Marc's Mortgage Matter's

During a recent password audit, it was found that a blonde was using the following password: MickeyMinniePlutoHueyLouieDeweyDonaldGoofy. When asked why such a big password, she said that it had to be at least eight characters long.

I usually try to keep my opinions out the daily commentary. But I am really becoming irked by the press. One day they complain about our industry having foreclosure problems and the credit crisis here in the US and in the world. And then the next day they complain about the declining rate of mortgage approvals and fewer people qualifying for home loans in the US. And then on the third day they will have some story about how it makes sense for a borrower to walk away from their home loan obligation. Geez! (I’d read on the web that one guy, who was forcefully complaining about his parking ticket in front of his dad, got this response from the father: " Just pay the parking ticket. Don't be so outraged. You're not a freedom fighter in the civil rights movement. You double parked.")

Besides worrying about capital reserves, the FHA has not been idle. The FHA imposed $512,000 in penalties on Lend America for allegedly violating FHA requirements, including failing to document borrowers' income and creditworthiness, and for submitting false certifications. The move prohibits the company, owned by Ideal Mortgage Bankers, from making new mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration or issuing mortgage-backed securities. No word yet on a counter action by Lend America, based in Long Island. No comment!!

And on Tuesday Lend America, after being fined by HUD and asked to stop doing government loans, closed their doors yesterday. One look at their website says it all: http://www.lendamerica.com/ The FHA accused them of submitting false documents and making loans that did not meet requirements, among other things. Kids, don’t try this at home!

Dubai, home of the palm tree-shaped island, sail-shaped high-rise hotel, and indoor skiing, is not immune to the credit crisis. Apparently they borrowed quite a bit to finance their world-famous expansion, but on Wednesday the city-state said it would restructure its largest corporate entity, Dubai World and announced a six-month standstill on the company's debt. Of course this news immediately pushed up the price of insuring against a default and reminded everyone of the collapse in its once-booming real-estate sector late last year. Fortunately it appears that our banks, and the mortgage business, have limited exposure to Dubai’s problems. But the question is whether Dubai World is isolated, or a sign of widespread sovereign debt defaults in emerging markets? One investor said, “I always thought that Dubai was way too flashy anyway, and they’re getting what they deserve – it’s fine unless its problems impact me.”

Between the stock market and some decent economic news all week, interest rates moved slightly higher this past week. A few days ago we found out that Construction Spending for October was unchanged after declining for the last five months. (There are exceptions, of course, but what builder wants to build, given the residential foreclosure issues and the commercial real estate vacancies?). Then Friday we hear we only had gasp, 11,000 jobs dropped/unemployed..("laid off!")(whatever)...way down from projected 100,000+ jobs so that's was "considered" good news and mortgage rates went higher on that news. As you’d expect, after the news the equity markets were jubilant while our bond markets (mortgage rates) took it on the chin. And lastly, as the market adjusts to the Dubai situation, our fixed income securities become less of a “flight to safety”, and the demand drops.

An Irishman, a Mexican and a Blonde Guy were doing construction work on scaffolding on the 20th floor of a building. They were eating lunch and the Irishman said, “Corned beef and cabbage! If I get corned beef and cabbage one more time for lunch, I'm going to jump off this building.”
The Mexican opened his lunch box and exclaimed, “Burritos again! If I get burritos one more time I'm going to jump off, too.”
The blonde opened his lunch and said, “Bologna again! If I get a bologna sandwich one more time, I'm jumping too.”
The next day, the Irishman opened his lunch box, saw corned beef and cabbage, and jumped to his death.
The Mexican opened his lunch, saw a burrito, and jumped, too.
The blonde guy opened his lunch, saw the bologna and jumped to his death as well.
At the funeral, the Irishman's wife was weeping. She said, “If I'd known how really tired he was of corned beef and cabbage, I never would have given it to him again!”
The Mexican's wife also wept and said, “I could have given him tacos or enchiladas! I didn't realize he hated burritos so much.”
Everyone turned and stared at the blonde's wife. The blonde's wife said, “Don't look at me. He always made his own lunch.”