Loan Think

Due to the fact there are only so many hours in the day and regardless of the calendar you are using there are only eight days in the week, you must make the right decisions every day or your time will get away from you without added value.

The big story of this past week? Answer: the Obama administration's plan to take over the entire banking/mortgage/investment banking industry and dictate pay for every executive! Can you imagine: mortgage traders in New York trying to get by on $200,000 a year when their secretaries are making only half that. Surely, I'm kidding but the White House isn't. It can limit pay for TARP recipients but how can it scale back compensation for non-TARP firms or will it even try? I would guess the idea is solely a trial balloon floated by some left-wing undersecretary at Treasury (probably someone who attended Berkeley; hey, wait a minute, my co-author Matt Padilla went to Berkeley), but seriously, folks, it ain't gonna happen. But then again, one can argue that after using $2 trillion in taxpayer funds (or whatever the current figure is) to bail out our financial system perhaps Uncle Sam has the right to dictate pay scales for certain uber traders, especially those involved in credit default swaps, MBS, ABS, take your pick. Again, I don't see it happening, but I've been wrong before...

In a few weeks California's 90-day foreclosure moratorium will expire and then servicers can pull the ripcord and start filing the appropriate paperwork to take over the real estate securing delinquent loans. According to ForeclosureRadar.com, in Orange County (California) mortgage "notices of default" totaled 2,002 in April, a 21% decline from the same month a year ago, and 23% from March. Lenders foreclosed on 573 houses and condos, down 49% from a year ago but up 52% from March. As The Orange County Register, pointed out: banks typically file a notice of default (NOD) after a borrower misses three or more monthly payments. NODs initiate the foreclosure process. Orange County was home to many subprime lenders including the granddaddy of them all: Ameriquest Mortgage, the brainchild of the late Roland Arnall…

I’m in the middle of buying a home. However, with downpayments being what they are I have to be creative. Journalists get paid well, but we’re not millionaires. So, I’m refinancing the mortgage on my co—op and pulling equity to help me get some of the funds. Now I’m going to share the good, the bad and the ugly about my experience so far.

I hope you have been enjoying these Loan Officer Formula Marketing Tips so far and taking notes. For many years, I just floundered around and hoped success would come. I was very frustrated and even worse, I was pretty broke. When I took a vacation, which was not often, I would only go away for 2 days max. I didn't think I could afford to lose any business or even worse, relationships. You know how Realtors are. If they don't get you on the phone, they just call the next guy or gal or talk to the inhouse person.

There's been sporadic press coverage of the non-performing loan auction market and it's hard making heads or tails of what's really going on, but one veteran of the business insists that not many mortgage portfolios are actually changing hands. Reason: banks are still reluctant to sell at discounts of 50% or more. Buyers are telling sellers: take it or leave it and so far it appears the sellers are leaving it be -- for now. Our source noted that one NPL investor that's received wide press coverage "has only a few Indians reporting to many chiefs" which translates into the strong possibility that this investing company (who I'm now looking into) is burning through plenty of cash. We're told that one of the keys to buying NPLs is servicing. If an NPL buyer has an in-house servicing platform it is ahead of the game. If not, it will need to outsource the function which means quality control may not be as good…

FTC ALLEGES THAT MORTGAGE LENDER CHARGED HISPANICS HIGHER PRICES FOR LOANS

Have you ever noticed that as salespeople we sometimes just can't get out of our own way? I was at a meeting with my local mastermind group (if you don't have one, start one today) and the topic of "closing the senior customer" came up. One person in the group lamented that many of his clients recently were talking to two and three other companies before making a decision. This comment, as you can imagine sparked a lively discussion. Why is it that we often don't close the deal when the senior is clearly ready to sign?

Guess who the largest unsecured creditor of Accredited Home Lenders is? Answer: HSBC Holdings, the London-based bank which is owed $90 million by the once high flying subprime lender. This is the same HSBC that six years ago ponied up $14 billion to purchase (then) subprime giant Household Finance of Prospects Heights, Ill. Today the old Household franchise (which included Beneficial Finance) has been liquidated or is in the process there of. William Aldinger, the former head of Household cleaned up on the sale to HSBC. Ah, those were the days: build up a business and find a foreign buyer (sucker) to sell it to. Meanwhile this just in (according to The Chicago Tribune): A civil judgment against Mr. Aldinger for making misleading public statements when he was chairman and CEO of Household raises thorny ethical and legal issues for the corporate boards he sits on, governance experts said Monday. The Trib reports: "On Thursday, a federal jury in Chicago found that Aldinger helped deceive Household shareholders by acting recklessly with respect to numerous public statements the company made between 2001 and 2002 about its lending practices"…

Many people believe the more networking they do, the more business they will bring into their office. This belief applies both in the physical and social media realms.