Feb
18
No Country for Mortgage Brokers
Filed Under mortgage | 3 Comments
Over the weekend I finally caught the movie, No Country for Old Men. It’s critically acclaimed and several friends recommended that I go see it. At times the movie was boring and slow. At times it was quick witted and interesting. However, most of the time nothing about the movie made sense.
In the current mortgage landscape nothing makes sense.
I still get several refinance requests from the internet where people are shopping and getting quoted rates that haven’t existed in years. Moreover, to get a loan closed today is much more difficult than ever before. So for anyone to do a loan at the lowest possible rates doesn’t make any business sense.
Some requests are for home purchases by real estate investors. Every day lenders are limiting their risk by limiting what a mortgage broker can and cannot submit. Every day programs are disappearing. There are very few high risk loans available. It’s only a matter of time before buying a home with no money down will become extinct.
Most of the inquiries I get are questions. Simple questions such as “Is now a good time to refinance?” or “Will not paying my bills hurt my credit?” The people who ask these don’t give me any information about themselves just a name and an email. That’s like asking your optometrist (eye doc) “Do I have ocular degeneration?” without having him/her/it look at your eyes.
Just like the movie, No Country for Old Men, there is no end in sight to all the madness.
Feb
4
Monday Morning Quarterback
Filed Under colorado, rates, sports | Leave a Comment
Microsoft may be buying Yahoo. They also might be buying the Sun complex in Broomfield. Despite Google’s meteoric rise, Microsoft is/are still the Joneses and Google knows it!
The caucus in Colorado is Tuesday. Isn’t twenty years of Bush (4) + Clinton (8) + Bush (8) enough? For the record, I’m a huge fan of Barry. If you read his bio, you might become one too. He’s half African, half Caucasian. Raised in Hawaii. Lived in Indonesia. Schooled in California and NY. Senator for Illinois. He’s got the whole country and a lot of ethnicities covered plus according to the NY times he’s a MAC.
Rate cuts, rate cuts, and more rate cuts.
I’ll be the first to admit that I really didn’t think the Giants had a shot at winning the Superbowl. I grew up watching both the Jets and the Giants but since my brother liked the Giants, I adopted the Jets as my team just to spite him. Boy do I regret that move big time!
Despite being a Jets fan, it’s hard for me to hate the Patriots. New England line backer Tedy Bruschi is the same ethnic chop suey as I am.
Why do we love sports? My brother said it best, it’s unscripted drama.
My brother is now a Broncos fan.
Suck it Peter King!
Jan
25
Keeping up with…
Filed Under blog | Leave a Comment
Keeping up with the low interest rates: . I haven’t seen rates on a 30 year fixed this low in years. Yet for some strange reason people are playing the “wait and see” game. Personally I hate this game mainly because people don’t know jack about the mortgage market. The rate cut means nothing to the mortgage market. Nothing. My advice is simple, if rates are low enough for you to act, then act.
Keeping up with the Joneses: . I had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine in California who said “It’s hard to keep up with the Joneses especially when the Joneses are totally out of control.” Foreclosures are rampant in California and it’s getting worse. Maybe now people will try to keep up with their other neighbors, the ones with the older model cars.
Keeping up with Tom Brady. I have a lot of respect for Tom Brady, however, I seriously question why he’s in NY the week before the big game. Shouldn’t he be in Mexico where the weather is much warmer.
Keeping up with the weather: Being an avid skier it pains me to say that I hate snow and i’m looking forward to the 50 degree weather in Denver this weekend.
Keeping up with a 20 month old: Having a child means reliving your childhood. Except my childhood didn’t include visits to the stockshow.
Keeping up with DirecTV: I dropped satellite television the first week of the year. I was sick all week and instead of watching Rome is Burning and SportsCenter I had to endure Dr. Phil and Oprah. I must say that watching daytime television is more painful than watching Fox News.
Keeping up with the Rebate: The feds are implementing a rebate to invigorate the economy. Some people weigh in on what they’d do with the money. The Federal Government is giving us money to spend it elsewhere. Give a man a fish and they’ll keep up with the Joneses….
Oct
29
Countrywide Financial Corp., the nation’s largest mortgage lender, plans to offer refinancing or modifications on $16 billion in loans whose interest rate is set to adjust by the end of 2008.
Rocky Mountain News: Countrywide to push refis, modified loans
New York Times: Countrywide to Help Restructure Loansm
Or are they simply trying to get more business?
Mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp., whose loan volume is down sharply in the wake of the housing downturn and the sub-prime meltdown, is aggressively trying to get its customers to refinance. Here are excerpts from two pitches the company sent recently to homeowners:
Exciting news — we are now offering a Special Online Rate Discount. . . . If you qualify, you could get up to $511,006 to pay off credit cards and other loans.
– Countrywide e-mail
No need to show bank statements or verify other assets . . . no paycheck stubs or proof of income required . . . no new appraisal needed (in most cases).
– Countrywide flier
Could be a combination of both. However, this uber annoying Countrywide commercial has been in HEAVY ROTATION:
Oct
22
Option Arms are in the news again
Filed Under foreclosure, mortgage, personal finance, rates | Leave a Comment
File this under: Unsuspecting borrower duped into getting a difficult loan to comprehend.
From Sunday’s Denver Post: Crushing ARMs squeeze homeowners
In 2003, 1.1 percent of mortgages originated for a purchase or refinance in Colorado were option-ARMs and another 2.5 percent were interest- only loans that didn’t pay down principal, according to First American LoanPerformance, a San Francisco mortgage research firm.
…
Many borrowers don’t understand negative amortization, how their payments are rising, and why the loans they expected to rescue them are dragging them into foreclosure, he said.
The mortgage brokers who sold these loans were (most of them are out of the industry) dumber than dirt yet were great at selling these products. If you went with a mortgage broker because they sold you on a loan products, who’s really to blame?
Oct
19
Rockies - WOW, Mortgages - WOE
Filed Under mortgage, rocky mountain news | 1 Comment
Mortgage article from the Rocky Mountain News:
The nation’s more than $2 trillion home mortgage business won’t halt its current slide anytime soon, with mortgage originations expected to fall 18 percent next year and decline another 6 percent in 2009, the Mortgage Bankers Association predicts.
Read the full story: Mortgage woes won’t end soon, group says
Oct
5
Alan Blinderis an American economist, on the faculty of Princeton University. He has served as the Deputy Assistant Director of the Congressional Budget Office, on President Bill Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors, and as the Vice Chairman on the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Sounds like a government conformist right? Wrong
He has recently wrote a controversial column for the Foreign Affairs magazine about globalization in which he opined that globalization could cause more disruptions in service jobs than originally believed. He says that he still believes that globalization would be a net plus for the United States. This analysis has not been published in a peer-reviewed journal of economics. His views on this issue is not widely accepted by economists.
Then comes this gem: Six Fingers of Blame in the Mortgage Mess
Who’s the first finger? Everyone who has a mortgage.
The first finger points at households who borrowed recklessly to buy homes, often saddling themselves with mortgages that were all too likely to default. They should have known better. But what can we do to guard against it happening again?
Not much, I’m afraid. Gullible consumers have been around since Adam consumed that apple. Greater financial literacy might help, but I’m dubious about our ability to deliver it effectively. The Federal Reserve is working on clearer mortgage disclosures to help borrowers understand what they are getting themselves into. (“Warning! This mortgage can be dangerous to your family’s financial health.”) While I applaud the effort, I’m skeptical that it will work. If you have ever closed on a home, you know that the disclosure forms you receive are copious and dense. Should we add even more?
Fewer words, and in plainer English, might help, especially if they highlighted the truly important risks. (“In two years, your mortgage payments could double.”) But the truth is that there is much to disclose, that complicated mortgage products are, well, complicated, and that people don’t read those documents anyway.
He does go on to blame Lenders, bank regulators, and countless others. If you don’t read the New York Times, you should. Real estate is local, mortgages are national.
Oct
5
Universal REO
Filed Under foreclosure, real estate | Leave a Comment
Here’s a press release for Universal REO. What’s my connection to Universal REO - my buddy Dan is the CEO.
LOCAL DENVER COMPANY RELEASES NATIONAL WEB-BASED FORECLOSURE EDUCATION WEBSITE FOR REAL ESTATE AGENTS.
UniversalREO.com, a Denver-based company, is reaching out to thousands of real estate professionals across the nation by providing a ‘Resource Center’ for those trying to make a difference in the foreclosure epidemic. According to founder and CEO, Daniel Waterman, “UniversalREO.com is an unparalleled stratagem designed to unify the real estate foreclosure industry. Through the shifting of the REO (Real Estate Owned by Lender) paradigm to meet a more streamlined business model, professionals are enabled by technology and informative resources. Our objective is to elevate the standards by which REO professional operate on every level.”
By offering thorough education on the valuing of properties, the resources and tools on how to determine values, marketing tips, as well as where to obtain new REO business, UniversalREO.com is providing a service that not even real estate colleges offer. After spending years as an REO Specialist for the top REO Real Estate Marketers in the nation, Mr. Waterman realized his true calling as a teacher. His trial-by-fire education in technology was what gave him the foresight to provide this knowledge to the masses via the information highway.
In this “Web 2.0” universe there exist many one-offs offering overnight REO Business success schemes on the web. UniversalREO.com offers more. Education, Valuation, and Marketing are the keys to success in a real estate market flooded with properties for sale due to default mortgage payments. Cutting-edge concepts on moving these properties into the appropriate hands while maintaining value to companies like Countrywide Home Loans who recently took out an $11.5 billion dollar loan to aid their default mortgage deficit is the only way this country will ever jump back on track. By conveying knowledge through on-line video courses, eBooks, blogs, podcasts, certification, and connecting REO Management companies and direct lenders with the educated real estate agent, as well as the end consumer, UniversalREO.com is blazing new trails throughout the nation. UniversalREO.com currently covers over 50% of the nation for Real Estate Agent and Vendor clientele.
Sep
24
Study confirms Option Arms not evil
Filed Under mortgage, rates | Leave a Comment
The study comes from NYU and Columbia, two universities known for academia not athletics:
according to a new study by professors from Columbia and New York universities, the “optimal” mortgage in a perfect world is precisely that kind of loan—an adjustable-rate mortgage with an option for negative amortization and a ban (or at least severe restriction) on prepayment.
Read the full article from Business Week
Sep
19
Mortgage article from the Denver Post:
Consumers and businesses struggling with tight credit markets should find relief from the Federal Reserve’s cut in interest rates Tuesday.
Read the full article: Relief for U.S. credit crunch