integrity: Who invented "transparency"? - 01/13/09 04:24 PM
To quote Lenn Harley:
**** WARNING: TRUTH SPOKEN HERE ****
I'm not a young guy. In fact I'm beyond "middle age" unless I plan on living into my 100's. When I was a young boy - I mean 8 years old - I remember being taught by my parents to always speak the truth and not to hide anything from people I deal with. That means friends, family and business people. I was taught that hiding a truth from someone was the same as lying.
When I grew older and entered my college years and started reading books like "The Art … (21 comments)
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integrity: Beware of the Trickery of the One Stop Shop - 12/28/07 10:56 PM
Since the beginning of the boom there have been many "one stop shops" to spring up across the nation. Not surprisingly many of these originated out of California, Florida and Texas where real estate investing was the largest. It is possible that this posting is moot with the sudden decrease in real estate investments and real estate investment lending guidelines being cut to the bone.
There is one group which appears to still be growing but I doubt their sustainability based on their business model even though their founder and CEO is an experienced financial industry participant. What disturbs me is that … (22 comments)
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integrity: HomeBanc Closes: Good Riddance to Bad Rubish (With An *) - 08/07/07 11:35 AM
I usually try to be informative and have a positive outlook. And, from my perspective HomeBanc closing is one of the best things that has happened to the mortgage industry in years. For year we have fought with lies and deception and illegal distribution of proceeds from HomeBanc.
We all knew HomeBanc was violating RESPA and it's very difficult to compete in a tough market when the lender/broker is paying the real estate broker to be the preferred lender/broker. In addition we have had dozens if not hundreds of deals disrupted and cost our clients precious time and money when HomeBanc … (6 comments)
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integrity: Bait And Switch!!! Wait, what do you mean it's my fault??? - 06/05/07 01:09 PM
Today we have a client who called for a no closing cost refi. Since everyone should know and we tell everyone the way that is done is by slightly raising the rate to cover those costs from something called Service Release Premium (or Yield Spread Premium on brokered loans) where we take the Par rate (a loan that has no profit in it for us) and move the rate up just high enough to cover the closing costs and pay our commission. Depending on the size of the loan that could be as little as 1/2 point or as high as … (9 comments)
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integrity: NAR, ABC, Leslie Stahl, Imploding Market, Discounters - Make it Bleed to Make it Lead News - 05/17/07 08:26 AM
So just exactly how does it feel to be in a highly regulated industry which is constantly under attack from both the media and dis-informative insiders? I don't recall too many real estate agents sticking up for the mortgage industry over the past few months - in fact, I believe all of the ones I have heard supporting are here on Active Rain. The media sure has been hot on the trail of the Entire Mortgage Industry - baby, bathwater AND tub!
I guess Leslie Stahl's piece on the "sacrosanct 6% commission" could be compared to Clark Howard's continual bashing of mortgage … (2 comments)
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integrity: A Crazy Thing Happened On The Way To The Top - 05/09/07 07:34 PM
When you've been in the business for a while you can pretty much "smell them". They come wrapped in shiny packages with great promises of superior value, impeccable service and all for free. In fact, CNN recently published an article about one. A short little bald-headed Texan with an ego the size of Alaska and nothing but slight of mouth for advertising.
I call them "The Unbeatables".
They are not just your competitors - they are your clients. They are your school mates and your work partners. For home owners and buyers they are the listing agents and buyer's agents who've done … (2 comments)
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integrity: Still Mixed Reporting on Real Estate Market? - 04/04/07 03:03 PM
And I quote, "new reports signal that the real estate market may not be as bad as originally thought". Fox News, 4/4/2007
Maybe that's because percentages are easily misunderstood and manipulated to sensationalize a situation but raw numbers speak for themselves. Here is a short example: The price of cherries went up 4% in May. In April the price of a ton of cherries was $1000 and in May the price of a ton of cherries was $1040. This could also be reported as fruit price jumps 4% in one month - which sounds much worse.
Now let's look at bigger slice from … (2 comments)
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integrity: Zero Closing Cost Loans ... Hmmmmm - 03/11/07 11:45 PM
Okay, anyone who has read my posts knows I don't pull any punches and, after the exchange I just had with a mortgage broker from Virginia, I feel the need to revisit this just one more time. Funny thing is that this broker is a contributor to "Realty Times". So what. So nothing, really. Poop is poop. There is, however, something odd about this particular event.
His article was teased with how he is fed up with deceptive mortgage ads.
Deceptive mortgage ads.
His claim to "fame"? Zero cost mortgage loans.
Really ...
I would not even be blogging this had he not posed the question, … (2 comments)
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integrity: Who Can You Trust? - 03/09/07 01:49 PM
Evidence is mounting that the larger lenders seem to have been the most deceptive and are now suffering the greatest consequences. AS a small lender we know that our clients have been repeatedly victimized through being snared by bait and switch tactics from large national lenders who advertise regularly during shows of mass audience including Rush Limbaugh, the Super Bowl and American Idol.
Some even repeat: No one can do what we can do.
Really? Looks like your delinquency rate just cost your founder (who evidently wants to retire) millions or billions of dollars in a sell-out/merger opportunity.
Not too long ago I blogged … (3 comments)
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integrity: What Causes Foreclosures? You May Not Like The Answer ... - 02/14/07 01:40 PM
Lack of knowledge, discipline, preparedness or any combination of the three.
This may sting a little but don't shoot the speaker for delivering the data. This is long but I encourage you to read it, share it, pass it along, invite others to read it. After all, we're either working to fix the problems or we are a part of the problems. Silence is only golden when I'm watching TV.
RealtyTrac reported approximately 1,260,000 foreclosures in 2006. Here is a look at 5 select states and their relative percentage of foreclosures to housing units.
What this chart does not show is: number of units … (36 comments)
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integrity: Only We Can Do This Loan and Other Mortgage Pick Up Lines - 01/16/07 05:39 PM
Fellow lenders, brokers and loan originators I am pointing our fingers at us on this one. Is it any wonder the buying public thinks we are all a bunch of trash talking thugs? Oh I am not excluding you big guys like __tech.com and Quick__ Loans. You guys may be the worst of us all because your reach is so large.
Receiving a phone call from one of my top clients, people who acquire at least a million dollars or more in investment properties per year, is not unusual. They alone have my private cell phone number so occasionally they use it. … (27 comments)
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integrity: Peaceful Thoughts and Blessings for all on Active Rain (or AR Beatitudes) - 01/13/07 09:11 PM
Just a few weeks ago I blogged on How Active Rain Changed My Life. And it has. And it still is changing my life - perhaps more than any other organization or group of which I am part.
I come here to relax, learn and share - in that order. Some postings I take personally and respond in kind. Oh, I do try and hold my tongue when it will only spew frustration. I do, after all, realize that I am not in the minority in Actively Raining for relaxation. And, our client base is reading.
The last couple of days have not … (6 comments)
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integrity: Ten Effective Ways To Kill Any Deal - 12/22/06 08:57 PM
Often my writings include inverted viewpoints and inverse thinking to prove the positive side of the same issue. Normally motivational speakers and authors present facts from the positive side. In doing so repetitively and with great frequency some readers may have become numb to the power phrases heard regularly. So here is a bit of inverted thinking from the opposite side of sales motivation. While I am a lover of "do's" I am also guilty of "do not's".
1. Do not return phone calls or emails. This works. If you really want to blow an opportunity just fail to communicate. Yes, I … (26 comments)
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integrity: I said Can not Should, May not Must! Buying Into Trouble 101 - 11/01/06 11:15 AM
This may get offensive. If so I do not apologize :)
I, like any other self-respecting business person, make more commission on a higher value deal that on a lesser value deal. So you would think that as a lender/broker I would want the highest loan amount I could possibly squeeze out of an applicant. If you thought that, however, you would be mistaken. (Mistaken also means wrong.)
You would further be inclined to believe that when accepting a loan submission from a broker to be funded through our lending arm that I would also prefer to have the maximum loan amount available … (5 comments)
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integrity: If You Can't Beat Your Competition, Lie To Your Clients - 10/30/06 04:38 PM
Why does it seem this has become the motto of my own industry? If you live in one of the towns where JS from LF advertises heavily on the radio you've heard him say "Don't give a broker another penny of closing costs to refinance! It's a racket! It's a rip-off! Refinance with LF today and we'll pay your closing costs. Your closing costs won't cost you one penny and we don't roll it into the loan!" (paraphrased)
Raise your hand if you believe this is remotely true - I mean that it won't cost you one penny.
Okay, John, put your hand … (1 comments)
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integrity: Anonymous Posters: If You Know You're Wrong, Hide Your Identity? - 10/28/06 10:01 PM
I suppose if you are going to make erroneous comments with non-factual supporting data there is no better way to do so than to post anonymously. We're having a better exchange of ideas and opinion backed by factual data than I've encountered on AR or any other blog in quite some time. Jeff Corbett and I have had some great exchanges and Bryant Tutas is always there to chime in as are many more of you.
Then there is the anonymous poster who commented on Starbucks has nothing to do with Mortgages with an apparently cut and paste diatribe which had font … (4 comments)
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