I enjoyed the time that I spent working at Lake City Mortgage. I was there for 14 months and I was able to help a lot of people during that time. However in light of the current economic times with homes sales on the decline and foreclosures on the rise I have decided to take another direction.

I am now working for a company named National Modification Agency. I am doing modificaitions instead of mortgage origination. There are a couple of factors that led me to this line of work instead of continuing on down the same path that I was on.

First; I am still able to help people! I can really help someone by allowing them to avoid foreclosure and stay in their home, lowering their adjustable high interest rate mortgage into a low fix rate mortgage saving them money every month, and by doing all of this for less than it would otherwise cost just to pay arrears and stem the foreclosure process.

I just began this line of work and so far everyone whom I've worked with has been very happy with the final outcome. I look forward to helping many more people! If you know anyone who is in foreclosure or is having a hard time making payments on their adjustable rate mortgage I am happy to provide my assistance. Consulation is free, there is no obligation, and I do not charge an application fee.

OK, NOW THAT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS BACKING JUST ABOUT EVERY MORTGAGE LOAN PRODUCT KNOW TO MAN WHY IS IT THAT MY CLIENTS STILL NEED TO PAY FOR AN ADDITIONAL INSURANCE AGAINST DEFAULT?

The Federal Government is now guaranteeing the performance of Fannie & Freddie... If borrowers default, thats ok. The originating lender, servicing lender, or purchaser of that debt will not lose a thing because Uncle Sam's hand is firmly in place to help steady the imbalance.

So, why do our clients all have to pay an additional premium to a company that is essentially doing nothing. It like the loans are now doubly insured!!

Of course I imagine that the PMI companies will help the government recoup some of their loss... But ultimately it is our tax money insuring these loans.

Yesterdays bailout puts us one step closer to socialism...

This bailout was not really required because Fannie & Freddie both had the required capital reserves. They lost around 17 billion... but WaMu lost 19 billion. Losing money is not a prerequisite for taking control over a company; if it were the government would've seized many more companies by now.

in the short term this will be good for mortgage interest rates and ultimately the housing market. In the long term this is going to wreak havoc on our financial system and economy as a whole. The FED is going to start printing money to cover losses and to make cash infusions, the value of our dollar once again is going to plummet, and investors are going to turn to oil again as a hedge against inflation. The cost of gasonline will soar and we will be in the same type of mess that we are in now except that it will be deeper and take longer to recover from.

I got a pretty website that I thought would really produce a lot of business for me. I thought that the fact that there are 18 lead capture forms on each page that it would naturally collect a lot of leads. I was sold on the site by the things that the sales rep told me; most of which ended up not being true.

I purchased my site from Superior Internet Solutions around 4 months ago and so far it has collected around 7 leads total. Not terrible I guess but I was expecting more. I thought that I would be able to tweak the site... but I do not have access to the HTML as I was told i would. All that I can do is add information to the pre-existing architecture of the site but I cannot actually modify the architecture.

The site is real pretty and I have added a ton of information in an attempt to make it a Plattsburgh real estate authority. My goal is to drive traffic to the sites but so far I have not had much success with regard to that.

My ability to modify the site is restricted... So if any of you have some suggestions on how to drive traffic to a site like this please let me know. Thanks for reading!

Its been awhile since I have last blogged here on ActiveRain. I love this community and I miss coming here to share my thoughts and ideas about the business and to see what other people are doing to remain successful in these hard times. Of course with everything hitting this industry right now there is no shortage of topics to wirte about.

I have not been here in a little while because I have not had any spare time to sit down and post a blog... I have been working like crazy and I have had some personal issues that I have been dealing with while not at work.

Anyway, I just wanted to come here and say hello; let everyone know that I am still alive and sticking this business cycle out; an ice breaker. I will be back shortly to write some more blogs on the industry and my experiences.

Thank you all for the help that you have given me in the past and I look forward to many more great discussions here in the rain

Tru-Close Financial is an absolutely amazing company and I am proud to be a member of the team. I am a sales rep for Tru-Close and it is pretty interesting how that played out. I am excited because this is a company that I can endorse whole heartedly and in good conscience.

It all started when I began working with Tru-Close for my own title orders. I was absolutely astounded with the level of service that this company provides. They are the most responsive company that I have ever worked with in any industry period.

I was super impressed with the fact that someone always answers the phone and that I am almost never placed on hold. The couple of times that I was placed on hold it was never more than a minute (no kidding, one minute!). They have excellent pricing and they get title on refinance transactions back in 24 hours and 48 hours for purchase transactions.

I was so impressed with the level of service that this company provides that I began recommending them to other people in the business as well. I sent a couple of referrals over just because I am genuinely impressed with this company.

A couple of days after sending a referral over I got a call from Jason Sheppard who is a fellow Active Rainer and the owner of Tru-Close. He asked me if I would be interested in being put on the payroll as a sales rep for the company! This was an easy decision to make because I was already telling people how great they were and I was already going out of my way to send referral business to the company.

I asked him "where do I sign" and he got me all set up. Now I am still working in the mortgage industry as a mortgage originator and while I do not get paid on my own title orders in order to stay compliant with RESPA I send all of my own personal title work to Tru-Close! Even though I do not get paid on my own title orders I send my business to these guys simply because they are the best in the business!

I feel great about joining the team because I do not have to sell in order to make sales, I simply offer my gods honest opinion about the company to people and it sells itself.

Another great thing about this company if you are a loan originator is that they have a fantastic lead generation program that will definitely help you expand your pipeline and close more loans.

So, if you need a phenomenal title company to work with that not only gets what you need done fast and efficiently but can also increase your bottom line give me a call today and while you have me on the phone ask me about the lead generation program.

Christopher Ohlsen

Mortgage Advisor

1-518-907-4665

1-518-335-8791 (cell)

I worked for a now defunct mortgage company named SMC Mortgage Company in Glens Falls, NY. I was not happy with my experience there after leaving. Actually, I began becoming unhappy a while before I left... I did not like the common consensus that my former colleagues seemed hold... They gave each other high fives when they were able to really "sell" someone on a bad loan! It was like they took pride in in pulling the wool over people's eyes... Like that made them "good"!

The mortgages that I wrote were frowned upon by management for not have a high enough overall percentage of fees. I brought a lot of ideas to the table to improve efficiency, lower overhead operating expenses, treat SMC clients better and to implement a referral strategy to work with local agents in the area.

My ideas were all shut down until our differences became too great to reconcile and I left the company while they continued to spiral down their self destructive path.

A while ago I signed into My Merchant Circle account and navigated my way to SMC's Merchant Circle landing page.

I left the following review:

Very unprofessional

"I worked for this company briefly. I thought that maybe I could bring some class and skills to the environment that would elevate the level of service that this company was able to provide and that maybe I could bring some ideas to the table that would put this company ahead of the competition. I did bring some great ideas with me. Every one of which was shot down because the owner of the company did not think of it. His ideas were ridiculous and I truly feel that he cared more about earning a commission check than he did about serving the best interests of his clients... which is probably why the company shut down... I wonder how Tom is paying for his mercedes now. The best way that I can describe this outfit is that they were a Cluster*#$@. everyone in this organization so I left and moved on to a much more ethical company who appreciates my ideas and who treats clients the way that they deserve instead of like a paycheck."

March 28, 2008 by Christopher Ohlsen in Plattsburgh, NY

This is my God's honest review of this company. Now they are out of business and I am not surpised in the least. There was a false review on their Merchant Circle profile that was left there by one of their unscrupulous employees, so I went back one more time to set the record straight and I have not thought about it since.

An old friend of mine who had a similar experience with SMC Mortgage Company in Glens Falls contacted me recently. He told me that SMC Mortgage Company had indulged in criminal activity since my leaving and that he reported them to the Banking Department right before leaving himself and that resulted in them being shut down.

Yesterday I recieved an email from someone who I will keep anonymous in this post.

The Email I recieved:

"Christopher,

I got your name off the defunct SMC site. Now that your blood is boiling, let me explain why...

I write for the local business journal and two years ago I was assigned a story about this new mortgage company. Den assured me SMC could write a loan for just about anybody and under just about any condition. That is why I tried to contact SMC now.

I have friends who will lose their home soon if they don't find a mortgage company who can help. Countrywide is making no effort to work with them. Yes, these homeowners made some bad decisions and are way over-mortgaged; but maybe you or another firm you know of can figure out how to keep them in their home.

If you think you can help, please email or call me at your convenience."

My Response:

"Anonymous,

The fact that Den thought that he could write a loan for anyone under any circumstance is probably why they are defunct... that and the fact that they were writing FHA loans without the proper certifications and pocketing the FHA government funding fees illegally.

I just received your call; I can't promise anything except that I will take an application and do my best to help them improve their situation. Thank you for your consideration. Have a great holiday weekend!"

I believe in Treating People Right and that is why I have such a problem with this former employer but did I going over the top? What justifies "defamation of character"? I have been reading a lot about new rules that are being proposed to "govern" blogging to some degree and I am curious just how far a blogger can actually express his first amendment rights...

I am not intentionally setting out to defame anyone but I am a firm believer in telling the truth.

Their goal from what I can tell based on the news circling the company that I have read is to return to profitability by the end of 2008. They have been frantically cutting costs, raising capital, and consolidating shops for the past couple of months.

I really like a couple of Assistant Underwriters here who were sent to the Charlotte branch from Jersey when they consolidated the two shops; this was only a couple of months ago. Now GMAC is shutting down the Charlotte branch and moving everyone to Texas.

When they first consolidated a couple of branches I noticed a huge gap in service and it gets worse every time they shut down and consolidate branches.

The reason that I am asking you all if you think that GMAC has done the right thing is because it seems to me that they are swapping lower overhead for service. I just kind of think that this way of thinking is short sighted. Their overhead may be lower but they are also going to originate a lot less and do a lot less business in general.

I'd bet that while they are reducing costs that their operating ratios are not improving all that much. Whats your take?

I can't believe it... I mean, I know that it is true I am just mystified by it.

I don't understand why anyone would do something like this... I am talking about an underwriter at an ailing bank. The Bank is HomeComings Financial (ResCap) and I won't mention the individual because I do not want to be sued by her in case she comes across this post on the internet.

I have been working on a file for a little while now; This file has been wrought with complication. The borrower is very well qualified with a 757 mid credit score, 20% down payment, and an additional 30k assets in her checking account; very good borrower.

The problems that we ran into were with the seperation that she is going through. I needed to show that my client is not responsible for the mortgage payment on her marital residence or else the DTI would not work. It took more than 3 weeks to get the seperation agreement as issues were being worked out between the 2.

I obtained a copy of the executed and recorded seperation agreement to show that she is not responsible for those payments and I indicated that she will be retaining the residence in DU. the findings that DU spit out and the language on the seperation agreement was very specific.

The day before closing the underwriter called me up and told me that she will be needing a fully executed and recorded quitclaim deed. I did not understand the condition because everything was in order and I did not state that she will be relinquishing her vesting in the property; just that her husband is legally responsible for the mortgage payments on the property.

I argued this point for quite a while with her and it looked like I might lose the battle in the end. I got supplemental proof to show that we did not need anything additional. The underwriter on the file told me that she took the information that I provided for her to the underwriting management team and they said NO! that I need the recorded quit claim deed.

I had looked at all of the facts by this point and I knew that everything was in order. I knew that this deal should be signed off on and I considered cutting my ties with this bank. I called our rep who is amazing; She sat down with me and collected the facts.

She went to the underwriting managment team prepared to go to battle. She was planning on really busting their balls in order to get them to sign off on this file. She called me back shortly after and told me that she did not need to go to that extreme.

Apparently per my rep the underwriting management team actually told the underwriter to sign off on the condition the day before... Wow! Why would she lie... Actually risk killing the file just so as not to be proven wrong?... She blatantly lied to me and the only reason that I can possibly imagine is that she just did not want to be proven wrong.

Everything is all set, the file has been doc'd out, and I just went over the final HUD with my client. I tend to overestimate on third party fees because I don't want anyone being caught off guard at the closing table. I quoted her 38k originally and she has to bring roughly 35k to the table. She is happy, everyone else involved is happy (except maybe the underwriter) and that makes me happy!

My new website is up as of yesterday! I am pretty excited about it except that there are a few things that I still need done to it. I was expecting a lot of it to be done when the site came live, but they gave me the option of taking the site live while some things are still being done to it.

For one, I need a couple of things done to the site to make it more localized. I have several very nice pictures of the city of Plattsburgh that I have taken from my BlackBerry that I need uploaded. I am also working on the "links" section of the site to inlcude links from every company whom I have worked and enjoyed working with and I am including a small description of the company below each link.

I am somewhat new to actually operating, managing, and driving traffic to this kind of a site. The site itself is very impressive and user friendly for consumers. It's non-imposing and a real treat to explore... At least for me... And I hope for everyone else too, but we shall see.

At the moment I am working on manually driving traffic to the site and hopefully the site will be picked up as an authority on real estate and real estate financing for my area. I wrote a blog recently on a new mortgage product that we are offering at Lake City Mortgage. You can read about the product by clicking 

 After you read that article you will see why it is important for me to geo-target. Also, the area in which I live is easy to optimize key search terms for because the competition is not really too heavy. Here at Lake City Mortgage we offer just about every product out there. If we don't have it it can't be done in most cases. That being said, The Lake City Home Express is currently our flagship product so it is important to make sure that we get this information in front of the people who can benefit from the financing; hence the importance for geo-targeting.

I would appreciate all of your help in picking up some Google juice to my new website. You can visit it by going to www.northcountryloans.com. I also recommend checking it out if you are looking for real estate or real estate financing anywhere in New York State.