Surnames and Supermarkets
When it comes to the grocery store, I leave the hard work to the Mrs. She usually goes on Saturday afternoon armed with a list while I attend to mowing the lawn. Despite my disdain for yard work, I’d much rather mow a lawn on a 95 degree day than go to air conditioned grocery store.
The only time I go to the grocery store is when I have to pick up the items that my wife may have forgotten or to pick up more baby food (Gerber #3 or Graduates) for our daughter. There’s a Safeway on the way home so it’s usually my store of choice. Moreover, Safeway has a great selection of gift cards. Whenever I have a closing I usually stop by Safeway to pick up a Home Depot gift card for my clients.
Safeway cashiers like to say your surname i.e. last name when they hand you the receipt. They probably get your last name if you have a Safeway club card membership or a debit/credit card. The cashiers have never pronounced my surname correctly. My surname, LETO, is fairly short and simple and I pronounce it Lee-toe. In Italy it’s pronounced, Lay-toe. The actor, Jared, likes to pronounce it Leh-toe. If you’re a wise guy from New York (or Boston) you’ll pronounce Lido as in Lido Shuffle.
So which way is correct?
Give me a word, any word, and I show you that the root of that word is Greek. -Gus Portokalos
Lētṓ - Long e and emphasis on the o.
Leto according to wikipedia is Greek in origin. Leto was the daughter of two titans and got knocked up by Zeus (Zeus deflowered everything in sight) and gave birth to Apollo and Artemis.
Oh but wait, the surname Leto is not Greek, it’s Italian. However, if you pronounce Leto, Leh-toe, Italians will think you’re saying letto which means bed. I’m sticking with the Greek pronunciation.
Tags: denverShooting from the Lip
I enjoy reading sports columnist Mike Lupica of the NY Daily News. His column “Shooting from the Lip” interjects his many different view points and thoughts. Bold words are used to highlight the theme.
Here’s my version:
The enemy of greatness is mediocrity. When discussing the San Antonio Spurs over the last nine years their “enemies” in the championships have mostly been mediocre. The face of the NBA are the Spurs. A team that flops and whines. Congrats David Stern, Bud Selig’s steroid ridden league looks better than yours right now.
Barry Bonds is about to break Hank Aaron’s record of 755 home runs. A few years ago I rooted for Barry to break the record simply because I thought his rookie baseball card would be worth something. Even though he’s on the cusp of an asterisk, his rookie card is worthless.
When I was in college, one of the guys in my dorm was on the juice. He denied it but we all knew it. One day he got really drunk and put his fist through a window. The cops picked him up and threw him in the slammer. When we visited him in his holding cell, he was sobbing. Jail is a scary place unless you play for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Despite graduating from college over a decade ago, I finally had my bachelors degree framed. It’s an eternal reminder that once upon a time I went to college, had fun, and ran 7 minute miles.
A few months ago I hurt my foot. The doctor took x-rays and said nothing was broken. Yet each time I’ve gone for a run, even at a slow pace, my foot has been in pain. With my main form of exercise on the shelf, I altered my diet. No fried foods. No pork. No beer. Limit my intake of sweets. What do you know, what do you say: No weight gain!
The Sopranos ending was perfect despite the deluge of criticism from disappointed fans. I often wondered if you really see your life flash before your eyes of if everything went pitch black when you died. According to the Sopranos finale, it was the latter. We followed Tony’s journey to the bitter end.
Journey saw a 500% increase in sales of their single “Don’t Stop Believing” on iTunes. I liked Journey when I was younger and pleaded with my older brother to take me to see them in concert. He didn’t take me but redeemed himself when he took me to a U2 concert. As usual someone in our section yelled “play Freebird!” Bands must really dislike that phrase.
I really dislike the phrase Short Sale and the word Foreclosure especially when the word Profit is tied to the story.
There’s nothing more discouraging than seeing a borrower with good credit, income, and reserves who happens to be upside down on their mortgage and on the verge of a rate adjustment.
Rates are taking the stairs.
Tags: denver, foreclosure, mortgage, rateA list Denver didn’t make
Denver usually makes it to the top of the list when it comes to healthy living and educated inhabitants. There’s one list that Denver didn’t make, the most expensive cities in world.
Here are the top 20:
- Moscow
- London
- Seoul
- Tokyo
- Hong Kong
- Copenhagen
- Geneva
- Osaka
- Zurich
- Oslo
- Milan
- St. Petersburg (Russia)
- Paris
- Singapore
- New York City
- Dublin
- Tel Aviv
- Rome
- Vienna
- Beijing
I’ve visited a fair share of these cities (in bold) and even lived in the outskirts of the lone US representative (NYC). Personally, I’d rather live in Denver plus we have an international airport, so these cities are only a plane ride away.
Tags: denver, vaHappy Father’s Day
Just a reminder that Sunday is Father’s Day. I’m looking forward to brunch and a day at the Denver Zoo with my wife and daughter.
Links: No Free Lunch
Here are some interesting stories around the internet:
- Kenneth Harney discusses Bank of America’s True No Fee Mortgage. Like Pavlov’s dog, everyone salivates when the words “No Fees” or “Free” are bandied about, especially when it comes to your mortgage however, you just need to remember that’s there’s NO FREE LUNCH.
- Real Estate Journal talks about “pimping your lawn mower“. In other words, trading in your push model for a John Deere Zero Turn Radius riding mower. Maybe in surburbia it’s a big deal but mowing your lawn sucks no matter what you use.
- Mark Cuban discusses his colonoscopy. I only find this link interesting because I have older friends who have experienced this ordeal and lived to tell about it in amusing fashion.
- The Transformers movie has an unbelievable trailer. My biggest question is: WHY DIDN’T THEY MAKE THIS MOVIE FRICKIN 20 YEARS AGO! (Yes, I collected transformers)
OK Einstein, where are rates headed?
A borrower calls me after finding my blog and starts the conversation with “OK Einstein, where are rates headed?” I usually expect an opening line like this from friends or just about anyone with a New York accent. Although the caller was sans the accent he could’ve easily been one of my wise-ass friends so I responded with a sarcastic “What’s it worth to you?” The person on the other line paused for a second and said “Seriously, do you think rates are going to go up any higher?” I paused for a second and said, “so let’s step back for a second, you really found my blog on the web, called me and started your call with OK Einsten…. wow!”
For the next ten minutes we discussed remortgaging which is a fancy term for refinancing. I explained to him that many people who have a 5 year ARMS have extremely low rates so their extremely hesitant to refinance. Luckily he had all his documents, I asked him to take out his NOTE so I could go over how his ARM will adjust.
His current rate: 5%
His current margin: 2.25%
His current index (12 month LIBOR): 5.49%
His caps: 2/2/6
- His first year adjustment has a maximum adjustment of 2%
- Each subsequent year can adjust a maximum of 2%
- With a lifetime maximum adjustment of 6% above the original rate of 5% or 11%.
His adjustment will take place sometime next year. Unless his index drops significantly, his rate will probably adjust to 7%.
After talking to the caller, somewhere along the line we became friends. We discussed golf. We discussed houses. We discussed 529 plans. He was looking for advice, not a loan. At the end of the call, he thanked me for my time. I added the caller’s name to my rates watch database and hope to hear from him when he’s ready to either purchase his next home or refinance when rates drop.
Tags: denver, purchase, rate, refinanceThe Mortgage Professor
As a former professor at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business, Jack Guttentag is well known as “the Mortgage Professor“. He’s also the driving forced behind Upfront Mortgage Brokers or lenders that disclose their fees. Today, he’s a syndicated columnist.
Currently he’s running a series on the subprime crisis:
Subprime Crisis, Part I: The Causes of Default
Subprime Crisis, Part II: The Lender Role
Subprime Crisis, Part III: State of the Market
Today he posted his fourth segment:
Subprime Crisis, Part IV: What Should the Government Do?
Rather than summarize these articles, I just wanted to post the links to these articles for people to discover. For the most part these articles aren’t lengthy diatribes. Enjoy!
Tags: mortgage, prime, Subprime, vaThe Last Soprano
The Sopranos is coming to an end. So far the final season has been a massive bloodbath with several key characters getting whacked. I’ve enjoyed the Sopranos mainly because I’m part Italian and I like how the cast is mostly Italian-American.
The portrayal of the Sopranos as a typical Italian-American family has been very accurate. The family dinners. The passionate discussions with lots of hand gestures. The butchering of the Italian language. How in the world does gabagool = capicola. (Yes, I know it’s the southern Italian dialect.) However, the Sopranos has received a lot of flack for portraying Italians as mafia. I think Hollywood with movies like Godfather, Goodfellas, Casino, et. al. had more to do with this stereotype than the Sopranos. Most Italian-Americans I know don’t have any ties to mafia. My paternal grandfather hails from Sicily, a hotbed for mafia, and despite the many years I’ve worked on my genealogy I can’t find any link between my family and the mafia.
I am looking forward to the last episode of the Sopranos which airs on Sunday for two reasons:
One, the writers were building the storyline to one final showdown between the Soprano crew based in Jersey and the Leotardo crew based in Brooklyn. Incidentally, I have roots in both places. Two, I can’t wait to get rid of HBO. Other than the Sopranos there’s no reason to get HBO. Who really wants to watch reruns of Cheaper By the Dozen 2 and Pride and Prejudice?
By the way, the Sopranos had their fingers in real estate:
In Episode 38, Carmela studies for the real estate exam.
In Episode 46 Tony and the crew used bogus real estate deals to con money out of the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Subsequent episodes, 50 and 51 focused on this scam.
Carmela begins a spec house with her father that is wrought with numerous delays. Episode 71, 75, 76, 77 follows her ordeal.
In Episode 73, Tony is involved with a real estate agent who’s persuading Tony to sell one of his stores to Jamba Juice.
So their you have it, the Sopranos is tv worth watching especially if you’re Italian and in the Mortgage/Real Estate business.
Tags: denver, mortgage, rate, real estateBills, Bills, Bills
There are several definitions of the word BILL:
- an itemized statement of money owed for goods shipped or services rendered; as in “pay your bill“
- a piece of paper money; as in “dollar bill“
- the entertainment offered at a public presentation; as in “what’s on the bill“
- player for the National Football League team based in Buffalo, NY; as in “Jim Kelly will always be a Buffalo Bill“
- Nickname for William; as in “Bill Clinton“
- a brim that projects to the front to shade the eyes; as in “bill of a baseball cap“
- beak: horny projecting mouth of a bird; as in “pelicans have big bills“
- a statute in draft before it becomes law; as in “I‘m just a bill. Yes, I’m only a bill. And I’m sitting here on Capitol Hill.”
Bill Ritter recently signed five mortgage and foreclosure bills into law. Here’s a rundown of these BILLS from the Rocky Mountain News:
- HB 1322, MEASURE TO PREVENT MORTGAGE FRAUD
- SB 85, PROTECTS CONSUMER REAL ESTATE TRANSACTIONS
- SB 203, MORTGAGE BROKER LICENSING
- SB 216, MORTGAGE LOAN ACTS PRACTICES
- SB 249, REAL ESTATE TITLE ESCROW SETTLEMENT
Summary: Mortgage brokers and others involved in real estate transactions must act for the benefit of the borrower, including making reasonable inquiries into the borrower’s financial situation and using best efforts to obtain a loan that takes into consideration the borrower’s situation.
Summary: Prohibits brokers from trying to influence the judgment of a real estate appraiser through coercion, intimidation or compensation.
Summary: Brokers must be licensed by the Division of Real Estate and must get adequate training, testing and continuing education and are prohibited from engaging in 24 specific activities, including fraud and conflicts of interest. A broker who has a license revoked for violating this legislation would not be eligible to be reinstated unless he or she provides full restitution to individuals he or she has harmed.
Summary: Requires brokers to act in good faith and deal fairly, including: not to recommend the borrower enter into a transaction that “does not have a reasonable tangible net benefit to the borrower, considering his circumstances; to make reasonable inquiry into the borrower’s financial circumstances; not to make loans where there is no reasonable probability of repayment.”
Summary: The Division of Insurance is required to provide annual reports on the number of enforcement actions taken, the market trends with title insurance and real estate transactions, and consumer complaints generated by market analysis, investigation and enforcement efforts regarding title insurance.
While this is a start but there are several areas that still need to be addressed:
What about the borrowers? Aren’t they culpable? If Joe and Jane Borrower buy a house and refuse to pay their mortgage simply because they racked up a lot of debt what’s their penalty?
What about banks? In Colorado, state and nationally chartered banks are exempt from registration: bank, saving bank, savings and loan association, industrial bank, industrial loan company, credit union, or bank or savings association holding company organized under federal law, and subsidiary or employee of the above. This is a large population of the mortgage community.
What about the Account Reps? They represent the mortgage lenders who end up buying your loan. Some will say just about anything to get mortgage brokers to send them business. In other words they’re part of the problem. Somehow there’s no law where mortgage lenders have to police their own employees.
Hip Hop Flip Flops
I’ll be blogging about the major news regarding mortgage broker registration later today in the mean time I wanted to discuss two recent hip hop flip flops in sports:
Kobe Bryant
I can’t stand Kobe Bryant. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s the second coming of Michael Jordan (sorry LeBron and D-Wade) I just don’t care for sports divas. He ranks up there with Terrell Owens, Alex Rodriguez, and Barry Bonds. You simply can’t root for these guys because they act more like Diana Ross than Derek Jeter.
Kobe recently said in an interview that he wanted out of the Los Angeles Lakers. That’s right, he wanted out of the marquee NBA franchise on the planet. A few hours later in a different interview he reneged and didn’t want out after all. Kobe is a phenomenal talent but I just don’t think he plays well with others. He could’ve played an individual sport like wrestling, bowling or even poker but he opted for a team game like basketball.
The NBA is a joke. The two worst teams (the Griz and the Celts) got jobbed in the NBA draft lottery. The Suns got jobbed in the NBA playoffs. The referees in the NBA are the most biased in professional sports. If LeBron and the Cavs don’t beat the Pistons their would be no interest whatsoever in the NBA finals. So who really cares where Kobe winds up, the NBA has other problems.
Billy Donovan
On the other end of the spectrum is Billy Donovan, the head coach of the Florida Gators. I like Billy Donovan. As a point guard in college, he led the Providence Friars to the Final Four in the mid-80’s. He played briefly for the New York Knicks in the NBA. He began his coaching career shortly thereafter.
After winning two NCAA championships with Florida, Donovan decided to take an Orlando Magic offer and try his luck in the NBA. However after a weekend to think about it, Donovan reneged and decided to return to Florida.
Donovan is an outstanding coach. He has busted my NCAA bracket many times. Every time I thought his teams would choke, they did well. He’s a legend in Florida. Why in the world would you leave the college ranks for the NBA and the Orlando Magic? It didn’t make any sense when they announced that Donovan was leaving for the NBA so I wasn’t surprised that he had second thoughts about returning to Florida. I hope that Donovan returns to the college game. He belongs there and he makes the college game that much more exciting.
What does this have to do with the mortgage world?
It’s okay to change your mind when it comes to your mortgage. Once the emotion involved with making a decision subsides, you return to your senses and sometimes your senses tell you to back out. There are millions of people who wished they changed their mind regarding their mortgage broker and/or their mortgage. If a deal seems fishy, you can and should back out. On a refinance transaction (assuming it’s not an investment property) you have 3 days to rescind your mortgage. On a purchase transaction, it’s a lot more complex, but you can still back out of the deal.
Tags: mortgage, property, purchase, refinance, va