Hang in there everyone... the worst should be past us

The National Bureau of Economic Research said Monday that the United States has been in a recession since December 2007, making it official what most Americans have already believed about the state of the economy.

The NBER is a private group of leading economists charged with dating the start and end of economic downturns. It typically takes 6 to 18 months after the beginning of a recession to declare its start. The NBER similarly does not declare an end to the recession until long after the "expansion" has begun.

The current recession will likely prove to be one of the longest downturns since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The past two recessions (1990-1991 and 2001) lasted eight months each, and only two of the 10 previous post-Depression downturns lasted as long as a full year, according to the NBER.

 

The Good News on Jumbo Reverse Mortgages -- HECM Reverse Mortgage Products to Allow Higher Loan Amounts

The good news is that by sometime in early 2009, the HUD HECM Reverse Mortgage product will allow a higher loan amount for high value homes - this change was part of the new housing bill that was passed by Congress in 2008.

The HECM has always been the most popular Reverse Mortgage because if offered the highest amount of money to homeowners of average-valued houses, it was a government backed loan with relatively low interest and regulated fees.

For homeowners of high value homes - usually homes valued at $400,000 or more - a Jumbo Reverse Mortgage usually offered significantly higher amounts of money to the homeowner. The HECM product could not offer higher loan amounts because they were legislated with loan limits - they could not lend more than pre-specified amounts. In fact, the HECM product was originally designed specifically for low and medium value properties.

However, in the summer of 2008, Congress passed the Enactment of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA). This law lowers fees and raises loan limits on the popular HECM Reverse Mortgage - which limits the need for Jumbo Reverse Mortgage products for homes with values beneath the new higher loan limits.

The maximum loan amounts for HECM Reverse Mortgages are still being finalized. However, by early 2009 high value homeowners should be able to get significantly higher loan amounts on a HECM Reverse Mortgage than have been available.

We need these loans for our baby Boomer generation!!!

Credit Suisse releast the following statement Friday.

"Credit Suisse is closing Lime Financial and exiting the residential mortgage origination business to focus on higher margin businesses where we have competitive advantages and strong franchises, and that support the acceleration of our integrated bank model."

LIME slogan "The Future of Lending" I hope this wrong

307. LIME Financial Svcs. - Wholesale
306. Mortgage Network Inc. - Wholesale
305. Fortes Financial - Wholesale
304. HSBC Mortgage Corp. - Wholesale
303. CBRE Realty Finance
302. Franklin Bank, SSB
301. Mortgage Lion, Inc. - Wholesale
300. HMS Capital, Inc.
299. American Sterling Bank - Wholesale
298. CTX Mortgage Co. - Retail
297. Equity One Commercial
296. Coldstream Financial Svcs.
295. Banco Popular North America - Wholesale
294. Ace Mortgage Funding, LLC
293. E-Loan
292. Gateway Bank, F.S.B. - Wholesale
291. First Call Mortgage Co.
290. Downey Savings and Loan - Wholesale
289. Prospect's Metrocities Mortgage - Wholesale
288. ComCor Mortgage - Wholesale
287. Chevy Chase Bank - Wholesale
286. Washington Mutual - Retail and Warehouse
285. Hometown Commercial Capital
284. Mid Atlantic Capital LLC
283. Kemper Mortgage, Inc.
282. Liberty Mortgage Funding Co.
281. Freddie Mac
280. Fannie Mae
279. Pacific Community Mortgage, Inc. - Gold Reverse, Inc.
278. Homecomings Financial, LLC
277. Thornburg Mortgage
276. CSB Mortgage
275. Carteret Mortgage Corporation
274. Accredited Home Lenders, Lone Star Funds - Wholesale
273. Western Residential Mortgage
272. Liberty Home Lending - Wholesale
271. Equipoint Financial Network, Inc.
270. Ideal Mortgage Bankers, Ltd. - Wholesale
269. Silver State Bank - Wholesale
268. Irwin Union Bank & Trust Co. - Wholesale
267. SunTrust Bank Equity Wholesale
266. Wachovia Mortgage, FSB - Wholesale
265. Lehman Brothers SBF
264. IndyMac Bancorp
263. Mortgages Ltd.
262. Wilmington Finance - Wholesale
261. Accredited Home Lenders, Home Funds Direct
260. Assured Lending Corp. - Wholesale
259. Homewide Lending Corporation
258. Vanguard Mortgage & Title, Inc.
257. Chase Home Equity - Wholesale
256. Chase Subprime - Wholesale
255. Evergreen Investment & Carnation Banc
254. Casa Blanca Mortgage/Shearson - Wholesale
253. Guaranty Bank - Correspondent
252. Citi Residential Lending
251. Montgomery Mortgage Capital Company
250. E*Trade Wholesale Lending
249. Shearson Financial Network, Inc.
248. American Bank Mortgage Group - Wholesale
247. AmeriBanc Corp.
246. Washington Mutual - Wholesale
245. Century Bank, F.S.B. - Wholesale
244. Diversified Mortgage, Inc.
243. National Wholesale Funding
242. Centennial Mortgage and Funding, Inc./Award Mortgage
241. Fidelity Home Mortgage Corp. - Wholesale
240. LMI Funding, Inc.
239. Millennium Mortgage - Wholesale
238. Origen Financial, Inc. (Correspondent)
237. CitiMortgage - Home Equity Wholesale
236. Bear Stearns Residential Mortgage
235. East West Mortgage Co. of VA
234. New Vision Residential Lending
233. Washington Savings Bank, F.S.B. - Wholesale
232. Macquarie Mortgages USA Inc.
231. Global Mortgage, Inc.
230. Unique Mortgage Solutions (UMS, LLC)
229. First Franklin - Merrill Lynch
228. First National Mortgage Sources
227. Resource Mortgage (Wholesale)
226. KH Financial
225. Lydian Mortgage
224. OMG Wholesale Lending
223. Saxon Mortgage (Wholesale)
222. Beazer Mortgage Corp.
221. Allpointe Mortgage (Broker Program)
220. Popular Warehouse Lending
219. Allied Lending Corp. (Wholesale)
218. BF Saul Wholesale Lending
217. Community Resource Mortgage
216. Lehman/Aurora Loan Services
215. Residential Mortgage Capital
214. Maverick Residential Mortgage
213. Countrywide Financial Corp.
212. First NLC Financial Services
211. First American Bank (Wholesale)
210. Soma Financial
209. National City Corp. (Wholesale)
208. Heartland Wholesale Funding
207. Homefront Mortgage Inc.
206. PNC Bank H.E.
205. Family First Mortgage Corp.
204. First Fidelity Financial
203. BSM Financial
202. 1st Choice Mortgage
201. Wescom Credit Union
200. Coast Financial Holdings/Coast Bank
199. WaMu (Subprime)
198. First Madison Mortgage
197. Southern Star Mortgage
196. TransLand Financial
195. Secured Bankers Mortgage Company (SBMC)
194. ComUnity Lending
193. Delta Financial Corp
192. BayRock Mortgage
191. Empire Bancorp
190. Option One - H&R Block
189. Citigroup - FCS Warehouse
188. Charter One (Wholesale)
187. Wells Fargo - Home Equity
186. Paul Financial, LLC
185. Webster Bank (Wholesale)
184. Fieldstone Mortgage Company
183. Tribeca Lending Corp. (Wholesale)
182. WAMU Comm. Correspondent
181. Marlin Mortgage Company
180. Countrywide Specialty Lending
179. UBS Home Finance
178. MortgageIT-DB (Retail)
177. Edgewater Lending Group
176. ResMAE Mortgage Corp.
175. Citimortgage Correspondent (2nds)
174. AMC Lending
173. Liberty American Mortgage
172. Exchange Financial (Wholesale)
171. FirstBank Mortgage
170. Bank of America (Wholesale)
169. Diablo Funding Group Inc.
168. Honor State Bank
167. Spectrum Financial Group
166. Priority Funding Mortgage Bankers
165. BrooksAmerica Mortgage Corp.
164. Valley Vista Mortgage
163. New State Mortgage Company
162. Summit Mortgage Company
161. WMC
160. Paragon Home Lending
159. First Mariner Wholesale
158. The Lending Connection
157. Foxtons, Inc.
156. SCME Mortage Bankers
155. Aapex Mortgage (Apex Financial Group)
154. Wells Fargo (various Correspondent and Non-prime divisions)
153. Nationstar Mortgage
152. Decision One (HSBC)
151. Impac Lending Group
150. Long Beach (WaMu Warehouse/Correspondent)
149. Expanded Mortgage Credit Wholesale
148. The Mortgage Store Financial
147. C & G Financial
146. CFIC Home Mortgage
145. All Fund Mortgage
144. LownHome Financial
143. Sea Breeze Financial Services
142. Castle Point Mortgage
141. Premium Funding Corp
140. Group One Lending
139. Allstate Home Loans / Allstate Funding
138. Home Loan Specialists (HLS)
137. Transnational Finance Wholesale
136. CIT Home Lending
135. Capital Six Funding
134. Mortgage Investors Group (MIG) - Wholesale
133. Amstar Mortgage Corp
132. Quality Home Loans
131. BNC Mortgage (Lehman)
130. First National Bank of Arizona
129. Chevy Chase Bank Correspondent
128. GreenPoint Mortgage - Capital One Wholesale
127. NovaStar, Homeview Lending
126. Quick Loan Funding
125. Calusa Investments
124. Mercantile Mortgage
123. First Magnus
122. First Indiana Wholesale
121. GEM Loans / Pacific American Mortgage (PAMCO)
120. Kirkwood Financial Corporation
119. Lexington Lending
118. Express Capital Lending
117. Deutsche Bank Correspondent Lending Group (CLG)
116. MLSG
115. Trump Mortgage
114. HomeBanc Mortgage Corporation
113. Mylor Financial
112. Aegis
111. Alternative Financing Corp (AFC) Wholesale
110. Winstar Mortgage
109. American Home Mortgage / American Brokers Conduit
108. Optima Funding
107. Equity Funding Group
106. Sunset Mortgage
105. Nations Home Lending
104. Entrust Mortgage
103. Alera Financial (Wholesale)
102. Flick Mortgage/Mortgage Simple
101. Dollar Mortgage Corporation
100. Alliance Bancorp
99. Choice Capital Funding
98. Premier Mortgage Funding
97. Stone Creek Funding
96. FlexPoint Funding (Wholesale & Retail)
95. Starpointe Mortgage
94. Unlimited Loan Resources (ULR)
93. Freestand Financial
92. Steward Financial
91. Bridge Capital Corporation
90. Altivus Financial
89. ACT Mortgage
88. Alliance Mortgage Banking Corp (AMBC)
87. Concord Mortgage Wholesale
86. Heartwell Mortgage
85. Oak Street Mortgage
84. The Mortgage Warehouse
83. First Street Financial
82. Right-Away Mortgage
81. Heritage Plaza Mortgage
80. Horizon Bank Wholesale Lending Group
79. Lancaster Mortgage Bank (LMB)
78. Bryco (Wholesale)
77. No Red Tape Mortgage
76. The Lending Group (TLG)
75. Pro 30 Funding
74. NetBank Funding, Market Street Mortgage
73. Columbia Home Loans, LLC
72. Mortgage Tree Lending
71. Homeland Capital Group
70. Nation One Mortgage
69. Dana Capital Group
68. Millenium Funding Group
67. MILA
66. Home Equity of America
65. Opteum (Wholesale, Conduit)
64. Innovative Mortgage Capital
63. Home Capital, Inc.
62. Home 123 Mortgage
61. Homefield Financial
60. First Horizon Subprime, Equity Lending
59. Platinum Capital Group (Wholesale)
58. First Source Funding Group (FSFG)
57. Alterna Mortgage
56. Solutions Funding
55. People's Mortgage
54. LowerMyPayment.com
53. Zone Funding
52. First Consolidated (Subprime Wholesale)
51. EquiFirst
50. SouthStar Funding
49. Warehouse USA
48. H&R Block Mortgage
47. Madison Equity Loans
46. HSBC Mortgage Services (correspondent div.)
45. Sunset Direct Lending
44. Kellner Mortgage Investments
43. LoanCity
42. CoreStar Financial Group
41. Ameriquest, ACC Wholesale
40. Investaid Corp.
39. People's Choice Financial Corp.
38. Master Financial
37. Maribella Mortgage
36. FMF Capital LLC
35. New Century Financial Corp.
34. Wachovia Mortgage (Correspondent div.)
33. Ameritrust Mortgage Company (Subprime Wholesale)
32. Trojan Lending (Wholesale)
31. Fremont General Corporation
30. DomesticBank (Wholesale Lending Division)
29. Ivanhoe Mortgage/Central Pacific Mortgage
28. Eagle First Mortgage
27. Coastal Capital
26. Silver State Mortgage
25. ECC Capital/Encore Credit
24. Lender's Direct Capital Corporation (wholesale division)
23. Concorde Acceptance
22. DeepGreen Financial
21. American Freedom Mortgage, Inc.
20. Millenium Bankshares (Mortgage Subsidiaries)
19. Summit Mortgage
18. Mandalay Mortgage
17. Rose Mortgage
16. EquiBanc
15. FundingAmerica
14. Popular Financial Holdings
13. Clear Choice Financial/Bay Capital
12. Origen Wholesale Lending
11. SecuredFunding
10. Preferred Advantage
9. MLN
8. Sovereign Bancorp (Wholesale Ops)
7. Harbourton Mortgage Investment Corporation
6. OwnIt Mortgage
5. Sebring Capital Partners
4. Axis Mortgage & Investments
3. Meritage Mortgage
2. Acoustic Home Loans
1. Merit Financial

 

This week I attempted to renew my subscription to Broker Magazine and this is the response I received.

This is major lose for our industry. It seems that alot of our trade Magazine are getting smaller. There are less ads and few letters to the editor. We can only hope that the remaining magazines will be able to stay on until the market improves. God luck Brad Finkelstein... brad.finkelstein@sourcemedia.com

 

 

This magazine has ceased publishing. If you need Customer Service assistance click here.

 

 When I moved to Wisconsin from New York I had no idea what St. Nicks Day was. But I have loved the tradition ever since.

Waves of European immigrants brought cherished St. Nicholas holiday traditions to the United States. Over time these have melded into some common practices. If one looks closely, these reveal some distinctive characteristics of beloved St. Nicholas.

Candy Canes
These are really candy croziers, one of St. Nicholas' symbols. All bishops carry staffs, hooked at the top like a shepherd's crook, showing they are the shepherds who care for, or tend, their people.
St. Nicholas Day Blessing of Candy Canes

Christmas stockings by the fireplace
And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there, goes the oft repeated Christmas rhyme. In the story of Nicholas rescuing the poor maidens from being sold into slavery, the gold dowry money, tossed in through the chimney or window, is said to have landed in stockings left to dry before the fire.

Orange or tangerine in the toe of filled Christmas stockings
The gold Nicholas threw to provide the dowry money is often shown as gold balls. These are symbolized by oranges or even apples. So the orange in the toe of the stocking is a reminder of Nicholas' gift.

Gift-giving in secret, during the night
Stockings are filled while children are sleeping. Nicholas did his gift giving secretly, under cover of darkness. He didn't want to be seen and recognized as he wanted those he helped to give thanks to God.

Seasonal concern for the needy
St. Nicholas gave gifts to those in greatest need-the young and the most vulnerable. Christmas gifts and baskets given to those in need, along with other seasonal contributions to charity, reflect St. Nicholas' unselfish concern for others. He never wanted or expected anything in return.

 

US employers slashed 533,000 jobs in November, sending the unemployment rate to a 15-year high of 6.7 percent, according to official data Friday suggesting the economy is sinking faster than believed.

The Labor Department's November report on non-farm payrolls, seen as one of the best indicators of economic momentum, highlighted the severe retrenchment by companies in the face of a struggling economy and tight credit.

YearAnn Avg 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

3.8
5.9
5.3
3.3
3.0
2.9
5.5
4.4
4.1
4.3
6.8
5.5
5.5
6.7
5.5
5.7
5.2
4.5
3.8
3.8
3.6
3.5
4.9
5.9
5.6
4.9
5.6
8.5
7.7
7.1
6.1
5.8
7.1
7.6
9.7
9.6
7.5
7.2
7.0
6.2
5.5
5.3
5.6
6.8
7.5
6.9
6.1
5.6
5.4
4.9
4.5
4.2
4.0
4.7
5.8
6.0
5.5
5.1
4.6
4.6

• Don't mention it, please. Post thinks "the best approach is to be upfront" when regifting, but I have to ask: Why spoil the moment? If you tell your sister-in-law, in so many words, "I have no use for this nasty vase, so I'm giving it to you," even a person in need of a vase will hate you. I say, keep your yap shut unless there's a good reason not to.

 

• Do update the wrapping. The next most common regifting faux pas, after leaving the previous gift card attached, is to regift in the original, now crinkled and possibly torn (hello!?) wrapping paper or box. If the phrase "Hey, it looks almost new" crosses your desperate holiday brain, remember that the "almost" is a dead giveaway to the new giftee.

 

• Don't give hand-me-downs as regifts. Novice regifters (and those who are terminally tacky) often get these two categories confused. Don't. A hand-me-down is an item you've already used that you'd like to pass along to someone who will enjoy it and use it more than you will. For example, a sweater you've removed the tags from and worn twice. You could wrap it up and give it as a "gift" only if another real gift is provided. A regift should be just that: a gift you've never used that you're giving away as though it were a . . . real gift! Do keep track of who gave it to you first. Writing on The Dollar Stretcher, Joyce Moseley Pierce recommends creating a stash of regifting items you can always use in a pinch. I say, OK, but keep a small notebook of who gave you what. I had a harrowing experience that involved regifting a pair of earrings to a cousin -- who had given them to me two years before. I forgot. She remembered. And she let me know about it.

 

• Don't EVER regift these items. Certain items are a total, dead, instant giveaway that you not only are regifting, but you're too lame to put any effort into it: candles, soap, random books, mysterious CDs (unless your brother wants the hip-hop version of "Man of La Mancha"), obscure software, cheesy jewelry, scarves (do we not all own a scarf?), fruitcake, pens, cologne, boxed sets of extinct bath products (Jean Nate? No, no, no), videos or DVDs obviously acquired on a street corner, socks and any appliances or electronic gear the giftee would be puzzled to receive because they probably just got rid of it (including hot-air popcorn poppers and anything with a cassette deck in it).

 

• Do have the courtesy to clean your regifts. I once got a rice cooker . . . with a couple of kernels of rice still clinging to it. Some hand-me-downs can be passed off as regifts if the packaging is intact, like the wine glasses you've belatedly decided to share with a loved one. Just wash the lipstick off the rim, 'kay?

 

• Don't give partially used gift cards. As technology pushes the envelope of regifting possibilities, the chance of looking like a ninny only grows. Don't give a $25 gift card to Barnes & Noble that has $14.56 left on it. Would you give a pie with a slice taken out of it? We hope not.  

 

• Do remember that regifts can be funny. A friend of mine said that when he was younger, he and his sister would jokingly regift the same two board games back and forth to each other. If you think a friend would get a good laugh out of, say, a regifted self-help book, go for it -- as long as you make the prank clear.

 

• Don't give something you've owned for a while. Not only is this in violation of the hand-me-down rule above, the giftee can and will recognize that picture frame from your living room shelf. (And while you're at it, don't regift picture frames, either.)

 

• Do regift champagne. You know the joke about fruitcake: There are only two fruitcakes made each year, and we just keep foisting them off on each other. The same is true of the 11 bottles of champagne that circulate during the holidays. But there are never hard feelings from regifting a bottle of bubbly, unless it's really cheap or given to a confirmed teetotaler. Eventually it will find a happy, champagne-guzzling home.

 

• Don't give products from defunct companies. Someone gave to my husband and me a lovely crystal decanter from a department store that no longer exists. The decanter is a classic. It was just a little depressing to think it had been in someone's closet for that long.

 

• Do sell your gifts on eBay. When someone first told me that, rather than regift, he sells unwanted presents on eBay and uses the proceeds to buy real gifts, I was awed. Then I realized everyone is doing it. "My father gave my brother a boxed set of Kurosawa films, which my brother promptly sold for a pretty penny on eBay," one woman told me. So THAT'S where all that stuff comes from.

It may be my imagination. But with all the challenging things we experiencing in our economy, we have been noticing a larger that normal Church attendence each weekend. Some times it is hard to find something positive in these difficult times. This brought a smile to my heart and I hope it does the same for all of you who take the time to read this.

The pain that homeowners and homebuilders are feeling now is a sign that
 things are going to get better.

 The news that housing starts have fallen to their
 lowest level in 17 years sounds like one more reason to be depressed                                          about the shrinking value of your home. In fact, it's an almost certain sign
 that the path to a housing recovery is finally in sight.

 If prices are going to stabilize, let alone rebound, the United States
 needs to produce far more first-time home buyers than new houses. That's
 the only way to tame the glut of "For Sale" signs dotting front yards from
 the Inland Empire of California to the Gold Coast of Florida.
 Builders constructed far more homes from 2002 until 2006 - the peak bubble
 years - than could possibly be absorbed by the normal growth in
 households.

 As a result, the market is now swamped with one million new and existing
 homes for sale that aren't occupied, and hence need to sell quickly.
 That's a multiple of the figure in most downturns, and it testifies to the
 duration and girth of the bubble.

 "For the recovery to begin, builders need to eliminate the standing
 inventory of finished, unoccupied new homes," says Mike Castleman, founder
 of Metrostudy, which assembles sales data on four million subdivisions
 across the U.S.

 The massive overhang of unsold inventory has remained stubbornly high.
 Sure, builders cut back, but sales dropped just as quickly.
 Now that excess supply is finally beginning to shrink. In April, the
 number of new homes for sale stood at 456,000 according to the U.S.
 Commerce Department, still a big number, but 93,000 below the mountainous
 figure a year ago.

 The return of the first-time buyer
 The key player in any recovery scenario is the first time buyer. The
 housing market operates with a pronounced laddering or ripple effect. When
 entry-level buyers flood the market, they not only stimulate production of
 new homes, they purchase existing homes. Those purchases, in turn, allow
 the sellers to move up to bigger houses.

 But when the first-timers are absent, the entire buying chain gets frozen.
 Today, newbies are coming back. Why? For the first time in years,
 entry-level homes are affordable. Builders have slashed prices, and what
 they're building tends to be far smaller than the McMansions of the boom,
 selling for far lower prices. KB Home's average selling price dropped to
 $248,0000 in its February quarter, versus $267,000 a year earlier. In
 2006, KB's basic model in Victorville, Cal., a former boomtown east of Los
 Angeles, took up as much as 3,800 square feet and sold for $328,000.
 Today, its stripped down offering goes for $220,000, at less than half the
 size.

 So the first time in a decade renters can carry the mortgage payments and
 taxes on a new house for what they're paying a landlord. Call it the New
 Affordability.

 Here's how the numbers play out: Single-family housing starts are now
 running at fewer than 500,000 a year. The normal demand for housing, based
 on immigration and household formation, is around one million units.
 We won't get back to that figure for a while because so many people rushed
 to buy homes during the boom.

 But with first timers returning, sales should rise to almost 700,000 units
 by the end of next year, according to Bernard Markstein, senior economist
 for the National Association of Home Builders. That means sales will soon
 exceed new production by as much as 250,000 units a year.
 That margin forms the foundation of the housing revival that comes in four
 steps.
  Step 1:
 First, the return of first-time buyers will shrink the overhang of new
 houses for sale.

  Step 2:
 Second, because so few new homes are being built, first-timers will start
 buying existing homes from owners who want to move up but have been
 trapped by the dearth of buyers. Their improved fortunes, though, come
 with a big caveat: The prices of new homes are now lower than
 comparably-sized existing homes. It's as if used cars are selling for more
 than new ones. That can't last. So move-up buyers are going to have to
 accept less than they had hoped to get for their current homes.
  They'll get a big break as they trade up, however. Unless they bought at
 the height of the boom, they'll still sell at a profit. They can then use
 that equity to buy bigger homes at bargain prices. During the bubble,
 homebuilders started pushing up home sizes to 3,500 square feet or more.
 It's those behemoths that are selling for the steepest discounts today.
  Step 3:
 Next, housing starts should start rising, probably next year. The
 increase, however, will be slow and gradual. For the next two years at
 least, homebuilders will compete ferociously with existing home sellers
 for customers.

 Step 4:
 Eventually, the glut of existing homes will disappear as well. The excess
 of new-home buyers over new homes being built makes that inevitable. But
 the oversupply is so enormous that the healing process could take as much
 as three more years. Only then will prices in former bubble markets start
 rising again.

 What could go wrong?
 One event has the potential to slow or even derail the recovery: A sharp
 rise in interest rates. Right now, the first-timers are gorging on 6%
 loans guaranteed by the FHA. But rates may not stay there.
 If they rise to 8% or higher because inflation rebounds, it would take a
 far bigger drop in prices to make new and existing homes affordable.
 The New Affordability is now in place. But if rates rise, we'll have to
 establish a New New Affordability - at even lower prices.

As a loan officer, you are in business for yourself, and one of the "rules" of business that we all have been told is that the customer is always right. The customer is king. No wait, cash is king, but without the customer, there is no cash.

So I ask you, what do you think? Is the customer always right no matter what?

My answer is an emphatic, HECK NO!

The reason we are in business is to earn a living. I don't know about you, but I want to do this in as easy a manner as possible. This means not taking on unnecessary stress. The #1 cause of stress in our business is the customer. It's that way in all businesses.

Does this mean we totally ignore the customer and treat them badly? No way. They are, after all, the reason we are still in business. But it does mean we can place limits on what we will tolerate and what we will not.

I have been known to throw people out of my office for mentioning that they could get better rates at another mortgage company. Now, I have never grabbed anyone by the collar and physically thrown them out. What I do is stand up, stick out my hand for a handshake, and say, "In that case, I thank you for coming by, but I suggest you go to the other place. Now let me walk you to the door." It usually takes them a full 30 seconds to understand that I am throwing them out. Most people apologize and never mention rates again. Some of them leave, which is fine.

After you have been in this business for a while, you get a feeling. A sixth sense can tell you when someone is going to be a pain throughout the process. You can almost tell by the way they act in the first interview.

But many times the problem lies in different expectations. We expect to offer one service, and the customer expects something else. We might not expect a customer to call at 7pm Sunday night. But to him, it might be normal.

The best way to handle this is to create a list of expectations ahead of time. Tell the customer verbally and in writing what you will provide, and what he can do to contact you. Also, make sure your systems are set up to send out regular updates to him. This greatly minimizes phone calls.

If you get only one thing from this issue, get this: You do not have to work with everyone, nor should you. Create a target customer profile. Then target only those customers that fit your profile. Do not try to appease everyone. They will still get mad, and you will lose out in the end. This goes for customers, Realtors, title reps, lenders, and every other vendor in your life. If the relationship is not pleasant, find a way to fix it quick or end it. Life is too short and blood pressure rises too easily to deal with unpleasant people.

I'll give you another example from Kamrock. Recently we had a fellow get mad at us because we would not sell him any more of our products. We track every customer and know what they have ordered and when. That's just good business. This fellow seemed to order things one by one, and then return them one by one.

I can understand if you order one item, and if it is not for you, you send it back. I can even understand that you order twice and send it back, but that does put you on the watch list. But not three or more times. If you order from us three times and send it back each time, there is something fishy going on here. After the first couple of times, you already know what we are about, and have decided if our stuff fits with you or not.

This is my personal feeling and I may be wrong, but I wouldn't bet on it.

This guy got mad that we refused to send out his order and refunded his money. He wrote us a nasty email about how we don't know what customer service is and "the customer is always right". That got me thinking. We lose money on every return, so on this fellow, we have only lost money. If I let him "be right" and keep doing whatever he wanted, I would keep losing money, and that is not something I enjoy.

I wanted to see if this applied to the mortgage business as well. So I started going through my past loan files. On the people who were the most difficult to work with, I earned the lowest amount per hour. I spent more time on their files, on average, for less money. The time that I spent with them could have been spent on my better clients who should have gotten the time, or with my family, or doing something I enjoy.

So by working with nasty people,

a. we lose money

b. we steal time from our better clients, our families, and ourselves

c. we get upset, and in a few cases, get sick.

So let me ask you again. Is the customer always right? Let's say it together:

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!