Loan Think

Home sales in some of our nation’s hardest hit markets are showing signs of recovery. This is great news for the industry, especially if estimates are true and we still have years’ worth of housing industry that has yet to reach the market.

Military generals are cautioned to avoid fighting the last war; time and opponents have a way of producing new ways to contest a battlefield, catching unwary leaders off guard. When it comes to housing policy and political power, are Washington observers missing the next conflict?

Is the Obama Administration starting to listen to the mortgage industry - and in a good way? Well, don't throw a party quite yet, but two major mortgage developments this week suggest that perhaps the White House is starting to understand that you can't have a housing recovery without the cooperation of lenders and servicers that make the loans.

Larry King has made a career (and millions of dollars) interviewing people. You can do the same thing-by interviewing experts, authors, speakers, and real estate agents from different parts of the country-yes, even agents in your lending area.

If someone fell asleep in 1980 and woke up today, that person would be astounded at the progress the last three decades have brought. However, if someone fell asleep in the appraisal industry in 1980, and woke up in the appraisal industry of today, that person might barely notice a difference.

I'm a firm believer that the "power to buy" shapes home prices, except for when you're in the middle of a nasty housing recession. Of course, low rates don't hurt either. (And then there's underwriting standards.) Meanwhile, the new S&P home price index is out and no surprise there: values are still inching downward, albeit at what looks like a slower pace.

It is no secret that a happy employee or sales person is a motivated one. But what are the things that make your staffers happy? OfficeTeam, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based temporary staffing placement firm conducted a survey which asked outside of compensation, what aspect of your job is most tied to your satisfaction?

On Jan. 17, Raymond Foakes, a former leader of a Hells Angels chapter in Sonoma County, Calif., was sentenced to nearly 70 months in prison for his role in a $10 million mortgage fraud scheme. He was ordered to pay more than $1 million in restitution.

In this election year, there certainly is no shortage of political rhetoric and drama in every debate and speech we encounter, including the recent State of the Union address by President Obama. In the address, President Obama addressed the latest of this administration’s efforts to thwart the woes of the housing market.

Facebook is about to go public. Whoopee! Here's how an IPO works: all the private equity firms that have been funding a startup's operations get to cash out, recovering their seed money and then some. I'm not a Facebook user, but I get the model, though my doubts about the company stem from this basic belief: what's to prevent a bunch of low-cost competitors from offering the same service?