Posted by PegiT_MN on 9/12/13 9:48pm
Msg #484447

What Is Your Crystal Ball Telling You?

I'm not sure what to make of this slow down.......no......screeching halt.....to our business. I have a lot of theories but now I am beginning to wonder if it is time to pull the plug on this and start looking for the next big thing......whatever that may be.

I have been in the mortgage business for the past 13 years and I have worked in everything from brokering, loan origination for a large bank, commercial lending for a small bank, underwriting, and now notary signing agent. I have seen mortgage rates go down, up, down to an all time record low, and now back up again. I have seen housing prices rise to unrealistic values only to plummet to all time lows. I have seen foreclosures at an all time high and the government programs that followed to reduce the amount of foreclosures and get the economy jump started again. I have seen big banks lay off entire departments only to hire new employees a month later. I have seen gigantic mortgage companies close their doors completely.

I am a big supporter of President Obama's HARP programs. I was an underwriter in 2008-2009 when this program was first rolled out. It was only supposed to last for one year......and here we are almost five years later and we have come a long way.....but there is still so much left to do.

I see all the positive things HARP has done for the housing market and why I feel that HARP 3.0 needs to be implemented to help the remaining homeowners. This program has allowed people to refinance some of their crappy arm loans and negative amortization loans into fixed rate products. It has lowered the foreclosure rates. It has stabilized the plummeting housing values. It has helped minimalize the rise in rental rates. Homeowners are taking what they are saving on their mortgage and once again feeling comfortable shopping, thus helping the overall economy.

Just because I see all the positive things HARP has done for the housing market and why I feel that HARP 3.0 needs to be implemented, doesn't mean that it will pass. This just might be it folks. The fat lady may have just sung. I have always maintained that the big banks are not going to just stop doing refi's.....that is how they make their money. But now after hearing that Wells Fargo laid off a bunch of people, Citi just laid off a bunch of employees today, title companies are closing, and the talk is HARP 3.0 may never happen.......I'm beginning to wonder how all of this will play out.

I am trying to maintain a positive outlook during this slow time......but my crystal ball is cloudy......and what I am seeing does not look good for any of us.

Reply by jba/fl on 9/12/13 9:56pm
Msg #484448

What you are not wanting to see is probably what you need to see.

BTW, I am by nature an optimist, although pragmatic.

Reply by ME/NJ on 9/12/13 9:57pm
Msg #484449

Not so crazy now

Early this year I posted that this would happen by years end.. all I got was your crazy blah blah. All I can say is keep options open, look for something else and make this a pt gig. I am playing it out month by month I am cash good through October right now.

Reply by NVLSlady/VA on 9/12/13 10:16pm
Msg #484457

When the band starts packing up

~Title Company for Sale~
Successful title company for sale in northern Virginia.

Please contact the broker to discuss this opportunity further.

(real Craigs ad)

Reply by Bear900/CA on 9/13/13 12:11am
Msg #484460

That I need to wear a hat! n/m

Reply by MistarellaFL on 9/13/13 7:24am
Msg #484471

2008 revisited

No crystal ball...just history repeating itself (in this business).
What I've learned from 10 years in this industry: The mortgage and housing business is cyclical.
It hasn't been full-time for me since then. It could have been, but I wouldn't accept $85 for a refi.
As it has been for me in the last 5 years, I'll keep taking them from a few reputable SS and almost any TC as "additional income". Best of luck to those who can call themselves full time NSAs, and for those who can't...have another stream of income available.

Reply by Roadie_MD on 9/13/13 10:06am
Msg #484483

Re: 2008 revisited

business is definitely drying up...this has always been part time for me, and I am fortunate in that my full-time job is flexible, and I have always been able to work from home. The last 18 months doing notary signing work have been the most profitable since I started doing it in Jan. 2005. I am in a semi-rural area that is not saturated with notaries (licensed TP's are even fewer). Most of the others in my county are semi-retired. I resolved to weather the storm in 2008/09 and I will stick with it until I get tired of it. I will definitely miss the income though....I have a child and a husband in college and can use all the help I can get! Good luck to all the others out there doing this. I feel terrible to all those laid of in the mortgage industry. My husband has been a casualty of the banking business so many times that he is changing careers...which is why he went back to school in 2009 to get his teachng degree.

Reply by 101livescan on 9/13/13 10:10am
Msg #484484

Re: 2008 revisited

Yesterday I performed a closing/signing with a very high up administrative type with our local school district.

I commented that I had done the live scan fingerprinting for so many teachers this year for credentialing and for teaching positions and how bright and upbeat they were as a group. She said that they hired over 70 teachers this year, and most were from Westmont College, a Methodist College in Montecito. Definitely a wave of the future, the best people become teachers!

Hang in there!

Reply by Roadie_MD on 9/13/13 12:38pm
Msg #484500

thanks for the vote of confidence, Cheryl

My husband says (only half joking) that the timing is right for him to be laid off again, as he is about at the 3-year mark. When he went back to school in 2009 he was able to go full time, and receive education grants because he was unemployed.