MarQuis 's Blog

Poem...for thought!

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 18:35:41 -0700

Silent Debates

My honesty has punished me to a very vivid degree, Speaking to me silently so when I'm dreaming, I find difficulty leveling reality. My maturity has hindered movements I used to fully express this complex personality, and now my fantasy and sanity find it hard to agree.

Shadows of light darken my exposed insecurities, and through meditative dealings I am able to see the real me I want to see...no better yet, I am allowed to see. Because I hide myself productively, strong fully, unwillingly to my lack of disbelief.

Dandruff of mind worry flake off my imagination with ease, and this creative disease stirs up my sinuses and cause me to sneeze. Cause me to react without proper means of the response I should expect. Not knowing what to anticipate just makes my mind ache, and now I have this overwhelming need to allow my actions to regurgitate.

Poem...for thought!

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:33:19 -0700

Awkward, Embarrassing (out of breath) Love.

Similarities are indifferent, bashful, disarray for talent only spoken within, only kissed but by themselves, only mentioned but a word of confused understandings and acceptance among passionate friends for who have long forgotten there only intent to befriend.

Stained memories of that which aches my heart, betrayed by that which has but-for-so long ago healed fire to the core of my soul as I am stressfully reminded of that which has stretched my loneliness so.

Bold bashfulness strike hard at the emotions emulating from the cubby holes in the soul I own, peaceful though awkwardness, relentless though embarrassment, out of breath through infringement as I create images of this writer, selfless expressions has created visions of our indifferent love.

New Foreclosure bill pushes Freddie Mac to stop buying subprime loans in N.Y.

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:28:40 -0700

I have often wondered if Fannie and Freddie actually have and act on their responsibilities to our nations being public chartered institutions.

Learning that as of Sept. 1^st Freddie Mac will stop buying loans out of New York because of a new bill Governor David Paterson signed last week.

(The New Bill offers foreclosure and lending laws that tighten legal protections for borrowers. One of the profound additions for New York is, it allows the borrower an extra 90 days to pull themselves out of a nasty foreclosure. Freddie Mac appears to be unwilling to work with New York and the additional timeframe. New York has also adapted ordnances which forces lenders to pay more attention to their properties so the property is not neglected and unmaintained).

The new legislation holds mortgage buyers like Freddie liable in ways that "we have no way of monitoring and preventing," company spokesman Brad German said in a telephone interview.

Government-chartered Freddie and Fannie Mae, which together own or guarantee 42 percent of the $12 trillion U.S. home loan market, are both slowing their mortgage purchases after last week posting bigger-than-expected losses for the second quarter.

This becomes a significant problem because in a market that does not have liquidity right now, it compounds the situation and forces consumers to go to less responsible third parties.

Freddie fell 23 cents, or 4.1 percent, to close at $5.37 on the New York Stock Exchange. Washington-based Fannie declined 38 cents to $8.02. Both have plummeted about 90 percent in the past year and are trading near 17-year lows set last month.

Bloomberg's Article

Poem...for thought!

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 11:01:30 -0700

Feeble de Imagination

May it be free of me to express such emotion of that which calms my jittered soul, Exercises my inability to fully release equipotent control

Fire burns quietly underneath complicated desire and scampering though my thoughts with a spry of deep meditation creates unbalanced segregation between myself and I, as I find myself mentally suited for the appropriate attire

Trinkets of expectation overflow, and I lay calmness of wise experience on my harden pillow, my dwindling self proclaimed awareness of a talented angry fellow Becomes more and more distant then a yonder hello.

Memories of fatigued energy rewind images of the struggles in my head, snapshots of quiescent laughter becomes my warm milk as I lay this stress to bed,

I pray, not to holiness but to everlasting experience and challenging consequence towards the entity that has birth my existence...

And for this I am a victim of feeble de imagination.

When you get mad...how do you get even?

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 10:54:37 -0700

I posted this sometime ago and figured the thoughts I had then are ever more needed now to keep myself and possibly others on a positive track.

When situations become far too stressful don't get mad... get even!

The market continues to be a stressful balance of positive thinking, hard work and focus. When your dealing with unethical agents and battling with clients who would like to discount your commission, you cant help but feel stressed.

Too many agents let this get them down and in doing so it effects their business and shortens their career. At times I find myself feeling such emotions and acting out on them and then remember, I need not get mad but get even. I feel like FLUFFY (picture above) at times and want to take action. (Not as extreme) but I feel the cat.

Even though it is easier to feel negative and act negative, it takes more work to do so. When ever you feel like FLUFFY remember you are a sweet, adorable, lovable creation of life and let the emotion pass. Get even with positive thinking.

Everyday we walk outside we are directing our path of existence...whether we strive to steady our path or redirect our path to other adventurous routes, it is our choice. WHEN YOU LEAVE THE HOUSE DO YOU FEEL LIKE FLUFFY? AND IF SO...ARE THESE EMOTIONS SHOWN THROUGH YOUR ACTIONS WITH CLIENTS AND COLLEAGUES? I wonder!

Poem...for thought!

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:20:53 -0700

Contaminated Reflections

Anticipate refection, for I know not what happens when memory explodes, I know what happens when fantasy meets reality and connective energy implodes beneath this story told.

Fashionable desire calls out to the inner child in me, screams at the growing maturity I seem to vomit up profusely...Who am I? Is this sound trickling though the sonic wall of my souls personality.

The question, what am I? Vibrates off the layers of strength which is stretched across my ambition to be loving, caring, charismatic even daring.

Frantic from perspiring creative thinking, exhausted from using words that describe feelings I have not yet felt, painting vivid photos of circumstances I have not yet experienced so these poems are all that I have left.

I am merely an infraction of what life hands to me; I am total satisfaction of what I want to be, minus a few insecurities. I am strong black beauty, deranged from the triumphs of my challenged spirituality. I am me...who is me, well, I'm he who has no indiscretions, and sins unreleased, no sorrow of passion mirrored by the person I use to be.

No dealings with fear, for fear holds me and my lust collectively.

The Builder “GAS CARD” craves.

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:15:06 -0700

With the market as sensitive as it is builders across the nation are doing what they can to drum up business. The latest news swimming around is the gas card crave.

With gas prices soaring to frustrating levels across the world, the real estate industry (among others) realized the good opportunity to entice consumers by way of their wallets.

In some states builders are giving away up to a $5000.00 gas card as a closing cost incentive; other builder are marketing $100.00 ever week for 100 weeks to buyers of its two spec homes because its community is a considerable distance from the city center.

Realty.com report on Builder Gas Incentives

The incentives are creative and plentiful...community open houses are FUELED with drawings and wheel spins aimed at enticing the ready and able buyer. Real Estate agents are also being enticed with gas card to bring buying clients to open houses. Mortgage brokers are luring in agents partnership, lenders hosting gas card give-a-ways at targeted gatherings...all for the opportunity of signing the buyers Rep-agreement, getting your name on the table of a loan referral and so-on.

But is it doing the builders, agents and mortgage brokers much good? Or are they just attracting people who just want gift cards to pay for gas and who are not looking for a loan or a house?

For me I compare this situation to the way I raise my daughters. I used to entice them with money, games, and activities to get a clean room, sisterhood love, the pets they wanted taken care of and many other things in and around the house.

When I shockingly realized they were just doing the things I wanted them to do because I was rewarding them with treats and gifts. I realized sadly I was bribing my children to take care of what I would classify as basic responsibilities.

Once I redirected my focus from reward of gifts and treats to reward of positive encouragements while teaching them personal satisfaction and respect. I saved a lot of money and when we spent time as a family doing things it had more meaning and value.

Oddly, my new efforts produced the same results but now in a positive light without breeding greedy, self absorbed kids.

Could something similar be implemented towards this situation?

Are we just attracting the kind of clients we really do not want?

Are we gaining respect and appreciating for our product and services if we entice with gifts? Or has our society grown so detached and self absorbed we care not to focus on the product, service, reputation and hard work of our builders, agents, brokers and lenders...we just want something free!

Have we become a society that says...If you have something free then you have loyalty in me?

What I believe in is this...loyalty is free until you put a price, gift or treat on it. So do we want loyal clients, of just clients?

Poem...for thgouht!

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:19:37 -0700

Premeditated Conclusions

My simple mind is congested, selfishly speaking, whispering, chattering profusely inside me, about me.
My religious disbelief is believable to those who spiritually see, crumbling maturity and acceptability of a concealed personality towering to the peak of his fallen abilities...is all but a perfect image of the person whom you read.

Wrinkled smiles of mathematic complexity, vigorous simplicity poetically adapting within me, and showing me how to fully be me.
And with two full views of this visual monstrosity's of the verbiage released exponentially, I become powerful mind free with the simplest dividends controlling me.

Snapshot collections and placement of emotional experimentations
Place themselves before me, asking me to believe more in me and want freedom from the thoughts smothering me, continuously, asking myself to set me free indefinitely, for the better good of those like me motivates me.

Functional instability struggles to be me, I envy those reading me, judging me, loving me, hating me, but yet wanting to know more of what they read...needing me to release the better parts of me, more and more to ease their disbelief... and so I do so, willingly.

The Shouting of IVVM's

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:08:50 -0700

Idealize, Visualize, Verbalize and Materialize are has become the new focus point in my life. The principals I will explain to you today will (if utilized) change the way you live your life and "Butterfly Effect" positive energy to your dealings with family and friends... it will also boost your Networking Skills and enhance your career.

Business Coach Jason Romrell of ActionCoach became my business coach in the early part of this year. When I first meet up with him I was amazed at the level of excitement and genuine happiness he exuded. (My first thought was that he was excited that he was securing a new client which would put more money in his pocket). But as I started listening to him speak and walk through the steps of how he help people like myself become better at growing their business I learned the art of IVVM's and the genuine expressions of positive reprogramming.

ActionCoach teach that shouting out IVVM's everyday is a sure way to stay focused, positive and proactive. (Skeptical of course) I created my own set of statements to release to the world as Jason says. I started to speak of out my list of wishful achievements: I want to be successful, I want a better relationship with my kinds and my partner, I want more Ready and Able clients and my list went on. After meeting up with Jason a few weeks later I expressed no difference in the way I felt with my IVVM's and he looked over my list.

Chuckling respectfully he told me my list did nothing for me because it was so vague. It lacked true value and even had a hint of negativity. He explained the art of releasing your energy to the world is much like the SECERET's...dare I say...secret! And If I wanted something then I better darn well be precise or I will have just have a lot of vague nothing as well as ensuring there is no negative influences. Like...I hope to have a real client walk in on my floor duty, I hope this time when I give out my business card the person actually calls.

So I started writing out a new list with more detail and more positivity. Explaining how I wanted my relationship with my daughters to be and explaining where I wanted to meet my next client and how I want that relationship to grow. I detailed where I wanted my business in three weeks, three months and three years. I wrote out how I wanted each day pan out and how I wanted to feel with I went home for the day, and that list went on and on. Needless to say as I became more precise I started to see a dramatic change in my attitude and the responses I received from clients, friends and my family.

I then started to read up in the art of shouting IVVM's and the true purpose of telling LIFE what you want. I want to be successful has no meaning! How successful would you like to be? I want a better relationship with my loved ones and friends...mean nothing unless you are precise and detailed about how those relationships will add value to your life and your added value to them. My business has taken a drastic shift for the positive because I am now more precise and detailed with what I want and when I want it. I challenge you to look at your wants and wishes and ask yourself if you are too VAGUE with what you seek! Or are you Precise and have a detailed plan of what is to come for you and your business.

IVVM's are statements of ACTION, as you shout them out each morning you are reaffirming to yourself of what you want, and as you go about your day you will find yourself moving closer to your IVVM statements because your mind is aware of what it wants and looks for those opportunities.

Okay here is a better way to put it...When you walk outside what are you looking for, and what would you like see happen.

Walk inspired.

(Poem) Marketable Regime... Off Topic!

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 14:22:18 -0700

Misguided fatigue paints stress across a portrait of what seems to be balanced serenity, stabilized comfortability; mature insanity towards a child raised in poverty and sheltered disbelief.
Clouded misconceptions of love and faith taunt this aged mind in insecurity, this fragile soul of severed connectivity, this hidden light of wishful spirituality and yet I still cry out as an individual in need.

Humming tunes of the most ballad impressions calms the worry smothering my motivation, heals the piercing act of profiling and racial damnation, speaks volumes to the impressions I envision despite these thoughts of social and mental segregation… so I become a man of inspiration and child whose hatred concedes.

Positivistic sheep jump contumeliously across the image of my soul bruising what I label faith so I am left action less, powerless, drowning strenuously, quietly and lonely.
A radical inflammation of circumstance builds a unique foundation of my structural ability and guards the pieces of my broken heart, shades the shaving of my spirits vulnerability and liquidizes my formidable masculinity.

Marketable be-it the impression I place upon myself and as it is written validates the regime I allow to be the exposed expression behind what these words really mean.

MarQuis Rhodes

Realtor®, Club President

Windermere /Capital Group, Inc. Boise, ID 83702 Toastmasters /George Fox University
(208) 559-0757 Fax (208) 381-8001 1810 South Eagle Rd, Meridian, ID 83642

Juggling Homes...

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 11:16:54 -0700

Juggling homes...

How many clients are in the dilemma of wanting to move into a home they love, but need to sell their current home first?

Across the nation we are experiencing 6 to 8 months of average days-on-market. This is killing the dreams of most sellers; our job has become harder and harder keeping the hope of a good sale in the minds of our clients. Price reductions are plentiful as the need for relocations and mortgage buyouts grow. What options are there for our clients? CNNMoney's Report

Helocs or Junior loans?

Even as lenders tighten their credit requirements, it is not that complicated to get into a heloc with less then perfect credit with a rate of 8.75%. Heloc's have become the new bridge for sellers looking to fill the gap in solidifying two properties.

Often time clients confuse helocs with refis and should not! These are two totally different loans. A heloc is credit that can be used for any purpose. A refi pays off your currently mortgage and is replaced with a new loan What is a HELOC?

Bridge Loan?

Filling the gap between homes has become more prevalent in today's market. Sellers are finding the perfect buys before they have sold their current home. Bridging two homes with a loan built on the collateral of the current or old home makes this situation almost perfect. What is a bridge loan?

Understanding what your clients' options are allows you to provide full service customer service to assist their needs. I encourage you to read the props and cons clients via the links provided before mentioning it to your clients.

MarQuis Rhodes

Windermere Real Estate / Capital Group Inc. (208) 559-0757 / My Website

Boise (Home Sales Statistics)

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 18:31:12 -0700

Below is a short synopsis on how our Boise market is preforming. Although we have slowed down (as most markets) our diverse areas are showing strong results.

Our NW-Meridian and SE-Boise areas this month alone have stood at the top of our market. Both areas show a consistent 98.6% of asking price. Home sale in these areas have rose well above 200 units sold in the month of August. The median for these two area is $264,000.00.

Aug 07 -Ada County / Boise

Total Active Residential Listings 5,192

Total Single-Family Homes Sold 604

Percent Change -34.20%

Median Price $235,000.00

Average Price $278,000.00

Percent Change 1.09%

Days on Marker 50

Total Residential Dollar Volume $167,912,163

The six figure discount

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 12:33:42 -0700

Wow, I understand the market is not booming as it once was but reading the six figure discount from Hovnanian Enterprises Inc. a N.J. based company is completely shocking to me.

(I know this is going to come across as extremely judgmental but I have never understood how a builder justifies slashing prices and offering discounts below fair market value which destroys property values, neighborhood desirability, property comps and appraisals).

I am not a builder and can not relate to issues they face in a falling market, but I would imagine they would build (or should build) homes with a bit of wiggle room in case the inventory does not move as quickly as would like. (If the property is overpriced which creates this wiggle room, I'm okay with that) But what I have noticed is the property price is extremely below market value.

Do they not care what a six figure discount does to the neighborhood? Do they not care how this effects property comps and appraisals and most importantly the neighbors?

CNN's Report

The new Windermere agent networking group

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 12:29:50 -0700

Agents of Windermere...I have created a new networking group I would like to use to refer business back and forth to each other. My hope is that this group becomes the number #1 source of business needing to be referred. Like many agents, my licensing restriction limits me to transacting only in Idaho, but I have clients and know people all over the United States. When opportunities arise I would like to choose a good Windermere agent to have my referrals.

I will pay out a 25% referral fee to any agent who refers business to me that produces a closed transaction. I ask that an agent pay a 25% referral to me for any business I refer out that produces a closed transaction.

Who would like to be on the front line of new referral business?

Welcome agents

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 12:25:59 -0700

Who would like to be on the front line of new referral business?

Welcome new members

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 08:20:28 -0700

This group was created for the networking of Windermere agents. I respect the training and knowledge the Windermere corporation offers all it's agents.

I would like the opportunity to refer my clients to Windermere agent across the United States, with the comfort of knowing my clients will be treated as friends and given the highest level of respect. I want to network with you.

Join today and lets start referring each other business.

Welcome...

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:42:08 -0700

To this exciting new group. I have great confidence we will make this group prosper with our participation. Please feel free to post your wants and needs.

Let the networking begin.

A short jump in mortgage apps proves our market still lives

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:16:24 -0700

(This is a short snap shot of CNN’s Report)

The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported a slight jump in mortgage apps before the Labor Day weekend. MBA’s statistics show a slight increase of 5.5 Percent at 657.4 up from 622.9 the week before.

This does not add much light to the decrease in our home sales which we have been experiencing these past 6 months, and unfortunately it is likely to continue well into the summer of 2008. But this does prove that our market is still functioning appropriately and, despite the negative news, we are still seeing new homeowners created every single day. CNNMoney's Article

A short jump in mortgage apps proves our market still lives

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:15:11 -0700

(This is a short snap shot of CNN’s Report)

A short jump in mortgage apps proves our market still lives

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 14:14:21 -0700

(This is a short snap shot of CNN’s Report)

A short jump in mortgage apps reminds us that our market still lives.

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:16:52 -0700

(This is a short snap shot of CNN’s Report)

The blame scale...Who's fault is it really?

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 13:01:02 -0700

I am pasting this article from CNNMoney because I found it quite interesting. It describes the blame factor towards the unfortunate downturn our housing market is experiencing. CNN’s breakdown of the pointed finger scale has the federal reserves in the #1 spot, followed by wall street and mortgage lenders in 2^nd place, mortgage brokers in 3^rd, the borrower in 4^th and appraisers in last place.

(This is quite lengthy but full of good observations) CNNMoney's Report

The borrowers

Let's start at the very end of the credit chain and work up. That means we begin with the borrowers themselves - in other words, with us. Thanks to low interest rates in the wake of the stock market crash, getting rich in real estate, always part of the culture, became a national pastime, with cable-TV shows like Flip This House, Flip That House and The Property Ladder (not to mention newspapers and magazines) stoking everyone's inner Donald Trump. Admit it - how often did you go on the Web to check the prices of homes in your neighborhood, just to see how much you could get for yours?

As prices kept soaring, the urge to get in on the boom became overpowering. Medical students, hairdressers and other amateurs were snapping up multiple condos in hot spots like Miami and Las Vegas, planning to flip them for quick gains. And people for whom home ownership once seemed out of reach took on far more debt than they could ever hope to repay. Don't have enough cash to put down the customary 20 percent? Just put down 10 percent. Better yet, borrow the down payment! If the bank approves, it must be okay, right?

Feckless, naive and pathetically addicted to easy money - sure. But with teaser rates and complicated terms, hopeful homebuyers often had little sense of what they were getting into. Now many will pay dearly for their poor judgment - losing their houses, having their credit ruined. We weigh our belief in individual responsibility against the all-too-human failing of getting caught up in a national frenzy.

The mortgage brokers

To get these loans they couldn't afford, many borrowers turned to mortgage brokers, who were especially good at enabling borderline borrowers to get their dough. "The brokers have always been a disproportionately large part of subprime origination, so they were well positioned to help fuel the boom in subprime lending," says Guy Cecala, publisher of the newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance.

And let's face it, with their nonstop marketing on the radio and the Internet, they're easy to scorn. They made millions, and as pure middlemen, they will feel relatively little in the way of consequences - aside from a sharp drop-off in business.

The appraisers

Let's not forget the brokers' handmaidens, the real estate appraisers, who too often buckled under pressure from lenders to overvalue houses.

Paul Demos, a Chicago-based appraiser, accepts some culpability for his trade. "Lenders would tell appraisers, 'This is the value we need for the loan to work,'" he says. "And appraisers would do it." That's kind of the opposite of how they're supposed to work. But, hey, whatever. It's a judgment call, right? Except nobody is exercising any judgment. In comparison with the other participants, though, the appraisers come across as bit players.

Mortgage lenders

Point your finger at mortgage brokers and appraisers, and they will quickly point theirs at the banks and mortgage companies. "Our industry shouldn't take any more blame than lenders and Wall Street," says Peter Ogilvie, president of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers.

To hear Ogilvie tell it, his mortgage brokerage, based in Los Baños, Calif., would often refuse to touch loans proposed by well-known banks, because the terms were so disadvantageous. One mortgage he says he declined was to a non-English-speaking, single-parent strawberry-farm worker, who was expected to pay around $12,000 a month.

Once they'd made all the loans they could reasonably make to qualified borrowers, the banks began relaxing the rules and reaching further down the credit scale. No income? No job? No assets? No problem! The industry even came up with a cute acronym for such deals: NINJA loans.

Many lenders are paying a price for such recklessness. Dozens of mortgage companies have gone bankrupt, including American Home Mortgage. And Countrywide Financial, the nation's largest mortgage lender - responsible for nearly one of every five mortgages in the U.S. - has seen its stock crater amid concerns that it will become a victim too.

Senator Barack Obama thinks the industry should pay more: He wants to fund a homeowner relief program by fining lenders "that acted irresponsibly or committed fraud." The mortgage providers made billions from the boom. And judging risk is at the very heart of what they are supposed to do. Otherwise, why not just hand the money out to anyone who asks for it? Oh, wait ... they did.

(I did not even think of this one and CNN gives it four points down)

Wall Street

The banks and mortgage companies never would have made all those loans if they'd had to keep them on their books. But they didn't have to, thanks to the remarkable mortgage machine Wall Street's investment banks and hedge funds concocted.

Until two months ago U.S. banks were able to package billions of dollars of mortgages as bonds and sell them to investors, which included other banks, pension funds and mutual funds. Foreigners were huge buyers of U.S. mortgage paper. And hedge funds scarfed up some of the lowest-rated, highest-yielding stuff in a cynical bid to boost returns.

The result was seemingly bottomless demand for whatever Wall Street could put on the table. Naturally, the amount of subprime mortgages soared. In 2006, subprime-mortgage origination amounted to $600 billion, 20 percent of total mortgage originations, massively up from 2001, when $160 billion of subprime mortgages were issued, representing 7 percent of total mortgage lending, according to Inside Mortgage Finance.

And they're going bad at a frightening rate. Over 17 percent of all subprime mortgages were more than 60 days past due at the end of June, double the number a year earlier, according to research firm First American Loan Performance.

But Wall Street was hooked on the profits. For example, Bear Stearns, which recently suffered huge subprime losses in two of its hedge funds, earned $2 billion in 2006, a huge jump from the roughly $600 million it made in 2001. It's a safe bet that mortgage products made a big contribution to the gain. The same goes for, say, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers.

With all that money rolling in, no one was going to question whether it was right to be exposed to subprime. Lehman got so caught up in its desire for subprime profits that it bought a subprime-mortgage-origination firm, BNC Mortgage, which it recently shut down.

The Federal Reserve

If we want to talk about one player that certainly had the power to put a stop to the excesses, we have to look at the Federal Reserve, which sets interest rates and therefore heavily influences the amount of lending that takes place in the economy.

The chief charge against the Fed is that former chairman Alan Greenspan kept interest rates at very low levels far longer than necessary, which in turn sparked the bubble in housing prices and mortgage lending. Looking back, the Fed's behavior does seem bizarre. It kept the key Federal funds rate at 2 percent or lower from November 2001 right through to the end of 2004.

Those rate decisions showed that Greenspan had chosen to use the housing market as his main instrument to prop up the economy after the 9/11 attacks. Using monetary policy to encourage a rise in home prices would be a highly unorthodox move for a central bank. But evidence suggests that Greenspan was overly keen to use housing for exactly that.

In 2002 he called mortgage markets a "powerful stabilizing force" because they allowed people to extract equity from their homes, and in 2004 he said that homeowners should consider using adjustable-rate mortgages to save on interest and prepayment costs. In 2005, when a record $625 billion in subprime mortgages were made, Greenspan gave a speech that blessed the creation of new loan products, including subprime home loans.

As a result, Greenspan has lost a lot of favor in Washington. In March, Senator Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, laid much of the blame for the current crisis at the feet of Greenspan's Fed, saying that it "seemed to encourage the development and use of adjustable-rate mortgages that today are defaulting and going into foreclosure at record rates."

Are we being fair? Is the Fed really this culpable? On the subprime issue, a person close to the Fed at the time responds, "It was only when we got to early 2006 that the Fed had any real data on what was going on in subprime. The first time we saw the data, we thought it must have been a mistake because the amount of subprime origination was so high. We then thought about the implications." But why didn't the Fed work harder to find the data?

And was monetary policy too lax for too long? The person adds, "There is a glaring fact, which people who make that criticism do not consider. And that is that interest rates - long-term interest rates - have been going down for 15 years. And it's a worldwide phenomenon."

So is the Fed off the hook? "That's nonsense," says Paul Kasriel, economist at Northern Trust. "The fact is, the Fed should have tightened earlier. That way they probably wouldn't have had this dilemma." So the Fed has to accept a large slab of blame for the current crunch. Perhaps it even deserves the lion's share.

Tell me what you think is this blaming scale,

FHASecure Act to the rescue

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:04:01 -0700

A while back I wrote about the new proposed FHASecured Act President Bush implemented. The bill has passed and lenders and mortgage brokers alike have begun working hard to help the tens of thousands of borrowers stuck in the foreclosure flytrap save their delinquent loans and retain control of their homes. Additionally, if you are 4 to 12 months behind on your mortgage and nearing foreclosure FHA has authorized a one-time interest-free loan to help pull these borrowers of the trap. (Awesome)

Refinancing with FHA approval after a default was unheard of before now. With FHASecure you now have access to a FHA-insured Refi loan if you meet these requirements:

A history of on-time payments for at least six months before your loans reset to higher rates
Interest rates scheduled to reset between June 2005 and December 2009
3 percent equity in your home, or the cash equivalent
A sustained history of employment
Sufficient income to make your FHA-insured mortgage payment and all other obligations

This new liberal side of FHA will help out a lot of people in need, giving borrowers an opportunity to regain control of their home ownership. Read CNN's Full Report

More news of FHA liberal side soon to come,

Countrywide is in more trouble

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 18:01:09 -0700

Countrywide employees filed a lawsuit Wednesday, saying the company failed to inform them of the financial hardship it was facing in the 401K retirement account, which plummeted over the last month decimating the employees’ retirement funds.

I must say I can completely comprehend the frustration they must feel loosing their retirement. I would be furious. I am unsure if Countrywide portrayed the image that the employee retirement stock was strong and stable, but with the company’s financial problems loosing millions of dollars in retirement stock is not a surprise to me.

It has been no secret Countrywide's billion-dollar corporation is dying and had been on its death bed for quite some time. As a corporation Countrywide is responsible for informing their employees of any and all changes which directly affect the financial welfare of its employees. CNN's Full Report

Tell me, what do you think?

What do your clients see when they look at you?

MarQuis Rhodes (MarQuis Real Estate Group/Boise River Properties) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 16:09:59 -0700

TOASTMASTERS INTERNATIONAL,

I am the president of a club in Meridian, Idaho and I can not express enough how this club has changed my life. I did not realize before toastmasters how many mistakes I made everyday with my verbal and non-verbal communication.

It was not even a thought of mine that my clients might have the wrong impression of me because of how I communicate. After my first visit to a toastmasters club I was hooked. This organization will help you represent yourself properly, Learning how to speak without the "um, but, and, well and so's". My daughters speak with the word "like" in very forth word and "ya Know" for every sixth word thereof. We do not realize how much of that we carry into adult hood. We may choose to pick up different words than "ya know and like", but we still have bad habit.

I encourage you to visit a club to see if our model fits into your profession.

What is Toastmasters?

From a humble beginning in 1924 at the YMCA in Santa Ana, California, Toastmasters International has grown to become a world leader in helping people become more competent and comfortable in front of an audience. The nonprofit organization now has nearly 220,000 members in 11,300 clubs in 90 countries, offering a proven - and enjoyable! - way to practice and hone communication and leadership skills.

Most Toastmasters meetings are comprised of approximately 20 people who meet weekly for an hour or two. Participants practice and learn skills by filling a meeting role, ranging from giving a prepared speech or an impromptu one to serving as timer, evaluator or grammarian.

There is no instructor; instead, each speech and meeting is critiqued by a member in a positive manner, focusing on what was done right and what could be improved Toastmasters.org