Is Countrywide Getting A Federal Bailout? - 11/27/07 02:27 PM
How are the Feds bailing out Countrywide today?
1- Certainly, as Countrywide has moved it’s fundings to its federally-chartered bank, any Fed market activity benefits them.
2- I said that they way out of the mess was for Countrywide to originate new loans in less risky programs. CFC has rolled out a major reverse mortgage program and is compensating brokers to refer those loans to them. While some people believe its actions violate the spirit of HUD laws, there are no HUD guidelines specifically forbidding this practice. Reverse mortgages are three times as profitable as conforming loans and carry little … (10 comments)

Odyessus Blog Contest Voting is Open - 11/25/07 09:50 PM
From Greg Swann:
Twenty-five nominees. I confess that it’s faster for me on Sunday if I’m not too picky, but this week saw a surplus of very good posts.
Vote for the People’s Choice Award here. You can use the voting interface to see each nominated post, so comparison is easy.
Please don’t spam the voting. I accept that there can be differing moral standards on scamming social media, but only one of those standards applies here. If you email 300 of your closest friends, telling them to vote for you, I will ignore all your votes. We’re interested in what is … (0 comments)

Lose a Limb Or Slowly Bleed to Death? - 11/23/07 10:44 PM
Pretty graphic title.  I'm a little more in-your face than most pundits.  Neither of those scenarios sound good, in fact, both are horrific.  California's going to bleed...hell, it's bleeding already.
I wrote an article about the California Governor's brokered deal with loan servicers:
Is this measure politically motivated? You betchya. The Governator is taking care of his own, regardless of the inequities it levies on the rest of the country. The lenders are in a bind so they’ll appreciate this artificial market stabilization until the rest of the country catches up. This is Nixonian economics, plain and simple. THAT interventionist policy exacerbated rather … (16 comments)

UNCHAINED: The birth of cool RE.net marketing ideas - 11/23/07 08:49 PM
We're racking our brains for brilliance. Now, we have a name for our conference.
Unchained will be all about you, the independent thinking real estate agent or loan originator who is defining her service offering through Web 2.0; interactive marketing.  It's not for the mainstream folks who troll for the stray buyer at the overpriced Open House.  The loan originator who still delivers donuts and rate sheets or is obsessed with the movie Boiler Room will be out-of-place.
We're talking to a REALLY big name in this space for the keynote address. The kind of guy Seth Godin calls boss. If we ink … (10 comments)

Guerilla Web Marketing Conference- Powered by Bloodhound - 11/21/07 11:40 PM
I've been playing around with the idea of a "Boot Camp for Real Estate Web Marketers" for a few months, now.  Many of you know that I've tried to bridge the digital divide by calling or meeting as many people as I can from Active Rain.  I made it a goal to meet 100 people from Active Rain, at the beginning of this year.  I lost track but I know I was up around 70 this summer.
I started the year off with the First Arizona Bloggers Conference in Phoenix.  We had 20 people show up and share ideas in a roundtable … (15 comments)

Active Rain is Vegas? What Happens Here Stays Here ! - 11/19/07 10:41 PM
Do members REALLY own the content on Active Rain?
I asked that question some 13-14 months ago, wondering whether the hours I invested would be worthwhile. I was satisfied with the explanation that the content was, indeed, the members’ property.
Move.com attempted to buy Active Rain, it balked, and conversations about a future revenue model led the idea of syndicating the user content to the mainstream media. Again, the question of who owns the content arose- the answer was identical to the 2006 answer; the members own their content.
Justin Smith (aka Damion Foxworthy) wrote a satirical post, which won the … (19 comments)

Consumers Don't Understand Yield Spread Premium? Stop Disclosing It. - 11/17/07 12:58 AM
Todd Carpenter has the answer to the yield spread disclosure debate.  It's so stupendously simple, it will work.  Instead of relying upon the current prestidigitation in the mortgage business, or screaming about the evils of yield spread premium,  or whining about the how bankers have an unfair advantage over brokers,
Eliminate the disclosure of yield spread premium by mortgage brokers. 
… (14 comments)

What Then For 2008 ? - 11/15/07 01:04 AM
I've been somewhat quiet on Active Rain.  Since August, mortgage origination has become an increasingly difficult job.  While the business has generally slowed, we specifically, have been booming with demand.  Unfortunately, it's not the demand I like.  Californians, Arizonans, hell, many Americans, are up to their eyeballs in debt.  Most couldn't afford it in the first place.  These past few months, I've missed calls, eschewed family life, and tried to keep up with the tons of homeowners in trouble.  I turn it all off on the weekends.
I read a lot.  I realize that after I hit 40 (2 years ago) … (35 comments)

Banks Bum Rush Brokers- Brokers Bitch About Banks - 11/14/07 01:04 AM
Big banks have a HUGE advantage over mortgage brokerage firms; they have the money. Federally-chartered banks also are regulated differently than mortgage brokers; they are overseen by the Office of Thrift Supervision, a successor regulator to the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. Federally-chartered banks also subscribe to FDIC insurance which imposes another layer of oversight to them. In the interest of simplification, the OTS regulates banking activity while the FDIC monitors the bank’s investments.
Big banks have a lot to lose if they have a rogue originator among their ranks. That’s not to say it doesn’t happen; rogue originators infest every … (1 comments)

Buyer Protection From REALTORs and Originators - 11/11/07 09:59 PM
Steering is an ugly practice practiced by real estate agents and mortgage originators alike.  The problems lies in the compensation; incentives or bonuses often taint the advice given you by your real estate or lending agent .  These secret incentives often manifest after you've been lulled into the bliss of your home purchase and get explained away as "volume incentives" or "relationship bonuses".  They are not illegal nor should they be.   They do, however, subvert the process of agency and bastardize the relationship between you and the professional you hired.  
This article will refer to different authors in the real … (4 comments)

Mortgage Veteran Offers Senate Committee Chairman Dodd Advice - 11/10/07 10:03 PM
Dear Chairman Dodd: Soon, HR 3915 will be endorsed by the House of Representatives and most likely referred to the Senate. The committee you chair, will have an opportunity to read, discuss, debate, and amend this bill before recommending it to the general Senate for vote. I am a 20 year veteran of consumer financial services with the last 14 years in mortgage lending. I have helped over 700 families finance their homes and closed some 1700 loan transactions. I humbly submit my expert opinion to you for consideration.
The Libertarian in me begs you to do absolutely nothing; it’s the … (24 comments)

San Diego Real Estate Bloggers - 11/10/07 04:34 AM
From The San Diego Beat:
This is the official call for submissions to:
The San Diego Special Edition
There are so many talented writers with blogs about San Diego County, as well as bloggers writing articles about their travels here, we’re now gathering together once a month to share our favorite articles. 
To participate, you only need to submit a link to your favorite article that you’ve written in the last month about anything in San Diego County, using this handy Blog Carnival Submission Form, where you can also find links to past and future editions.  Send a link today, or any day up until … (0 comments)

Villa Sotheby's International Real Estate Announcement - 11/09/07 06:51 PM
Roberta Murphy of Villa Sotheby's , in Del Mar, CA gives us a preview of the San Diego Property Exchange . … (9 comments)