Elan Chambers, Senior Vice President of Government Relations and Business Development at Auction.com, has been recognized as a HousingWire Woman of Influence. The annual HousingWire program honors women who are driving the housing economy forward.
For Chambers, the honor reflects work at the intersection of housing policy, federal agency relationships, and marketplace data, three areas that shape how distressed properties move through the foreclosure process. To the industry partners she works with, it caps a stretch in which she helped turn difficult policy questions into practical decisions.
Turning policy questions into homeowner-first outcomes
Much of Chambers’s work centers on how the industry can move assets responsibly while protecting homeowners and supporting agency goals. She works with federal housing partners, supplying Auction.com’s proprietary marketplace data and industry perspective to inform foreclosure-sale strategy and pricing discussions.
That input helps agency partners read current market conditions and sale-performance trends as they weigh how to increase third-party foreclosure sales and return homes to the housing supply sooner. In one recent case, a pricing update informed by this kind of analysis was followed by a notable increase in the third-party foreclosure sale rate. When more properties sell earlier, fewer move into real estate owned (REO) inventory, where they can add cost and contribute to vacancy in surrounding neighborhoods.
Chambers has also helped educate members of Congress and agency stakeholders on policy issues affecting distressed homeowners, with a focus on HUD and VA programs. Her position is consistent: servicing rules and foreclosure-sale processes should give homeowners every appropriate opportunity to preserve their equity, retain their home, or make an informed transition before foreclosure.
Advancing earlier options before foreclosure
Part of that effort involves educating HUD, USDA, and VA stakeholders on SmartSale® as a pre-foreclosure option. SmartSale is Auction.com’s private seller program, which lets individual homeowners list on Auction.com.
The program has gained traction with homeowners directly. After the formal rollout of SmartSale, overall lead flow increased 97% year-over-year, and servicer-generated leads grew more than 1,000% year-over-year from April 2025 to April 2026, as more at-risk homeowners chose the program to sell and avoid foreclosure.
A trusted hand inside the company
Chambers’s external work shapes strategy, but colleagues point to her valuable internal role. When agency, client, or compliance questions get tangled, teams across business development, operations, legal, and product turn to her to map the next step. She often serves as the link between Auction.com, servicers, and agency contacts.
“Elan’s ability to consistently make the right decision is simple; her core values, ethics, and professional standards are aligned and never compromised,” said Joe Cutrona, Auction.com’s chief business officer. “Long-term objectives are prioritized over short-term fixes resulting in actions that are intentional and never accidental.”