Loan Think

In the neighborhood I live in, the bagel business is highly competitive. There are six stores that specialize in the product in my zip code and the adjoining one.

If anyone thought the nation's megabanks were going to take the "regulators' medicine" with their mouths widen open, they thought wrong.

AB 406- This bill would PROHIBIT BALLOON PAYMENTS from being included in the terms of an adjustable rate loan, as defined, for real property containing one to four residential units secured by a mortgage or deed of trust on real property.

THIS JUST IN: With fears mounting that the government may soon radically alter servicing compensation, at least one Wall Street firm is making the rounds offering a “sale leaseback” deal to some of the nation's largest holders of MSRs.

It used to be that if Fannie Mae did something it was a sure bet that "little brother" Freddie Mac soon would follow. But that may not be the case on revamping how servicers are paid by the GSEs.

What were you doing in 1999? Do you remember? Well, in 1999, I had 16 spec houses for sale. I was running a housing business that was running out of cash very quickly. I was doing my best to stay afloat. I needed more pull through and I started looking around for a resource to help me.

When the National Association of Independent Housing Professionals sued the Federal Reserve on Monday, the trade group kept it "all business" by naming the agency only. But not the National Association of Mortgage Brokers.

Are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on different pages when it comes to restructuring their servicing fees? That's hard to say because executives at both GSEs aren't exactly sharing their innermost feelings on the topic with me (though if they want to please email me at: Paul.Muolo@SourceMedia.com).

Two weeks ago today I had an operation that caused me to lose my voice. Now before you go ahead and say, “Who cares?” Let me share the marketing lesson with you.

Every few years we see some analyst/advisor issue a report that says M&A deals are usually a waste of time and are rarely worth the money spent on them. Boy oh boy, does that ever apply to Bank of America and its purchases of both Countrywide Financial Corp. (the house that Angelo built), and Merrill Lynch.