Loan Think

A day or so has passed since the White House unveiled its new budget, and the way things stand it looks as though Uncle Sam will spend $1.6 trillion more this year than it takes in. Now, if a mortgage applicant ran his/her household that way, you (as an underwriter) might say: "This looks horrible. Maybe that hard money lender across the street will give you a loan."

Now that I have had time to digest what we've seen and eaten on Super Bowl Sunday, there was one company whose commercial was a colossal failure in both content and in integrating its message with its online marketing efforts.

For some in the mortgage industry it was a long weekend — long in the sense they had 48 hours to contemplate the end of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But now that it's Monday morning, cooler heads are prevailing.

The Federal Reserve Board announced that it does not expect to finalize three pending rulemakings DOES under Regulation Z, which implements the Truth in Lending Act, prior to the transfer of authority for such rulemakings to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

THE VERY BIG PICTURE: First off, let's talk about the potential winners and losers if the White House plan to kill Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is installed anywhere close to "as is." (Let's not mince words either. The man from Illinois wants to pull the plug.)

As Deep Throat once quipped: "Follow the money." That suggestion not only applies to politics, but to financial service and mortgage firms. And whose job is it to keep track of the money and all them fancy regulations at a mortgage company?

Mortgage and political analysts are trying to figure out the White House's GSE strategy. Supposedly, in less than 24 hours. the Treasury Department 'white paper' on revamping the two will go viral. Everything we're hearing suggests the Obama White House wants to cut almost all federal ties to housing, with the exception of FHA.

On Friday morning when the world sees the Treasury Department's 'white paper' on restructuring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, citizens may ponder whether President Obama has switched political stripes. As one mortgage analyst told us: "The government is basically walking away from housing — except for FHA."

In our past few articles, we have been discussing the one sentence that will generate more clients for you. Here’s the sentence: People will do anything for those who encourage their dreams, justify their failures, allay their fears, confirm their suspicions and help them throw rocks at their enemies.

Yesterday, Rep. Scott Garrett, R-N.J. stunned the mortgage industry when he made a speech in Florida calling on the Obama administration to speed up the sale of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolios to capture "unrealized gains" on these assets. Okay, maybe it wasn't such a stunner.