It was a great week in San Francisco at Inman and at Bar Camp.  

I'd taken about a seven year hiatis from attending and glad I went back! 

It's nice to feel the energy of new ideas, and meet new people.  I've never really been one to sit in a chair for more than about fifteen minutes and listen to a panel, so I spent the vast majority of my time mixing and mingleing with the crowd. 

Lot's was shared about the state of our industry and that the problems are "Localized."  I've been around long enough to know that with every crisis or pot hole we hit, there's an opportunity for all of us. 

The opportunity I see as the greatest is the return of "affordable housing."  Affordable means two things. 

1)  Homes whose value are reasonable, not over inflated or spiraling up.
2)  Consumers can now only purchase homes they can afford.  Long gone are the 100% Stated Income, with a 620 credit score. 

Given that we are an "Online Lender" in 27 states and reach the vast majority of our clients through purchasing leads this gives us a slightly different perspective.  We can measure the number of people that "virtually" walk through our doors looking for a purchase money mortgage. 

Demand to purchase homes is still out there but the consumer is better informed about market conditions (and pickier) than they were perhaps a year ago.  We know this because the volume of leads we purchase has remained consistant year over year. 

Consumers are smarter and more patient today and realize this patience will soon result in a great deal. Therefore, the selling cycle is longer. 

One final thought......there is money available to purchase a home.  We are still making loans to qualified borrowers everyday.  If you are working with someone that can't seem to get qualified, there is probably a good reason.