[Bugs]

110% True.

WAMU had a good system in place. Their performance with appraisals varied a bit depending on locale. Here in San Diego they had a good crew – right up until they laid all of them off back in 2006.

From there it went downhill in the space of just a few months. By the end of 2006 they were taking in trash appraisals without even a second glance.

The ex-WaMu appraiser probably got laid off at that time. WaMu replaced their staff by outsourcing the work to 2 budget appraisal management companies (AMCs) that were notorious for shoddy work. At first, WaMu tried to force these AMCs to contract with former WaMu appraisers and give them priority on those assignments – that only lasted a couple months because those appraisers wouldn’t work for the fees or the hassles that the AMCs wanted to run.

Then WaMu started ranking the AMC appraisers by how “cooperative” they were as far as signing off on deals. Those appraisers who had good cooperation scores were put on WaMu’s preferred list and were ekpt busy. Those that weren’t were put on the back burner and basically starved of work.

Enough complaints came in and enough examples of misconduct were provided during the Ny Attorney General’s investigation into predatory lending that he started investigating WaMu. He came across an email trail; a series of about 50 emails between WaMu and one of the AMCs.

In these emails, the one AMC (E-appraiseIT, based out of Poway) solicited WaMu for an increase in the percentage of WaMus business that they were handling. WaMus executives replied: “Sure, we might be able to do something about giving you more business but that would be dependent on you increasing your cooperation with us in getting more deals through”. The emails show E-appraiseIt execs debating whether to take the bait, and then eventually show that they did.

Supposedly the NY AG (Mario Cuomo) has just as much evidence against the other AMC (Lender Services Inc), as well as evidence against several other lenders. I say that so that nobody gets the idea that WaMu was especially bad in relation to the other lenders – most of them seem to have been doing it to one extent or another.

Simply put, when times were good many of the lenders did whatever they could to gut the various measures of due diligence in favor of automated processes that were a lot less expensive and a lot more superficial. Due diligence is an overhead for them, not a profit center.

[Bugs]

110% True.

WAMU had a good system in place. Their performance with appraisals varied a bit depending on locale. Here in San Diego they had a good crew – right up until they laid all of them off back in 2006.

From there it went downhill in the space of just a few months. By the end of 2006 they were taking in trash appraisals without even a second glance.

The ex-WaMu appraiser probably got laid off at that time. WaMu replaced their staff by outsourcing the work to 2 budget appraisal management companies (AMCs) that were notorious for shoddy work. At first, WaMu tried to force these AMCs to contract with former WaMu appraisers and give them priority on those assignments – that only lasted a couple months because those appraisers wouldn’t work for the fees or the hassles that the AMCs wanted to run.

Then WaMu started ranking the AMC appraisers by how “cooperative” they were as far as signing off on deals. Those appraisers who had good cooperation scores were put on WaMu’s preferred list and were ekpt busy. Those that weren’t were put on the back burner and basically starved of work.

Enough complaints came in and enough examples of misconduct were provided during the Ny Attorney General’s investigation into predatory lending that he started investigating WaMu. He came across an email trail; a series of about 50 emails between WaMu and one of the AMCs.

In these emails, the one AMC (E-appraiseIT, based out of Poway) solicited WaMu for an increase in the percentage of WaMus business that they were handling. WaMus executives replied: “Sure, we might be able to do something about giving you more business but that would be dependent on you increasing your cooperation with us in getting more deals through”. The emails show E-appraiseIt execs debating whether to take the bait, and then eventually show that they did.

Supposedly the NY AG (Mario Cuomo) has just as much evidence against the other AMC (Lender Services Inc), as well as evidence against several other lenders. I say that so that nobody gets the idea that WaMu was especially bad in relation to the other lenders – most of them seem to have been doing it to one extent or another.

Simply put, when times were good many of the lenders did whatever they could to gut the various measures of due diligence in favor of automated processes that were a lot less expensive and a lot more superficial. Due diligence is an overhead for them, not a profit center.

[Bugs]

110% True.

WAMU had a good system in place. Their performance with appraisals varied a bit depending on locale. Here in San Diego they had a good crew – right up until they laid all of them off back in 2006.

From there it went downhill in the space of just a few months. By the end of 2006 they were taking in trash appraisals without even a second glance.

The ex-WaMu appraiser probably got laid off at that time. WaMu replaced their staff by outsourcing the work to 2 budget appraisal management companies (AMCs) that were notorious for shoddy work. At first, WaMu tried to force these AMCs to contract with former WaMu appraisers and give them priority on those assignments – that only lasted a couple months because those appraisers wouldn’t work for the fees or the hassles that the AMCs wanted to run.

Then WaMu started ranking the AMC appraisers by how “cooperative” they were as far as signing off on deals. Those appraisers who had good cooperation scores were put on WaMu’s preferred list and were ekpt busy. Those that weren’t were put on the back burner and basically starved of work.

Enough complaints came in and enough examples of misconduct were provided during the Ny Attorney General’s investigation into predatory lending that he started investigating WaMu. He came across an email trail; a series of about 50 emails between WaMu and one of the AMCs.

In these emails, the one AMC (E-appraiseIT, based out of Poway) solicited WaMu for an increase in the percentage of WaMus business that they were handling. WaMus executives replied: “Sure, we might be able to do something about giving you more business but that would be dependent on you increasing your cooperation with us in getting more deals through”. The emails show E-appraiseIt execs debating whether to take the bait, and then eventually show that they did.

Supposedly the NY AG (Mario Cuomo) has just as much evidence against the other AMC (Lender Services Inc), as well as evidence against several other lenders. I say that so that nobody gets the idea that WaMu was especially bad in relation to the other lenders – most of them seem to have been doing it to one extent or another.

Simply put, when times were good many of the lenders did whatever they could to gut the various measures of due diligence in favor of automated processes that were a lot less expensive and a lot more superficial. Due diligence is an overhead for them, not a profit center.

[Bugs]

110% True.

WAMU had a good system in place. Their performance with appraisals varied a bit depending on locale. Here in San Diego they had a good crew – right up until they laid all of them off back in 2006.

From there it went downhill in the space of just a few months. By the end of 2006 they were taking in trash appraisals without even a second glance.

The ex-WaMu appraiser probably got laid off at that time. WaMu replaced their staff by outsourcing the work to 2 budget appraisal management companies (AMCs) that were notorious for shoddy work. At first, WaMu tried to force these AMCs to contract with former WaMu appraisers and give them priority on those assignments – that only lasted a couple months because those appraisers wouldn’t work for the fees or the hassles that the AMCs wanted to run.

Then WaMu started ranking the AMC appraisers by how “cooperative” they were as far as signing off on deals. Those appraisers who had good cooperation scores were put on WaMu’s preferred list and were ekpt busy. Those that weren’t were put on the back burner and basically starved of work.

Enough complaints came in and enough examples of misconduct were provided during the Ny Attorney General’s investigation into predatory lending that he started investigating WaMu. He came across an email trail; a series of about 50 emails between WaMu and one of the AMCs.

In these emails, the one AMC (E-appraiseIT, based out of Poway) solicited WaMu for an increase in the percentage of WaMus business that they were handling. WaMus executives replied: “Sure, we might be able to do something about giving you more business but that would be dependent on you increasing your cooperation with us in getting more deals through”. The emails show E-appraiseIt execs debating whether to take the bait, and then eventually show that they did.

Supposedly the NY AG (Mario Cuomo) has just as much evidence against the other AMC (Lender Services Inc), as well as evidence against several other lenders. I say that so that nobody gets the idea that WaMu was especially bad in relation to the other lenders – most of them seem to have been doing it to one extent or another.

Simply put, when times were good many of the lenders did whatever they could to gut the various measures of due diligence in favor of automated processes that were a lot less expensive and a lot more superficial. Due diligence is an overhead for them, not a profit center.

[Bugs]

110% True.

WAMU had a good system in place. Their performance with appraisals varied a bit depending on locale. Here in San Diego they had a good crew – right up until they laid all of them off back in 2006.

From there it went downhill in the space of just a few months. By the end of 2006 they were taking in trash appraisals without even a second glance.

The ex-WaMu appraiser probably got laid off at that time. WaMu replaced their staff by outsourcing the work to 2 budget appraisal management companies (AMCs) that were notorious for shoddy work. At first, WaMu tried to force these AMCs to contract with former WaMu appraisers and give them priority on those assignments – that only lasted a couple months because those appraisers wouldn’t work for the fees or the hassles that the AMCs wanted to run.

Then WaMu started ranking the AMC appraisers by how “cooperative” they were as far as signing off on deals. Those appraisers who had good cooperation scores were put on WaMu’s preferred list and were ekpt busy. Those that weren’t were put on the back burner and basically starved of work.

Enough complaints came in and enough examples of misconduct were provided during the Ny Attorney General’s investigation into predatory lending that he started investigating WaMu. He came across an email trail; a series of about 50 emails between WaMu and one of the AMCs.

In these emails, the one AMC (E-appraiseIT, based out of Poway) solicited WaMu for an increase in the percentage of WaMus business that they were handling. WaMus executives replied: “Sure, we might be able to do something about giving you more business but that would be dependent on you increasing your cooperation with us in getting more deals through”. The emails show E-appraiseIt execs debating whether to take the bait, and then eventually show that they did.

Supposedly the NY AG (Mario Cuomo) has just as much evidence against the other AMC (Lender Services Inc), as well as evidence against several other lenders. I say that so that nobody gets the idea that WaMu was especially bad in relation to the other lenders – most of them seem to have been doing it to one extent or another.

Simply put, when times were good many of the lenders did whatever they could to gut the various measures of due diligence in favor of automated processes that were a lot less expensive and a lot more superficial. Due diligence is an overhead for them, not a profit center.

[Bugs]

Remember when I said that some men should never get married or allow their girlfriends to have kids? Well, there’s a female corolary to that. Some single moms should never contemplate bringing another man in their lives until their kids are grown.

I got divorced when I was in my mid-30s and already had kids. I specifically sought out single moms to date because parenting skills were important to me and I wanted to see those skills in action before I committed. That, and I diodn’t want to have to deal with a biological clock at some point in the future. We’ve been together for 17 years and it’s been good for us. But I’ve seen other couples struggle.

Most guys are all about being fair and trying to treat kids in a blended family on as equal a basis as each kid will allow. Some kids naturally require more work and effort that others, but there still has to be a baseline to start from.

Many (not all) women are more about being nurturing and protective than they are about being fair and equitable and rational. I’ve seen several women struggle (and fail) at accepting some other woman’s kids as being equals to her own. There are a lot of double standards out there, and that invariably causes a tremendous amount of damage.

The adults have to be the team and stand against all the kids equally. When it breaks down along bio-kid lines everyone loses. EVERYONE.

At best, raising a blended family requires additional coping skills, additional maturity and additional resources of all types. Just as not everyone is cut out to be a parent, not every parent is cut out to be a step-parent. Simple fact.

Here’s the question you should be asking yourself – are you looking for a co-parent to help you raise your kids according to your shared values, or are you merely looking to fill a hole in your own personal life? If it’s the former then maybe you’ll have the interest to learn how to raise a blended family. If it’s the latter then bringing a guy into your household will only serve to divide your time and your loyalties to your own kids. You’d be doing everyone a huge favor by exercising some restraint.

[Bugs]

Remember when I said that some men should never get married or allow their girlfriends to have kids? Well, there’s a female corolary to that. Some single moms should never contemplate bringing another man in their lives until their kids are grown.

I got divorced when I was in my mid-30s and already had kids. I specifically sought out single moms to date because parenting skills were important to me and I wanted to see those skills in action before I committed. That, and I diodn’t want to have to deal with a biological clock at some point in the future. We’ve been together for 17 years and it’s been good for us. But I’ve seen other couples struggle.

Most guys are all about being fair and trying to treat kids in a blended family on as equal a basis as each kid will allow. Some kids naturally require more work and effort that others, but there still has to be a baseline to start from.

Many (not all) women are more about being nurturing and protective than they are about being fair and equitable and rational. I’ve seen several women struggle (and fail) at accepting some other woman’s kids as being equals to her own. There are a lot of double standards out there, and that invariably causes a tremendous amount of damage.

The adults have to be the team and stand against all the kids equally. When it breaks down along bio-kid lines everyone loses. EVERYONE.

At best, raising a blended family requires additional coping skills, additional maturity and additional resources of all types. Just as not everyone is cut out to be a parent, not every parent is cut out to be a step-parent. Simple fact.

Here’s the question you should be asking yourself – are you looking for a co-parent to help you raise your kids according to your shared values, or are you merely looking to fill a hole in your own personal life? If it’s the former then maybe you’ll have the interest to learn how to raise a blended family. If it’s the latter then bringing a guy into your household will only serve to divide your time and your loyalties to your own kids. You’d be doing everyone a huge favor by exercising some restraint.

[Bugs]

Remember when I said that some men should never get married or allow their girlfriends to have kids? Well, there’s a female corolary to that. Some single moms should never contemplate bringing another man in their lives until their kids are grown.

I got divorced when I was in my mid-30s and already had kids. I specifically sought out single moms to date because parenting skills were important to me and I wanted to see those skills in action before I committed. That, and I diodn’t want to have to deal with a biological clock at some point in the future. We’ve been together for 17 years and it’s been good for us. But I’ve seen other couples struggle.

Most guys are all about being fair and trying to treat kids in a blended family on as equal a basis as each kid will allow. Some kids naturally require more work and effort that others, but there still has to be a baseline to start from.

Many (not all) women are more about being nurturing and protective than they are about being fair and equitable and rational. I’ve seen several women struggle (and fail) at accepting some other woman’s kids as being equals to her own. There are a lot of double standards out there, and that invariably causes a tremendous amount of damage.

The adults have to be the team and stand against all the kids equally. When it breaks down along bio-kid lines everyone loses. EVERYONE.

At best, raising a blended family requires additional coping skills, additional maturity and additional resources of all types. Just as not everyone is cut out to be a parent, not every parent is cut out to be a step-parent. Simple fact.

Here’s the question you should be asking yourself – are you looking for a co-parent to help you raise your kids according to your shared values, or are you merely looking to fill a hole in your own personal life? If it’s the former then maybe you’ll have the interest to learn how to raise a blended family. If it’s the latter then bringing a guy into your household will only serve to divide your time and your loyalties to your own kids. You’d be doing everyone a huge favor by exercising some restraint.

[Bugs]

Remember when I said that some men should never get married or allow their girlfriends to have kids? Well, there’s a female corolary to that. Some single moms should never contemplate bringing another man in their lives until their kids are grown.

I got divorced when I was in my mid-30s and already had kids. I specifically sought out single moms to date because parenting skills were important to me and I wanted to see those skills in action before I committed. That, and I diodn’t want to have to deal with a biological clock at some point in the future. We’ve been together for 17 years and it’s been good for us. But I’ve seen other couples struggle.

Most guys are all about being fair and trying to treat kids in a blended family on as equal a basis as each kid will allow. Some kids naturally require more work and effort that others, but there still has to be a baseline to start from.

Many (not all) women are more about being nurturing and protective than they are about being fair and equitable and rational. I’ve seen several women struggle (and fail) at accepting some other woman’s kids as being equals to her own. There are a lot of double standards out there, and that invariably causes a tremendous amount of damage.

The adults have to be the team and stand against all the kids equally. When it breaks down along bio-kid lines everyone loses. EVERYONE.

At best, raising a blended family requires additional coping skills, additional maturity and additional resources of all types. Just as not everyone is cut out to be a parent, not every parent is cut out to be a step-parent. Simple fact.

Here’s the question you should be asking yourself – are you looking for a co-parent to help you raise your kids according to your shared values, or are you merely looking to fill a hole in your own personal life? If it’s the former then maybe you’ll have the interest to learn how to raise a blended family. If it’s the latter then bringing a guy into your household will only serve to divide your time and your loyalties to your own kids. You’d be doing everyone a huge favor by exercising some restraint.

[Bugs]

Remember when I said that some men should never get married or allow their girlfriends to have kids? Well, there’s a female corolary to that. Some single moms should never contemplate bringing another man in their lives until their kids are grown.

I got divorced when I was in my mid-30s and already had kids. I specifically sought out single moms to date because parenting skills were important to me and I wanted to see those skills in action before I committed. That, and I diodn’t want to have to deal with a biological clock at some point in the future. We’ve been together for 17 years and it’s been good for us. But I’ve seen other couples struggle.

Most guys are all about being fair and trying to treat kids in a blended family on as equal a basis as each kid will allow. Some kids naturally require more work and effort that others, but there still has to be a baseline to start from.

Many (not all) women are more about being nurturing and protective than they are about being fair and equitable and rational. I’ve seen several women struggle (and fail) at accepting some other woman’s kids as being equals to her own. There are a lot of double standards out there, and that invariably causes a tremendous amount of damage.

The adults have to be the team and stand against all the kids equally. When it breaks down along bio-kid lines everyone loses. EVERYONE.

At best, raising a blended family requires additional coping skills, additional maturity and additional resources of all types. Just as not everyone is cut out to be a parent, not every parent is cut out to be a step-parent. Simple fact.

Here’s the question you should be asking yourself – are you looking for a co-parent to help you raise your kids according to your shared values, or are you merely looking to fill a hole in your own personal life? If it’s the former then maybe you’ll have the interest to learn how to raise a blended family. If it’s the latter then bringing a guy into your household will only serve to divide your time and your loyalties to your own kids. You’d be doing everyone a huge favor by exercising some restraint.

[Bugs]

They allow the density because that’s where the money is. The land and entitlements for residential development are what cost all the money.

1 Acre / 7 units will equal 5,000 SqFt lots (streets and open space easements will detract from finished lot sizes)

1 Acre / 4 units will equal 9,000 SqFt lots

People don’t really start feeling less cramped until you get to about 2 units/acre (20,000 SqFt lots).

With the higher (7/acre) density the developer cuts his land costs by more than half (compared to the 4/acre) because he’s dividing up the infrastructure by more units.

Bigger lots = more suburban sprawl, not to mention the increased use of resources.

The conservationists want us to build up, not out. They want high density cities with efficient mass transit and short commuting distances for work. This would leave the outlying areas to “breathe”, free of human contamination.

Residential subdivisions are more of an eyesore to a conservationist than a nuclear power plant.

[Bugs]

They allow the density because that’s where the money is. The land and entitlements for residential development are what cost all the money.

1 Acre / 7 units will equal 5,000 SqFt lots (streets and open space easements will detract from finished lot sizes)

1 Acre / 4 units will equal 9,000 SqFt lots

People don’t really start feeling less cramped until you get to about 2 units/acre (20,000 SqFt lots).

With the higher (7/acre) density the developer cuts his land costs by more than half (compared to the 4/acre) because he’s dividing up the infrastructure by more units.

Bigger lots = more suburban sprawl, not to mention the increased use of resources.

The conservationists want us to build up, not out. They want high density cities with efficient mass transit and short commuting distances for work. This would leave the outlying areas to “breathe”, free of human contamination.

Residential subdivisions are more of an eyesore to a conservationist than a nuclear power plant.

[Bugs]

They allow the density because that’s where the money is. The land and entitlements for residential development are what cost all the money.

1 Acre / 7 units will equal 5,000 SqFt lots (streets and open space easements will detract from finished lot sizes)

1 Acre / 4 units will equal 9,000 SqFt lots

People don’t really start feeling less cramped until you get to about 2 units/acre (20,000 SqFt lots).

With the higher (7/acre) density the developer cuts his land costs by more than half (compared to the 4/acre) because he’s dividing up the infrastructure by more units.

Bigger lots = more suburban sprawl, not to mention the increased use of resources.

The conservationists want us to build up, not out. They want high density cities with efficient mass transit and short commuting distances for work. This would leave the outlying areas to “breathe”, free of human contamination.

Residential subdivisions are more of an eyesore to a conservationist than a nuclear power plant.

[Bugs]

They allow the density because that’s where the money is. The land and entitlements for residential development are what cost all the money.

1 Acre / 7 units will equal 5,000 SqFt lots (streets and open space easements will detract from finished lot sizes)

1 Acre / 4 units will equal 9,000 SqFt lots

People don’t really start feeling less cramped until you get to about 2 units/acre (20,000 SqFt lots).

With the higher (7/acre) density the developer cuts his land costs by more than half (compared to the 4/acre) because he’s dividing up the infrastructure by more units.

Bigger lots = more suburban sprawl, not to mention the increased use of resources.

The conservationists want us to build up, not out. They want high density cities with efficient mass transit and short commuting distances for work. This would leave the outlying areas to “breathe”, free of human contamination.

Residential subdivisions are more of an eyesore to a conservationist than a nuclear power plant.

[Bugs]

They allow the density because that’s where the money is. The land and entitlements for residential development are what cost all the money.

1 Acre / 7 units will equal 5,000 SqFt lots (streets and open space easements will detract from finished lot sizes)

1 Acre / 4 units will equal 9,000 SqFt lots

People don’t really start feeling less cramped until you get to about 2 units/acre (20,000 SqFt lots).

With the higher (7/acre) density the developer cuts his land costs by more than half (compared to the 4/acre) because he’s dividing up the infrastructure by more units.

Bigger lots = more suburban sprawl, not to mention the increased use of resources.

The conservationists want us to build up, not out. They want high density cities with efficient mass transit and short commuting distances for work. This would leave the outlying areas to “breathe”, free of human contamination.

Residential subdivisions are more of an eyesore to a conservationist than a nuclear power plant.

[Author]

Posts