monday musings: How We Fell Into Equity Line Hell (And The Reckoning Yet to Come) PART 1 - 12/14/09 02:27 AM
The year was 2005 and the owner of my mortgage company strolled into my office with that "LOOK" on his face.
Clearly, I was in trouble.
He was there to scold have a serious talk with me. It seems my sin was doing too many equity lines.
I was asked to allocate more of my time to doing first mortgages. Why? Because an equity line made me (and the company) very little money.
Solemnly, I nodded in agreement and promised to change my ways.
Ignoring everything he had said, I went madly on, writing new equity lines every week. 
During those times, you didn't … (12 comments)

monday musings: Using Those "Nasty Little Tricks" to "Test" a Potential Mortgage Person - 09/14/09 05:56 AM
This comment, which appeared over the weekend on a featured post made me extremely uncomfortable:
"One of my nasty little tricks is to coach Realtors to ask my competition to explain APR as a knowledge test." 
Okay, everyone, let's not use hidden agendas when we connect. Why not? Because "nasty little tricks" are  not the foundation for great relationships.
Trust is.
We owe it to our mutual clients to bring trust to the table when we handle the most important transaction of their lives.
If you are a Realtor who would like to connect with a great mortgage person, just say … (17 comments)

monday musings: Outsmart the Crowd: Skip the $8000 Tax Credit and Wait to Buy - 09/07/09 05:11 AM
You are a first time buyer who has a sore butt. Why? Because you have been sitting on the fence all year long.
Could you be the smartest first time homebuyer out there?
Consider what happened when CASH for CLUNKERS overheated the demand for cars  (just like the FIRST TIME HOME BUYER TAX CREDIT overheated demand for entry level houses).
Before Cash for Clunkers, dealers had huge rebates on cars. They were willing to discount the cars by several thousand dollars just to get someone, ANYONE, onto that empty showroom floor.
The car market was in the toilet and cars were … (162 comments)

monday musings: 3-2-1- LIFTOFF! Prevent Failure to Launch: Help Your Kid Buy A House This Year - 04/27/09 10:25 AM
It wasn't THAT long ago that we Baby Boomers worried a lot about our kids.
You know, those irrepressible Generation Y kids who were on the Internet at age 4 and who grew up clicking (my son says I grew up turning dials and that is why his generation is superior different).
Sitting on our own fat bubble- enhanced, low taxed properties, we watched prices spiral out of control here in the San Francisco Bay Area. We believed our children would either:
Never be able to afford a house Move away forever Move back in with us (eek!)  But post meltdown, … (68 comments)

monday musings: Pray Silently or Silently Prey: How Locking In Low Rates Requires Jungle Economics - 03/23/09 06:33 AM

Every time a loan is locked, does it require the same mysterious skills used by a CAT stalking its prey? POUNCE when the moment is perfect. Purely instinctive, no skill required.
Or not?
Who hasn't seen a feline in hunting mode, silently frozen, eyes like lasers, tail twitching?
Suddenly, a guttural noise escapes, and pupils enlarge. Without warning, every muscle springs into a perfectly choreographed POUNCE.
Its IN FOR THE KILL.
Well, there are similarities. Like that tail twitching thing. I'm pretty sure I've seen mortgage brokers do that when rates get REALLY low.
Or how about this one? Just because you are an expert at pouncing does not mean you are eating … (17 comments)

monday musings: Why Don't Realtors Have FAITH in Preapproval Letters? 8 Questions Every Preapproval Should Answer - 03/16/09 05:36 AM
 
Why do Realtors think preapproval letters are about as worthless as a wet cocktail napkin? Has it become so bad that Realtors believe a do-it-yourself prequalification is better than one from the mortgage office?
I believe the time has come for preapproval letters to gain some respect. We can accomplish this by offering a much more detailed picture of where the borrower is in the process of becoming approved.
In this post I will tell you the 8 questions that every preapproval letter should answer.
THE COMMENTS THAT SHOCKED ME
Jennifer "SOI" Allan asked Realtors this: Should listing agents restrict … (132 comments)

monday musings: Deflation Nation: How to Be A Seller When No One Wants to Buy - 03/09/09 05:23 AM
Have you noticed????? Just about everything out there is, well,...... a whole lot cheaper. 
Sure, the focus is on real estate and the the stock market. But "declining values" have impacted almost everything we buy. What we learned in Econ 101 still holds true: Lower the demand and you are going to lower the price, every single time.
And that thing called DEMAND? The best way to describe that right now is IN THE TOILET.
Who can "demand" anything when you are busy just trying to keep your head above water?
Dog paddle or die. That's the mantra of most … (60 comments)

monday musings: Has the Mortgage Industry Just Been Overdosed? Pure Pandemonium Ahead? - 02/23/09 03:45 AM
Is Stimulation Just Economic Medicine and Did We Need Such A Big Dose?
So the spigot is in the "ON" position. America, let the "stimulation" begin. President O has prescribed the medicine for our economic maladies, so let's all just swallow and get cured.
But hold on. As anyone knows, swallowing medicine is tricky. It cures the ailment, sure. But an economy, just like a body, is a highly complex and delicate system. Swallowing medicine can sometimes have unintended consequences and side effects.
My experience tells me this: complex systems naturally know how to regulate themselves, if only given the chance.
… (54 comments)

monday musings: Why The $8000 First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit Could Be a Big Fat Waste of Money - 02/16/09 05:04 AM
It isn't a done deal yet, but here comes the newly improved first time home buyer tax credit, courtesy of President O's 2009 Stimulus Bill. Will it be a magic bullet?
Or just a stray bullet that missed the target by miles?
It is supposed to:
Get people off the fence, kind of like when the car salesman tells you "Buy today because the rebate goes away next Tuesday!" Reduce the excess inventory of homes on the market Give new homeowners money to spend in the economy at a time when everyone (even those that have money) refuse to spend it. Here's … (183 comments)

monday musings: American Idle: Should the Government "Create" Jobs? - 01/26/09 02:35 AM
If California were a big furry dog, its owner would have a clogged vacuum cleaner. That's because California is SHEDDING JOBS at a fast and furious pace.
What's left behind is just as worthless as a bunch of dog hair on your carpet: a big fat mess that needs to be cleaned up.
Oh if it were only as easy as plugging in the vacuum. But instead, our State Controller has warned that California is down to "PLAN D" on the checklist of paying bills.
Cash reserves are piddling Special funds that have been borrowed from are tapped out No one … (41 comments)

monday musings: Extreme Bargain or Extreme Stupidity? How Did We Become Hooked On Pretend Pricing? - 01/05/09 08:27 AM
Why do we continue to cling to the idea that to justify a purchase, it must be an EXTREME BARGAIN? Are we truly brilliant because we can buy something at 70% off?
Or are we just plain stupid because the very first day it was displayed it was ALREADY 50% off?  Suggested retail price seems to be nothing more than a PRETEND PRICE these days.
Do you think that manufacturers have inflated pricing to allow for this fact: We have decided buying things can only be justified if the thing is ON SALE? AN EXTREME BARGAIN?
When did everything become FOREVER ON SALE?
These thoughts occurred to me yesterday when … (24 comments)

monday musings: The Top Ten Worms That Crawled Out of the "Debt Forgiveness" Can - 11/24/08 02:02 AM
Please study the headline of this post carefully.
Since "WE" are funding a bailout of toxic mortgages, "WE" (taxpayers) should be very careful in demanding a solution that wipes out debt (forgives principal) instead of restructuring the loan (lengthening loan, reducing the rate, etc).
I agree with Lenn Harley's premise that rising payments on adjustable rate mortgages increases the risk a homeowner will walk away, creating another foreclosure, and the continuation of the mortgage crisis.
But wiping out $150,000 of a $375,000 loan increases the risk of something much bigger: that we as a nation come to view debt as something … (10 comments)

monday musings: Are "TO DO" Lists Outdated? (And Why Do I ROLL OVER Half of My "TO DO's"?) - 09/15/08 06:18 AM
As most of my readers know, Monday is my musing day.
My brain seems to refuse to go into neutral over weekends when I am SUPPOSED to be giving it a rest from Mortgage Madness.
Or could it be that looking out over misty lake with moon rising and glass of wine (at weekend home) opens the mind to thoughts that were LOST in the Madness (at crazy fast paced downtown office)?
Do you have things on your TO DO list that just never get done? Are TO DO lists outdated  anyway?
After all, I haven't taken a time management course … (6 comments)

monday musings: Listen to the Rhythm of the Falling Rain - 08/04/08 01:49 AM
Rhythms are vastly underrated. Although we all seek the excitement of new things and great adventures, let us not forget that every transition, good or bad, disrupts rhythms.
When the adventure is over, going back to the rhythm is like being rocked to sleep with a soft lullaby. It is a heaven all its own, but not nearly as easy falling asleep as you might think.
One must settle in, and wait patiently for body and mind to pick up where the rhythm left off. It is time wasted for some, and a whole lifestyle for others.
Transition. Good ones or … (4 comments)

monday musings: I'm Just Not That Into Your Video - 06/01/08 06:26 PM
It has been with great interest that I have followed Mike Mueller's blog the last few weeks, which to my amazement, has included an informative video on each post. Envious (as always) of his technical savvy, with no hope of EVER catching him (in points OR tech savvy...darnit), I finally came to a conclusion that surprised even me: I'm not that into video.
What the heck? Didn't Brad Andersohn tell us all to get with it? Flipcams, all around, we're talking about the wave of the future!!!!! 
So when Mike posted statistics showing his readership had actually gone down since including the videos, that got me thinking. Why do I prefer to read … (39 comments)

monday musings: The 3 Most Important Words in Every Real Estate Transaction: (1) Its (2) My (3) Fault - 04/14/08 05:10 AM
This weekend I let my "BRING ON THE BLAME" philosophy slip into a comment I placed on Neal Bloom's very funny featured post. My remark about always choosing to accept the blame seemed to strike a chord with the RainerNation. 
What do you think the 3 most important words in any real estate transaction are? (no, it is not "TODAY WE FUNDED"...but that's right up there). They are: 
(1)Its  (2) my  (3) fault 
That's right, I consider it my job to be the whipping boy and the scapegoat when things go wrong. Even though I am very careful to moisturize, I have a confession.... my professional skin is as thick as leather. 
I can take it. I can start conversations like … (18 comments)