Mike Mueller, Social Media.ist

Rest assured, we'll revisit it again and again.  It's far from over.  Here was the original post from way back in May

Saturday in my local paper, (the Contra Costa Times), real estate writer Barbara Hernandez wrote a simple little recap of the foreclosure activity here in the East Bay. 

Do the Neighbors know?

We have a problem and I'm not talking about Foreclosures.  We have a disconnect.  While the article was well written, and I certainly read every word, I am also very different from the general public.  In talking to a neighbor on Sunday, he had seen the article but to him it was just a bunch of numbers so he skimmed over it.  He's a chemical engineer by trade. 

The general public is the embodiment of "Short Attention Span Theater".  They live by Sound Bites and Headlines.  My neighbor stated that its was good that we we not Stockton.  He obviously knew that Stockton was labeled the Foreclosure Capital of the U.S. by the media. 

I don't have to worry about that...

He has a 30 yr fixed loan.  He has a stable job.  He has nothing to worry about, he said.  Then I started asking him questions.  I know he's planning on moving to the sierra foothills in a year when he retires.  He's planning on selling his home. 

I pointed to a home I knew was recently served a Notice of Default.  I explained what used to happen not so very long ago.  They would have sold or refinanced.  That was so 2006!  Nowadays, they can't refinance.  Can they sell?  How long will it take?  What price?  Will it be a short sale?  If it sells or forecloses it will effect his home and all the others around it.    One demise leads to more demise, which leads to even more demise.  It's an enzyme, a catalyst.  Their demise is your demise.  We're all linked together.  We're all related.

To a chemical engineer this makes more sense than a page of numbers.  He now has a very different picture. 

"Why doesn't anyone know this?  Why aren't we being told?", almost adamantly. 

John, I'm doing the best I can.  Back in November, I mentioned the coming Foreclosure Crunch.    I can't find the complete video of the program but here's a snippet.

We all see the negativity out there in the media and even here on ActiveRain. Subprime Collapse, Liquidity Crunch, Housing Numbers, Bail Outs, Write Offs, Closures, yadda, yadda, yadda...

You get the idea.

Last weekend I was on a two hour pre-dawn bus ride. My daughter's H. S. Marching Band was competing in the Santa Cruz Band Review - they finished 4th! It gave me a chance to catch up on my reading. Nothing high brow. In fact, I read 3 of my 6 monthly motorcycle subscriptions.

In one of them was a two page article. The writer was doing a stream of consciousness piece. "I love Motorcycles because..." The entire two pages were filled with the exception of a picture in the middle.

If you are addicted to blogging you tend to see future blog posts everywhere. I read every word. I smiled, I nodded, I laughed. All the while the thought was in my head, this would be a great blog post. That happens to you too doesn't it?

Yes times are tough, yes there are closures, yes business is off.

But in posts like these, it's very clear that many people here love their profession.

• Have you ever thought about Quitting the Real Estate or Mortgage Business? - Thomas Weiss

• Mortgage Lenders and Realtors ~ Are you in love? - Kim Murphy

• Because Of Active-Rain, I Fell In Love All Over Again... - Jason Sardi

Chris Elizabeth's Six Pack was so fun last week I'd like to see something along the same lines -

Tell us, "I Love My Profession Because..."

Go to town - go crazy - don't think, just write.

Tag it with "I Love My Profession Because"

Let's hear some good news, let's all think about the good things. The bad things will be back there when we get back.

Here's Mine: http://activerain.com/blogsview/251410/I-Love-My-Profession

Here's the tagged articles: Blogs tagged with "I love my profession because"

I love numbers. I love knowing what's good, better and best. I love meeting new people. I love professional real estate agents. I love Hard Money Deals. I love using all my resources.	I love helping others. I love brokering to the right lender. I love making the deal happen. I love being a part of ActiveRain. I love knowledge. I love technology.	I love my Calculator I love working smarter. I love people. I love seeing what's wrong and what's a scam. I love conference calls. I love mortgage interest deductions.
I love making the right decisions. I love watching the markets. I love knowing what changes FICOs. I love helping people discover that they can. I love developing marketing plans. I love finding the best loan program.		I love cash flow. I love sales seminars. I love doing it right. I love learning new things. I love using automated underwriting. I love kids and their new bedrooms.
I love reading complex rate sheets. I love teaching new loan officers. I love showing the right way to borrow. I love designing web sites. I love teaching people to blog. I love commercial financing.	I love DSCR. I love reading charts. I love my title rep. I love love first time buyers. I love slam dunks. I love tapping the knowledge of those I work with.	I love reading mortgage blogs. I love turning renters into owners. I love working with smart investors. I love broadcast emails. I love my favorite appraiser. I love being a loan officer.

I Love My Profession.

How about you?

 

Amazingly this wouldn't has little to do with Countrywide except for the strange irony involved.

For the last couple of months I've heard various grumblings about one of the largest mortgage brokers in California, Diablo Funding.  I kept quiet as I didn't want to spread unsubstantiated rumors.  I have always admired the Diablo Funding concept.  They were a top notch outfit.  Some of the smartest real estate minds I know worked for Diablo Funding.

Last Friday, I posted that it was  now official.  In  "That's No Moon..."  I broke the news that Diablo Funding was shutting their doors as of yesterday, October 23rd, 2007.  I was also a week behind in sending out my newsletter to real estate agents in the area.  At the last minute I changed the first article to include my Diablo Funding story.  The e-Newsletter went out at 4:45 PM.  Minutes later I received a frantic phone call.  It was from a Diablo Funding employee.

"Are you Mike Mueller?" she asked. 

"Yes I am"

"I'm here to tell you... You have it all wrong!  We're not closing!  You better print a retraction!"

"You are not closing?  That's great.  Good for you!"  And I meant it.  I know quite a few great people who I did not want to see lose their jobs.

"We're stronger than ever! You better print a Retraction!  I'm going to forward this on to Anthony! " (this time with even more emphasis)

"Ok, that's fine.  By the way, who's Anthony?" I asked.

"He's the CEO.  You better print a Retraction!"

She then went to my blog and attempted to post a comment anonymously.  I don't allow anonymous comments as a rule.  I also track everything.  I know which Agent forwarded the email.  Although this was anonymous, I also know who it was (via their IP address).

So Here's My Retraction... 

I'm NOT Retracting. 

I was correct.  I was 100% correct.  I was also a full four days earlier in posting than these other guys.  I could have been correct weeks earlier. 

I still wish everyone involved with Diablo Funding the very best.  I really mean that.

I talked to a Broker friend of mine later that Friday night.  He had already interviewed and hired a sizable amount of ex Diablo Funding loan officers.

I wrote this earlier and it bears repeating.  Loyalty is an admirable trait rarely found in employees. I admire and applaud her loyalty.   Blind faith is not.  Try not to confuse the two.

  

 

Yes, it's another Countrywide story.  If you can believe it I am very tired about writing about the curious happenings at Countrywide.  I've talked to many other blogger's  who  are overloaded as well.   We're close to hitting the saturation point .

But this is one story that gave me a chuckle and I have to share.  Bear with me.

Saturation

First a little recap.  Inside the walls of Countrywide is a powerful PR machine unlike any other mortgage company.  Back in August this machine spit out a canned email message that it then had all it's loan officers send out as if they had written it themselves.  I wrote about it here in my post titled "... know that I am here, backed by Countrywide".

Days later I was astonished to hear they had a two pronged attack in "I'm applying for the Branch Manager Position".  Same story, brought to you this time from the branch manager level.

I then posted a query a month later in which I found it very curious that I had two people in two nearby towns, both behind in their Countrywide mortgages; one foreclosed on in the most expedient and aggressive manner, and the other allowed to live on with little to no harassment for almost a year!  That was "Tale of Two Cities" .  Are they really trying to keep REOs off their books by selective foreclosures?

The WristBand

So when Countrywide employee moral was at it's lowest, and the company turned to PR Giant Burson-Marsteller and switched it's focus from outside to inside, I was pretty much burned out on all too familiar Countrywide Bashing posts.  I'm talking about the "Protect Our House" campaign in which CW employees signed a pledge of allegiance and got to wear these nifty Lance Armstrong styled wristbands.  Remember that?

I just let that story slip off into oblivion.  I was clearly in CW overload.

eBay, Capitalism, and First

Then yesterday, while doing research for an upcoming post (selling your home on eBay) I inadvertently ran across a Countrywide "Protect Our House" wristband listed for sale.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  So I did a search and found that this guy wasn't alone!

Here's the list I found: LINK  Currently at 22 Auctions.

The winner?  The first one listed (Oct 10th) by Air44bg .  It sold for $182.50!  Currently they are selling at $20 if they get a bidder at all.  It clearly pays to be first.  If you look at the ones being sold today you'll see the market has deteriorated.  Like builders, they have to give away "Free Upgrades".  Here is one with a free Countrywide Mousepad,  and another with a Countrywide Puzzle.

I think I'll wait a little longer - yeah, I'm sitting on the fence for this one.  I want to be LAST *.

* except on this story (I was first)

    

It's not even Halloween yet

 

When a company goes out of business what is left after they close the doors is often times a shell of what once was.  Ask anyone trying to arrange a short sale with a sub prime lender these days.  They leave only a skeleton crew of employees to mop up the ruins.

I came into this business many years ago working for a small lender.  One day, the word came down that we had been bought by a bigger lender.  That lender then decided that we had too many employees and called for massive layoffs. 

We occupied almost the entire floor of the building.  Overnight the cubicle farm I had been inhabiting went barren.  95% of the work force were handed their pink slips including all of the management staff.  Not me.  They said I was a keeper!

Shades of The Omega Man

I worked for a week inside my cubicle.  For what reason, I don't know.  Then I realized something.  I was almost all alone.  My boss wasn't coming back.  None of them were coming back.  So, I moved from the smallest cubicle nearest the supply room to the posh corner office overlooking the fountain!  Why not?

Jimmy did too.  He was also left behind.  Here's something nobody knows.  Sometimes when we were bored we'd toss the Frisbee across from my office to his.  Try that two weeks prior and we would have been canned on the spot!  Now?  Who's to say no?

The truth is that while they downsized most of the staff, they left a select crew to answer the phones while they were busy finagling the dismantling and destruction of the rest of the company.  So when I read this story about numerous Ameriquest files being found in a dumpster I wasn't surprised.  I know first hand what happens when a company goes dark. 

Improper Assumptions

Why would anyone possibly think that the last person out has anywhere near the same moral integrity, the same business ethics, as a responsible business leader?  Why would they and why should they?  It costs money to properly store and dispose of documents like the loan files they found.

I have news for you.  Ameriquest is only the first to hit the media.  Think about every one of the 172 Lenders that have appeared on the Implode-o-Meter.  Wow that's a lot of personal, private paperwork floating around out there.

But wait there's more!  Now think about every single mortgage broker office that also has closed it's doors.  They too have files - many many files.  How are these files being stored?  Who's paying to shred them when the time comes? 

Nobody ever would have thought a large lender would dump confidential paperwork in a dumpster would they?  Nobody ever thought Jimmy would ever be tossing a Frisbee across the office in the middle of the business day to me either. 

  

My Six Pack, My Case

It's Friday and I need a little lightening up. It's funny how one thing leads to another. We really are all connected.

1. Rob Robinson in leaving a comment on my "Jason Sardi Drinking Game" mentioned the idea of eternal recurrence. (Here we are back to The Wheel again).
2. My StarWars flavored post this morning certainly had lunar images.
3. And then my favorite radio station happened to be playing a selection from The Wall.

So that brings us to Mike's Members Only post of the day.

The Dark Side of the Rainbow or if you like, The Wizard of Floyd.

You may have heard the rumor years ago. If you play your Pink Floyd "Dark Side of the Moon" album at the same time as you start watching The Wizard of OZ - strange things will coincide.

Well I had tried this years ago. We had too many people, to much recreation activities going on, too many conversations, and way to many hormones to pay much attention.

While I still have the LP - and I think I have the VHS Tape - I don't have a player for either one.

What's one to do? Go to YouTube!

So here for your enjoyment is the Wizard of Floyd experience in 7 parts. Discover your own synchronicity. I'll give you just a couple to start.

1. At 4:00 (Part 1) "...Balanced on the biggest wave", Dorothy is on the top of the fence doing a high balancing act.
2. 7:30 (Part 1)- The screen shows parting clouds right as the music starts.
3. The most obvious one is when "Money" starts - just look where she is. (Part 4)

So kick back - take in a little Floyd, enjoy a little Dorothy, and have a great weekend.

BTW: Which one of you is PINK? See, we are all connected.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7:

Tax Lien Investing

I remember last year around this time, a good friend of my wife had watched a late night infomercial where they were selling a program that taught you how you could buy homes for next to nothing.  Buying Tax Liens.  After watching the hour long program she thought it was "all good".  She ordered the $500 package and was eager to start on becoming independently wealthy - just like the program touted.

Somewhere along the line she started to think.  If she was buying a home for pennies on the dollar, she was certainly coming out a winner.  So who was the loser?

She called for insight.  I told her that someone has to lose and it wasn't the county.  Chances are the home was not vacant and abandoned as the commercials always seem to show.  Instead, if she bought a tax lien home she might be displacing an elderly person or maybe a homeowner that was down on their luck.  Maybe the original homeowner passed away - the current heirs to the estate (think sons, daughters, and grandchildren) didn't know about the delinquent tax bills.  I posed the question to her that would she feel right to take the equity away from that grandchild, maybe preventing her from going to college?

In the end she returned the 38 CD set and fought for months to get her money back. 

I read a news story today about an 89 year old Widow.  She is losing her 35 acre farm due to her failure to pay a $38 tax bill.  That's no typo - that was Thirty Eight Dollars!  The tax bill was from 2003 and was purchased in 2005 by a Tax Lien speculator.

Oh, did I mention she was blind?

Prairie State Properties LLC, the owner of the Tax Lien is set to make out pretty good.  They have  "Billie Bob's Tax Lien Sale System" down.  Win - Win just isn't in their vocabulary. 

NOTE:  What Prairie State is doing is perfectly legal.  It's a loop hole in the system.    I'm all for capitalism.  I'm not for "Pirate-ism".  Stealing equity, stealing capital, stealing anything is just not ok.  It's really not ok when you put a face to it.

 

  

 

Sometimes I am accused of preaching.  It's true, I sometimes do.  Lately I have been preaching that the media is presenting a rather skewed picture.  I often mention that they are getting it wrong.  They are.  I am watching a guest on CNBC right now that just mentioned that there are x million of "Teaser Rates" that will reset before the new year.  He's wrong.  They are not Teaser Rates.  They will reset but they are ARM Adjustments.  The "Teaser Rate" does exist it's just not what he's referring to.

Perhaps he's using the "Teaser" term for it's soundbite power.  Perhaps he's just confused.  Perhaps he just doesn't know better.  The problem I have is that nobody was there to correct him.  The guest runs a large investment firm and I cannot say how much he knows or doesn't know about mortgages.  That shouldn't be a factor.  He was an expert on TV.  He should get it right. 

Case in point.  Jason Sardi - a mortgage professional in Allentown, PA wrote about an upcoming consumer education event being held in his community.  It sounds like a great idea. 

He says they'll be covering...

• How much is my house now worth?
• Should I refinance my existing mortgage?
• What is the best use of a home equity loan? Pay off debt? Home improvement?
• What are my rights as a borrower?
• How does the sub-prime market work?
• What is the difference between an appraisal and fair market value?
• Will I be able to repay my house debt?
• Can I avoid predatory lenders even if I have bad credit?
• What affordable lending options do I have?

That is certainly a great list of topics.  Many of which desperately need to be covered right now.  Good for you, Lehigh Valley!  But then as Jason sadly pointed out, they got it all wrong, (or they will).

The panel selected to answer these all important questions incredibly DOES NOT INCUDE a Real Estate Agent, a Mortgage Professional, or even a Title / Escrow Officer!   Correct me if I'm wrong but are these three people not the most knowledgeable on the subjects listed above?

 

Isn't this the same as the Love Canal City Council having an educational seminar to address the sudden rise of breast cancer but not inviting a Doctor or Oncologist to the party? 

Maybe that's where the Real Estate Agent, Mortgage Professional, and Escrow Officer went?

 

I would love to see a program like this happen in the bay area.  I'd attend and if asked I would be happy to sit on the panel.

It was my Grandfather who always said, "If you have the time to do it - you have the time to do it right  - the first time."