Random Perceptions About The Mortgage Industry

Column like I seem them…

Bankers are entitlement minded elitists, Brokers are street level hustlers.

Presented with an identical deal, a consumer will routinely choose a Bankers offer, much to the Brokers chagrin (read ‘Why I need to be a hustler’).

Bankers don’t have to disclose how much margin they are making, Brokers do but usually don’t (until you arrive at the closing table, then maybe).

Bankers would like to eliminate Brokers.  Brokers would like Bankers to play by the same rules they have to.

Consumers are almost as guilty as the ‘professionals’ for the mortgage mess.

‘Stated Wage Earner’ programs are an oxymoron, and a moron invented them.

Yield Spread Premiums are legally defined as ‘an option for the consumer to use to finance all or part of their closing costs.  Their real life definition is ‘cha-ching’.

If a mortgage professional tries to rationalize their compensation with a Wal-Mart analogy, hang up the phone, go to Wal-Mart and try to buy a mortgage.

Mortgage rates have nothing to do with T-Bills, the Fed Rate or any other financial index.  They have to do with the cyber-hormone emotional marketplace called Wall Street.

Trying to predict what mortgage rates will do next is like trying to predict what a bi-polar crack head will do next, sans meds.

Wall Street + Washington = The rich get richer and the middle class gets bent over.

A ‘write down’ is not a loss, its an unrealized gain.  There is a difference.

There’s no such thing as a ‘no cost, no fee’ mortgage, duh.

You will pay through the nose for what you don’t know.

‘Transparency’ is still theoretic rhetoric in the world of mortgage.

People don’t trust mortgage professionals, period.

The credit crunch is akin to the industry choking itself out today for the mistakes it made yesterday.

Option ARM’s don’t deserve the reputation they’ve gotten.  A bullet can’t be fired without a gun.

Last weeks used car salesman is yesterdays mortgage broker is todays used car salesman.  (I personally know more than 10 people who have followed this path, nothing against used car salesman, just pointing out the corollary)