Colorado Residential Mortgage Fraud Act

House Bill 1323 will establish a minimum $75,000 penalty for anyone convicted of fraud, starting July 1. The bill also will forbid plea-bargained agreements that do not include orders for the perpetrators to repay the victims.

Passed on May 30th: http://www.colorado.gov/governor/press/may06/crime.html

Will it change the crap that goes on in the business? Only time will tell.

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Top Five Fridays - Mexican Beer

Mexican beers are the best served during the summer time. After visiting Mexico numerous times, I noticed that they never served their beer with limes. Here are my top five:

  1. Negro Modelo - I’m partial to dark beers
  2. Bohemia - I recently tried it and was really impressed
  3. Corona - If you’re gonna drink Corona, you better have limes.
  4. Dos Equis - At one point Dos Equis Amber was my favorite.
  5. Modelo Especial - It was a toss up between Pacifico and Modelo Especial.
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Top Five Fridays - Rap Groups

I’m instaling TOP FIVE FRIDAYS where I list my top five of just about anything. On the docket for this is week is my top five RAP groups. When I was a kid, rap was just starting out. It’s evolved since then but I still dig old school beats.

  1. Beastie Boys - “Licensed to Ill” and “Paul’s Boutique” are their finest albums.
  2. A Tribe Called Quest - If you don’t have their “Anthology” album, get it!
  3. Public Enemy - “Believe the Hype!”
  4. Boogie Down Productions - KRS-ONE is a self described lyrical assassin.
  5. Outkast - They get more acclaim for their latest stuff but their early stuff is awesome.
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Trendy stuff from the boys at Google

One of the best ways to find out about cool sites is through other people’s blogs. I found a link on Todd Carpenter’s site to Dave Savage’s blog. Dave Savage is the CEO of Mortgage Coach, a tool used my planners.

SIDE NOTE: If your mortgage broker said to you “I can get you the best !” chances are he’s not a mortgage planner. If your mortgage broker said to you, “let me show you how the mortgage you choose affects your financial future”, chances are he’s a mortgage planner. For the record, I consider myself a planner.

Dave’s Blog has a great article that alerted me to Google Trends. Basically Google Trends allows you to see the search pattern for a particular keyphrase.

I checked it out by typing in “mortgage.” Turns out is #6 in terms of cities that search for . Tampa, FL is number one.

Next I typed “Denver mortgage” and surprisingly Denver is not number one for that search term, they’re #4. Aurora, CO is number one. Basically more people in Aurora, CO search for than people in , CO. After Aurora, it’s Englewood and Littleton.

Then I read the fineprint:

Google Trends aims to provide insights into broad search patterns. As a Google Labs product, it is still in the early stages of development. Also, it is based upon just a portion of our searches, and several approximations are used when computing your results. Please keep this in mind when using it.

That being said, you can have endless hours of entertainment:

  • Minneapolis searches for “George W Bush” than any other city.
  • More people in Ottawa search for “Canada” while Washington (lets assume it’s DC) search for “United States” then again these are the capitals of each country.
  • For the term “beer,” Philadelphia, PA is numero uno.
  • Austin, TX likes to search for “pizza.”
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A little too late?

The Post has an editorial on licensing and/or background checks for Brokers. We lead the nation in foreclosures so I wonder if they missed the boat on this one.

Colorado is one of only two states (Alaska is the other) that don’t regulate brokers or require them to undergo background checks.

Given the sensitive nature of their work in arranging loans between lenders and homebuyers, and problems that recur in the industry, it’s obvious that state oversight is valuable and overdue. Lawmakers passed a sensible bill late in the legislative session, and we urge Gov. Bill Owens to sign it. Read More

You’ll be happy to know that the smoking Bill passed. Despite some opposition on July 1st, establishments such as bars, taverns, breweries, pubs, etc. will be smoke free.

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Geting an Adjustable “Russian Roullette” Mortgage

On Wednesday morning I was interviewed by John Rebchook of the Rocky Mountain News. He asked me several questions regarding Adjustable Mortgages. I enjoy Mr. Rebchook’s articles (they appear usually in Saturday in the Business section) and I enjoyed our conversation immensely. Although none of my candid comments made the article entitled Those Arms Starting to Hurt, it was a great opportunity to talk mortgages.

Rock on Mr. Rebchook and thanks again for the call!

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Denver Homes showing promise?

Denver was identified as one of three metropolitan areas that appear to be on their way up according to an article in the Real Estate Journal:

Across the U.S., there are signs of a cooling housing market. Yet, in pockets throughout the country, there is a contrasting trend — areas sidestepped by the real-estate boom are experiencing increased buyer demand, says David Lereah, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors in a recent commentary. Driving buyers to these comparatively lower-priced areas is affordability, he says. Here’s a look at homes in three metropolitan markets that appear to be on the way up: Salt Lake City, Denver, and Albuquerque, N.M.

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Denver is affordable compared to Salinas, CA


According to a NY Times article, Salinas, CA is the least affordable place in America. Based on the map above, is on par is most cities in America.

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Shorting the Housing Market

Definition of shorting a stock: short selling or “shorting” is a way to profit from the price of a stock or other security declining.

How about short selling the housing market?

The next big gamble for everyday investors: Betting on the rise and fall of housing prices.
By Lew Sichelman, United Feature Syndicate
May 7, 2006

WASHINGTON — Until now, the only way regular folks could bet on housing was to buy a and hope prices would rise so they could benefit from the expected appreciation, or else buy shares in a investment trust.

But soon, there may be a new way to speculate on housing, much as you do in the stock market. read more

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Downtown Livin

A recent article, Group launches “Live Downtown” campaign in the Business Journal focuses on a website called www.livedowntowndenver.com

I checked out the site that “is designed to serve as a virtual one-stop shop for existing and potential residents, brokers, as well as those who work downtown. It also will offer information for corporate relocation consultants. ” It details all the different neighborhoods in Downtown .

I’ve enjoyed working in downtown for many years.

  • Favorite Downtown bar: Rockbottom Brewery (16th and Curtis)
  • Favorite Downtown restaurant: Dixons (16th and Blake)
  • Favorite Downtown venue: Performing Arts Complex (Broadway shows on 14th and Curtis)
  • Favorite Downtown vendor: tie between the Afghani hot dog vendor on 17th and Market and the Burritto dude on 16th and Champa
  • Favorite Downtown hangout: Tattered Cover (16th and Wynkoop)
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