Loan Think

According to a new national report released a few weeks ago by the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs homelessness among veterans decreased 12% between January 2010 and January 2011. And while these decreasing numbers are encouraging, the number of homeless veterans remains astounding - and to me - heartbreaking.

National Mortgage News (December 19) asks, “Can Regulators Prevent the Next Systemic Risk Crisis?” Probably not.

Bank of America's share price climbed to just over $6.50 Tuesday, a sign that investors somewhere are bottom feeding on this once proud banking franchise, one that shot itself in the foot (or is it head?) when it bought Countrywide Financial Corp. in 2008.

While you don't have to be as organized as Felix Unger to be a success in sales, you do need to have a good system in place to avoid being swamped by papers and other tasks. The better organized you are, the more time you can devote to money making activities.

At the beginning of this new year, President Obama, much to the chagrin of many Republicans in Congress and constituents in the mortgage banking community, appointed Richard Cordray as Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Does Cordray's appointment to the CFPB mean: For every problem there is an opportunity?

On Dec. 22, 2011, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the sentences of Terrance "Terry" and Sonya "Cheri" Tucker, a Thousand Oaks couple who pleaded guilty to bank fraud in a real estate scheme that cheated homebuyers and investors.

We heard an interesting one the other day and it goes like this: Supposedly, auditors were giving one bank servicer a hard time because foreclosure notaries that worked for the bank did not physically see their co-worker sign the documents.

There is great value in following up with borrowers and Realtors to find out how they felt about their experience with you and your company. Knowing what you have done right and getting the opportunity to fix what may have gone wrong is priceless.

As highlighted by the Association of Foreign Investors in Real Estate in their recently released annual survey, some legislators are proposing to relieve somewhat the burden of the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act in ways could help real estate investment trust stockholders, and there is a potential development this year that could move such a proposal forward.

My inbox was slammed by emails from readers who said "right on" to my commentary that the White House is (wrongly) using mortgage brokers as a whipping boy for the mortgage crisis. But some larger questions still loom: Does this White House even know what a loan broker is? I would guess not.