Posted by redd on 6/2/11 2:28pm
Msg #384959

Rates down but still quiet phone

What gives?

Reply by BillyJack/NC on 6/2/11 4:14pm
Msg #384968

The banks don't want to loan any money, because the nit wit we have in the white house
and his administration want to put so many new restrictions on banks; they can't or won't loan money! And if they don't loan, you and I don't close any loans.

Reply by redd on 6/2/11 4:26pm
Msg #384972

I believe you may be right. I did have a closing last week for a couple I personally know who have excellent credit scores (saw them in the package) and own a very large expensive home and reputable business. They said they felt like common criminals by the time the application process was done. He said he almost backed out. I have heard these complaints more and more recently and comments about almost backing out of the refinance and wonder how many people start the process and back out due to the pains of the application process.

Reply by notary365MI on 6/2/11 5:12pm
Msg #384977

Nitwits at the Bank giving out Loans to Uncreditworthy

Clients is more likely the problem than the dude in the White House. Now that they have been caught red handed, it is harder for Credit Worthy people to get loans, refi's because the HAND that was supposed to Lay Down The Law (and didn't) is NOW Heavier! Called the "caught red handed" syndrome" - Once you get caught, you have to make it harder for EVERYONE!

Reply by JanetK_CA on 6/3/11 12:58am
Msg #385036

Re: Nitwits at the Bank giving out Loans to Uncreditworthy

I think you have a point. If the regulations in the Glass Steagle (sp?) Act had been left in place, the banks probably wouldn't have been able to get themselves into the circumstances that created the mess in the first place.

Reply by MW/VA on 6/3/11 8:27am
Msg #385048

IMO you really need to see "Inside Job" and "Too Big to Fail

in order to understand what's really happened.

Reply by HisHughness on 6/4/11 12:48am
Msg #385146

***the nit wit we have in the white house***

There are three sections of NotRot. One is Discuss Work, which is this one. One is Leisure, which is for fun-type or personal topics. And one is Just Politics, where this nit wit comment belongs.

The worse thing that can be said about "the nit wit we have in the white house" is that he is at least infinitely better than the nit wit that I assume you and your cohorts tried to put there, and so much better than the pack the other party currently has running after the Oval Office that he's in a whole 'nother league.

God, I'm glad he's there.

This belongs in Just Politics. Discuss Work should not be polluted with either your political claptrap or my gems of political truth.

Reply by Sandra Clark on 6/2/11 5:36pm
Msg #384985

Appraisals too low, property values continue to plummet at least in my area. Houses that were 250k to 300k now going for much, much less and the realtors don't see it stopping until 2012 -2013. House across from me on market 9 months, assessed at 349k just sold for 265k with of concessions given on closing cost.

Reply by Blueink_TN on 6/2/11 8:34pm
Msg #385013

Sandra, you hit the nail on the head. In the refi market, most people that can refi already have.. then there are the one's that finally got their credit scores up and are ready and... boom..they're upside down. I'm a loan officer and I see it way too often - I hate telling clients that their estimate of home value is... well, really wrong.

Reply by Claudine Osborne on 6/2/11 9:26pm
Msg #385021

My daughter is in the process of buying her first home..I cant wait to see the loan details and the appraisal report. We will know more tomorrow. We are also in an area where home values hame plummeted. My own home is now devalued to almost what I paid for it 11 years ago..This mess isnt over yet..

Reply by HrdwrkrVA on 6/3/11 5:54pm
Msg #385118

Don't blame Obama for inheriting a trashed market. A good

overview is "For the Love of Money: the Rise & Fall of Merrill Lynch" (or something like that).
Fascinating:
Tons of mtge-backed securities + ARMs + no-doc loans (no proof of income) + over-inflated appraisals + giving money away (like it was growing on trees) = all h3ll breaking loose when the bubble fianally burst. THAT's why we're in this mess - the mkt hasn't recovered from all the damage done up to 2007-2008 (it started waaaay before then)!

Reply by JanetK_CA on 6/3/11 11:00pm
Msg #385141

Re: Don't blame Obama for inheriting a trashed market. A good

Is that a book you're referencing?

I agree with your assessment. I think much of it dates back to the repeal of the Glass Steagall Act (towards the end of Clinton's administration), which had regulations that would have prevented many of the excesses that led to the mortgage meltdown. The repeal made possible the extreme leveraging with derivatives, credit default swaps, etc. that motivated the lenders to make so many poor loans, and what had so many banks skating on such very thin ice. They thought they were now immune to any risk from those loans.

As for not blaming Obama, he also has had to deal with unprecedented numbers of filibusters from the Senate on nearly every bill he tried to get through, so a super-majority (i.e. 61 votes, which the Dems didn't quite have) was needed to get anything passed. (This is still true of the Senate, and of course, the Republicans now have a majority in the House.) So when his opponents say that his party had "control" of Congress during that time, it's more than a bit disingenuous. Plus, Republicans have even opposed him on some things that were their ideas to begin with - going so far as voting against bills they originally sponsored, once he came out in support of it.

That's all really beside the point, though. Most economists agree that we were on the brink of a total, complete collapse of our economy just before he took office, due to systemic problems with our whole financial system. (That also seems to be the theme of several movies and books(?) referenced here in recent days.) Obviously, both parties disagree with how to fix those problems - or even what the real causes are. These systemic problems took a long time to get to the near-breaking point and it's going to take a very long time to work our way out of the mess we're in. Probably even longer than might be necessarily, because so many seem to be more interested in gaining an upper hand in the political arena rather than working together on solutions.

The implications for us and our businesses? We can probably expect several more years of turmoil and a good long while before the housing market settles down, imo. This will likely vary greatly from region to region, but I see a long, very bumpy road ahead. Ironically, though, isn't it the Glass Steagall Act repeal that made much of our business possible by allowing loan transactions to cross state lines?

I realize some of this should probably be in JP, but I also think that it's relevant to our business. So my apologies to all...