We've Moved This Blog!

This blog has been moved to our main website, you can click this to visit at our blog's new home:
http://americasmoneycenter.com/blog

Long Week-End

For all my fellow Veterans, have a nice Memorial Day holiday!

Just about 10 days ago, I decided to move this blog to our main website, utilizing WordPress, as I have seen and heard many positive things about that blog software/system. So I download it's software to my hard drive and discovered I am not skilled enough to install it; began a search for someone to help me, found a great guy in Canada to do it, but first had to upgrade our old server to be able to accomodate WordPress requirements -- that bagan the saga!

For the last nine full days, I have been wrestling with our Host (been with them since 1999!), since the site move to their new server had troubles. Evidentially the new spiffy Linux Developer Series server/box was/is faulty ... result? Our main site's been off and online ever since, PLUS the Canadian guy 'quit' out of frustration trying to install WordPress! I hope to get him back, since I'm right now, changing host's to the firm he recommended in the first place!

Thankfully with all this down-time on my hands, The Mortgageland Journal's June 1st edition has been completed and is ready to go, plus our May 17th Secret! Master Seminar was well attended (next scheduled for August 16).

The Teaming Masses

Along with the teaming masses, yesterday my brother and I went for an air conditioned Metro Rail Blue Line train ride from Long Beach to downtown Los Angeles at Noon for lunch at World Famous Philippe’s; then on the subway from there under Wilshire Blvd to the end in that direction. It was a lot of fun, especially since when we got back to Long Beach it was 92 degrees at 4PM, and 94 degrees @ 4:15 when I got back home to San Pedro ... WordPress coming soon.

Moving To WordPress soon!

I've become convinced that it's smart for me to move my Blog from it's current blogspot location (where you are now), to right inside our own main website http://www.americasmoneycenter.com/ - for the past 2 days I've been learning about 'WordPress' and upgrading our server to accomodate this blog utilizing WordPress along with it's bells & whistles on our site.

I've discovered, I've become used to the theme (colors, etc) of this standard choice I had when I started this Blog a year ago. I've liked it from a branding viewpoint, it's similar to our main website. With WordPress, there's a Zillion choices to select from (maybe a HOT Pink would be nice?), looking at them one at a time and my brain's RAM memory is almost full!

You'll notice some changes soon, but I won't trick you -- you'll get plenty of warning!

Secondary Market - Follow Up

As promised this morning I'm going to reveal some immediate instant gratification information about this hot topic, along with some long-term sound career advise, that will earn you many hundreds of thousand of extra dollars IF you follow it (it did for me).

First off for the immediate. Contact the California Mortgage Bankers Association (cmba.com), and pay the money for your entry into their July 9-11 Western Secondary Market Conference in San Francisco. For non-members of CMBA, before June 9 it's $459 and after that it's $509. I myself can unconditionally guarantee you that anybody you know, who's been a mortgage banker for longer than 20 minutes, will tell you this is the premiere conference on this subject in the entire Nation. I started going to this way back when I was a mortgage broker, its helped me grow-up my career; I attended probably two or 3 dozen of them and I know you should too!

Here's what happens there ... you'll attend this and that session on a few of the topics which interest you, you may make a new friend or two ... BUT you'll take the time and slowly walk around the Exhibit Hall and you'll see and speak with every single secondary market player in the Country - they'll all be there looking YOU right in the eyes!

The education you'll get will startled you - once you see the magnatude of this industry that's been over the horizion to you, so far.


Now for the Long-term: I saw the ad for this in the latest National Mortgage News newspaper, which I have been reading every Monday edition for almost 30 years, (1). You need to subscribe to it and READ it carefully 800/221-1809 it's $259 yearly. Reading this will give you a much more well-rounded view of your own career and where it can go. (2). Join and attend (at minimum) the Annual Convention of the Mortgage Bankers Association - you'll be equally stunned at what you can learn there, I first joined them about a year before my own company evolved into a mortgage banker and was a member for a couple of decades after that.

These simple things, read that particular industry publication, go to the Secondary Conference mentioned above yearly, join the MBA and go to it's annual convention and you'll GET SMART!

Mortgage Brokers & Their LO's Charge More

This morning, I finished off the paper I referred to yesterday, and I saw this:

In one recent major study by the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL) of 1.7 Million individual 30 yr fixed subprime mortgage loans originated between 2004 and 2006, it revealed borrows pay significantly more for getting a loan from a mortgage broker as opposed to a retail lender. In fact, the typical borrower pays $5,222 more during the first four years of a $166,000 mortgage compared to a similar borrower who received a loan directly from a retail lender (TRANSLATED: Higher Fees & Higher Rate due to YSP). This study among others, cry out for the complete ban on YSP’s being paid to mortgage brokers. It’s co-author said, “… there is a need to remove incentives to mortgage brokers that do not correspond to borrower interests ….”

When you see article after article, after article like this ('cause I do), what does it make you think? Is it possible a Federally mandated real fiduciary duty to customers by originators is long over due (although it has become Law in more than a dozen States this past year or so), or are news pieces like this just like kicking a dead horse now?

My feelings? Facts like this are no surpirse to me whatsoever, most of you have heard me screaming about this for a long time ... but today I honestly believe a most honest people know in their secret heart of heart this practice is/was absolutely true, and that it was stupid ... AND that it contributed to the mess we have now. HOPEFULLY, those that agree with me, will try and do something about this during this cycle. Widespread YSP (from my viewpoint of many years in the biz) has been a new thing, an is just over a decade old ... mortgage brokers and their LO's don't NEED it.

New Subprime Player - Want a Name?

OK, it's time for a little self-deprecating humor for those of you that don't know my witty side ... here goes ... guess what a genius I am!

In this article immediately above, I talked a little about a new business paradigm and subprime wholesalers a bit, and in several previous pieces here in my personal Blog, I refered to them, have said they're here now, BUT you just don't know what they are! Well guess what? Want a NAME?

Now comes the "Genius" part, I actually READ THE WORDS regularly in several industry publications (you've only heard me tell you to do that - what - about 10 dozen times or so?) AND because I've 'been there and done that,' I often can recognize stuff others might miss.

So ... today I'm reading my dead-tree (paper) version of the National Mortgage News (my favorite industry publication for nearly 30 years, comes out every Monday) --- and low and behold --- on the front page is an article about WL Ross & Co. LLC (a name you'll all hear a lot about soon); who last year purchased the servicing platform of bankrupt American Home Mortgage, Melville, NY and last week they closed on it's $1.3 Billion purchase of Option One Mortgage Corp, Irvine, CA (a $55 Billion servicer of non-conforming paper).

TRANSLATION: Many of you have heard me say for several years, that the serious money in this industry is NOT as a Mortgage Broker, but as a Mortgage Banker Seller/Servicer. Over time, the stable servicing income out paces origination income many times over; this I know from several decades of personal experience from my own company.

CONCLUSION?: WL Ross & Co. LLC is clearly gonna be one of the next generation subprime wholesalers, on that you can bet your future career (says me, that 4 decade subprimer dude you know).