Waltham, Mass.-based Pro-Teck Services said Thursday that it has dramatically increased its presence in California as the state endures a housing downturn of historic proportions. Pro-Teck primarily provides appraisal, AVM, and broker price opinion services to default servicers and their vendors. The expansion of its existing satellite office in Irvine, Calif., has focused on duplicating many current operations that have in the past been run through the company’s Massachussetts headquarters. “Quality, customer service and turn–time all rely on regional capabilities to support our client’s national needs,” said Tom O’Grady, Pro-Teck’s president. The company’s expansion comes as servicers are struggling to deal with an extreme increase in the volume of borrower defaults, and as many industry service providers with a national footprint and a presence in the default servicing industry have begun to focus their operations in California. “Duplicating quality and vendor operations on the east and west coast allows us to better support our clients and vendors various time zones while strengthening our micro market expertise,” said Jeff Dickstein, chief appraiser. Dickstein will be charged with managing West Coast operations, the company said. For more information, visit http://www.protk.com.