Nabors Bows Out With a Challenge

In an emotional finale to his run as president of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers, the normally jovial Jim Nabors challenged consumer advocates to join him and other loan officers for a week as they work not just to put people into homes but also to keep them there.Following a three-man fife-and-drum team, and speaking under a banner that said, "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Home Ownership," the Cleveland broker said he and his colleagues are unjustly accused of putting people into loans they cannot afford or products they cannot handle. Struggling to rein in his feelings, he said the antagonists fail to see the efforts to which troubled owners go to keep their homes and the countless hours brokers work to help them. Sometimes the only way to save someone's home is to get a new loan at a higher rate, Mr. Nabors said. Yes, the monthly payments go up, but at least the homeowner is not on the street. "We help people realize the American dream, but a lot of what we also are about is helping people keep the American Dream," he said. "We take a lot of heat for that, but if that's the price we have to pay, so be it."