http://activerain.com/blogs/caubhoy en-us 480268 As I survey the damage to the real estate industry today, I can't help but think that this entire fiasco has it's roots in the greed of so many of our largest financial institutions. In the old days we thought of bank robbers as having names like Jesse James. Nowadays they have names like Wells Fargo. It has been the greed of major banks that has spurred the availability of easy credit with mortgages that require payment of interest only or allow the borrower acccess to monies which they may well have difficulty repaying and then tagging on an adjustable rate to that mortgage which even a blind man could see .....would not be affordable to that borrower if the rate were to be increased. Then they blithely, having exercised little or no due diligence sell the mortgage to some fools on Wall Street who are busy trying hard to make their millions as fast as they can. Appraisals were written to satisfy the lenders lust for the loan to be made. There was no risk to the lender because the loan was often sold the same day it was made and the Appraisers were placed in the unenviable position of losing the lenders business if they couldn't write an appraisal that would keep the loan afloat. The big question I have is "How did they think they could get away with raising these interest rates on those mortgages ?" They are now choking on their own feast. If they had simply left the interest rates alone ( and remember they were making money at that rate)  Little of this would have happened. In yesterdays market the buyers often ended up at the Bank before they got to a Real Estate Office because ....they wanted to be pre- approved in a fast moving market. Hopefully in the future they will come to a Real Estate Broker for some much needed advice before they apply for a loan. Edward Boyle Realty Tue, 22 Apr 2008 17:24:58 -0500 http://activerain.com/blogsview/480268/Bank-Robbery