Who Will Serve the 'Gray Market' Mortgage Customer?

A new book from journalist Robert Neuwirth estimates that small, illegal, off-the-books businesses collectively account for trillions of dollars in commerce and employ fully half the world's workers. How much of this is going on in America is another question. But let's face it: the Great Recession has robbed many citizens of “official” work but chances are not everyone without a job is sitting on the sidelines. Some are out there working “off the books,” earning money and probably saving some of it. But officially speaking, these workers are unemployed which hurts their ability to get a mortgage. In the next few years it's likely that a handful of 'New Era Hard Money' lenders will arise to tap this underserved market. I know of at least two mortgage veterans that are making pitches to private equity backers. Stay tuned. (P.S. Neuwirth's book is called Stealth of Nations: The Global Rise of the Informal Economy.)