Loan Think

Sometime this week representatives from the The Warehouse Lending Project, Glen Corso's group, will meet with Federal Reserve officials to discuss the liquidity crisis facing non-depository mortgage banking firms. One thing they will talk about is reducing the risk weighting on warehouse lines from the current 100% capital charge. (100% means for every $100 outstanding the bank has to hold $8 in capital.) The WLP has about 30 members. Meanwhile, the Mortgage Bankers Association is asking for a meeting with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on the issue of warehouse liquidity…

What is the difference between marketing and selling?

Business ethics expert Christopher Bauer says, "I have frequently heard it argued that ethics and values aren't a significant factor in branding because everyone claims that their ethics and values are great. Consequently, claims of great ethics or values don't differentiate your company from your competition. Though I fully understand this logic, I believe it is regrettably shortsighted."Though it is accurate that claims of terrific ethics and values are the norm - and that great ethics and values should be an expectation rather than a 'bonus' - this misses a significant point. It is not your claims that will differentiate you. Rather, it is the uniqueness, clarity, and influence of your values on the way in which you run your business that will differentiate you so powerfully. Once well integrated into every aspect of your business model, positive, clearly defined and well-articulated values - and an obvious, foremost expectation of ethical employee behavior - will have a significant and direct impact on how your employees do business all day, every day. Consequently, your focus on ethics and values will both positively and unequivocally affect your company's style of business at every organizational and operational level."Is your way of doing business a part of your overall image in the marketplace? Of course. Is your overall image a significant part of your brand? They are intertwined! People are already noticing whether or not they can discern what you stand for so you better be sure that you know what you stand for too. Then, be sure to assure that your image is every bit as positive as it is powerful."Your company's values are already influencing your brand. Why not take careful control of that process so that you can put your positive values to their most effective use in building your brand? Continuing to hone the clarity of your core values, and then carefully integrating them into every one of your business practices, is a necessary piece of that process. Christopher Bauer helps companies reduce their risk for costly ethical and legal problems while helping them build their bottom line still further through the development of values-driven management, leadership, and customer service initiatives. Information on Bauer Ethics Seminars is available at http://www.bauerethicsseminars.com.

Using the right words is the key to success, declares Laurie Puhn, lawyer, mediator, author and motivational speaker. At a recent event sponsored by The Industrial and Office Real Estate Brokers Association of the New York Metropolitan Area, she discussed effective techniques professionals can use everyday to reduce conflict; increase client satisfaction; and enhance performance, productivity and profits. She posed the question, "Do you know that the comments you make to real estate clients, prospects and colleagues instantly persuade them to trust or mistrust you and cooperate or argue with you?"Ms. Puhn offered tips for turning common communication blunders into positive experiences. For example, spreading gossip at work can be beneficial but only if it's good gossip, she explained. "It is a blunder to keep compliments about other people to yourself. Be a people-magnet," Ms. Puhn suggested. She added that attendees should test the theory: "Pass on a compliment by the end of today. See the results for yourself."IOREBA is one of the nation's largest regional commercial real estate trade groups with members in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. For more information, visit http://www.IOREBA.com.

One of entrepreneur Dick Gunther's first lessons in philanthropy came at an age before he was able to understand what he had witnessed."One of my only memories of the Great Depression was when I was five years old," Mr. Gunther. "I remember a nicely dressed man coming to our door and politely asking my mother if she could give him something to eat, as he was hungry and had no money. She asked him to come around to the kitchen and she fixed him some food. I remember being very upset and wondering how it could be that this nice man who looked prosperous could be hungry. I was young and lacked the form of reference to understand that the economy had tanked, and that even the rich had become the poor practically overnight."His message is simple - times are tough now, but they have been tough before, and if we can manage to keep our eyes and our hearts focused on things that truly matter, we can reduce and sometimes defeat fear and anxiety. More importantly, the key to a fulfilling life lies within our ability to think and be of service to others.In Mr. Gunther's 83 years he had made millions in real estate and other businesses, helped untold thousands through charitable organizations and programs he either founded, steered or participated in and raised family along the way.His tips for living a rich, fulfilling life apply to business as well as your personal life.

Those "don't tax and spend" Republicans are at it again and this time it could benefit the mortgage and housing industries directly. GOP senators are behind language in the Economic Stimulus bill that would provide homebuyers with a $15,000 tax credit if they buy a house. This is about twice what the Democrats wanted to offer. And here's the best part: it's for everyone -- not just first-time home buyers. Of course, the $15,000 tax credit language may not survive the final cut but lenders are drooling. Then again, with the unemployment rate closing in on 8% no one can afford to buy a house anyway. For an update on both the Stimulus bill and the mortgage jobless rate, see the Friday afternoon posting of National Mortgage News Online

Lobbyists from the National Association of Home Builders and the rest of the crowd that hangs out in Gucci Gulch were working overtime to get this one through: a $15,000 tax credit for all homebuyers. The key word here is "all." No "first-time homebuyer" qualifier at all. (Hey, why not refis, too? John Courson must be slipping. Just kidding.) At press time, it looked as though the tax credit was going to stick, or so says National Mortgage News bureau chief Brian Collins who's been covering the issue for us. Thanks to Republicans in the Senate the $15K language is in the Economic Stimulus bill. The Democrats only wanted $7,500 which might lead some to ponder: I thought liberals were pro-housing? Well, who's more pro-housing now? Huh? For those of you unfamiliar with tax credits that means you can deduct that much from your tax bill to Uncle Sam. It also means that less money will wind up in the U.S. Treasury, which badly needs money. But as long as we're all going down the financial drain together, who cares any more? The full story will be in the Monday, Feb. 9 issue of National Mortgage News. To subscribe to the paper version as well as the website dial 800-221-1809...

Friday morning is D-day for the latest unemployment numbers. The Department of Labor will release the jobless figures for January and it's expected to be quite ugly with some economists anticipating a national unemployment rate north of 8%. What does all this mean for mortgage servicers? The answer is obvious: laid off workers -- depending on their severance packages, unemployment benefits, and savings -- can only pay their mortgages for so long, unless they find new work. It stands to reason that because the nation's largest servicers control so much in the way of housing receivables they may suffer the most among financial institutions. According to the Quarterly Data Report, the big three of mortgage servicing are: Bank of America, Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase. BoA's s shares are trading as though ($4.46 at press time) the market expects a federal takeover…

HUD CHANGES RULES WHEN SEEKING PENALTIES AGAINST MORTGAGE BROKERS AND LENDERS

It would appear that hell has frozen over. How do I know? Because yesterday the Mortgage Bankers Association formally endorsed the idea of allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get involved in the warehouse lending sector by purchasing loan participations in these lines of credit. Up until the 'Great Recession' and mortgage market meltdown of 2008/2009 it would be down right heresy for any respectable mortgage banker to suggest any type of GSE involvement in warehouse lending. Of course, that was then and this is now. In his prepared statement before the House Banking Committee MBA chief John Courson also noted that mortgage bankers are struggling with what he called "an unprecedented volume" of loan buyback requests from the GSEs. In other words, just as the GSEs are hammering mortgage bankers with buyback requests, the trade group wants to help the GSEs. We have truly entered the Twilight Zone…