ArnoldCountry

How Far to a Housing Bottom?

Only time will tell... regardless, it is not the bottom that is the problem but the period of time we will be at bottom. Historically, that has been for several years. It does seem like we are getting to that bottom. It just seems the perception that once we hit bottom good times return. That is far from the truth. Stagnation is just as bad.

Mortgage Delinquencies Continue to Climb, Watch Out for Other Loans

"While it may be true that borrowers did not understand them, they really didn't take the time to do so"

I worked in a major bank who provided those and have a law degree and MBA. I was brought a TIL to examine when I was first hired on an Option ARM that was the payment was to be fixed for a 5 year term but the TIL showed the payment changing at 33 months. It took me about 4 hours and excel spreadsheets to figure out that the loan was resetting at 110% due to the high margin. No one, not even funders or the Account Execs were able to figure that out. It was such a major revelation, I put on an emergency training "clarification" for all staff that handled those products, funders, account execs, loan officers, etc. (it took a couple of weeks) to explain what was going on. Reaction? I did not know that was one... other was... gee, if I tell my customers the truth, they would never take this loan.

I will never accept that consumers, of average education, can ever understand the complexities of an option arms just by reading the documents... it took some doing on my part.