has been awarded a contract that makes it the first nationwide residential appraisal firm accredited to work for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Company officials estimated that the contract will be worth between $5 million and $10 million a year.

The contract is open-ended, and its annual value is not known because it depends on the number of properties that TRW appraises for HUD each year, according to Alton Adams, vice president of marketing for TRW Real Estate Loan Services.

The company is cleared to work for HUD regional offices throughout the country, although the regional offices are not required to use TRW and may continue hiring local appraisers, Adams said.

HUD officials could not be reached for comment because of the Columbus Day holiday.

Adams said the contract will probably prompt new hiring by the loan services unit. The unit is a division of TRW Inc., the diversified conglomerate based in Cleveland. Where those jobs will be created is uncertain, however, and will depend on foreclosure activity throughout the country.

Adams speculated that TRW loan services offices in parts of Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma and in economically depressed areas of the Northeast are likely to see business swell with the HUD contract.

The unit employs about 2,000 people--400 at its headquarters in Orange and 1,600 at satellite offices throughout the nation, Adams said.

HUD acquires property when owners default on government-backed mortgage loans. Each parcel must be appraised before HUD can sell it.

The agency currently has about 40,000 properties, most of them residential, in its portfolio, and real estate specialists say that number could grow considerably over the next year or two unless the economy reverses its decline.

Adams said the contract calls for TRW appraisers to charge between $250 and $300 a unit in most cases.