[lindismith]

Cashflow, regarding your friend who has foreclosure looming – can you tell us anything about the loan? Was it adjustable? Did he experience some other kind of financial hardship recently? I mean how did he get himself into this situation?
Just curious.

[lindismith]

yeah, I remember that thread on here last year. I’m sure if you do a search for it, you’ll find it. (left nav.)

[lindismith]

Mozilo is a crook in my book.

Krugman’s on him today:
“There is one big difference this time: the number of victims — misled borrowers, homeowners whose neighborhoods are being destroyed by foreclosures, investors who thought they were buying safe assets — is even larger.”

Read more here:
http://tinyurl.com/362sus

[lindismith]

All of your arguments are valid.

I do think something needs to be done about the education of the borrower though. For example, in plain black and white, the math that shows them each year what their payment is going to be, clearly stated, with an area for them to sign off on. If there is a policy that comes from a lawsuit that does that, that would be good.

Or how about stated income loans go away? I have a friend in the mortgage biz, and I remember him telling me about the Vons checker and her Trucker husband that finally got a home using a stated income loan (for $500K no less) – how is it that someone gave them that kind of money? That’s just so irresponsible.

I have personally never had a mortgage, but I understand the volume of paperwork that comes with your loan, and the way it’s written, is very difficult to read. It needs to be clearer. The people at the top cannot take advantage of the people at the bottom. Conversely, the people at the bottom cannot lie their way to the top. I guess that’s what really disgusts me: that all this happened in the first place.
I thought we were all more enlightened than this.

[lindismith]

Yeah, I love CR, and Tanta. Her posts have been very enlightening these last few months.

Everyday I get more and more disgusted by this side of the business. The RE Agents are nothing compared to these big fat loan biz operations.

Oh, and then there’s those folks on Wall Street just going by the Moody’s ratings…. don’t even get me started.

Am just disgusted.

[lindismith]

kewp, if you have time, read the article. Not everyone was trying to get rich quick. Some folks just got in over their heads due to job lay-offs or illness, and that’s life. How many of us have a year’s worth of savings in the bank should something drastic happen to us? I’m not saying there were no scumbags in this mess, but read about what happens to normal people just trying to live the American Dream.

Certainly more than a few took advantage of e-z lending standards, but read about those that didn’t and how they’ve been treated.

This is going to be the biggest mess ever.

[lindismith]

re: lawyers

it is my opinion that poor people do not know they are being taken advantage of. Their lives are pretty much hard to begin with, plus they lack education and basic business experience. Therefore the notion that they should just hire a lawyer to take care of their problem is a little naive. If they don’t have the money to pay the bills, how would they ever have the money to pay an attorney – or at least I’m sure that’s what they think.

[lindismith]

You might want to do some more research. I’ve read numerous reports that Canada’s bubble has burst. They are right on our tails.

[lindismith]

You might consider googling the “nifty 50” drought tolerant plants. They are available all over the county at many, many nurseries.

San Diego is actually a desert, and I’m not sure if you’re aware, but we’re in stage one of a drought here. The nifty 50 are all the plants that do beautifully well in local conditions (read dry) and do not require a lot of water. And no, they are not cacti. They are flowering, soft-leaved, beautiful plants, and look perfect in the RSF area. You can have a very lush look, without tropical plants.

There are many local landscapers who will landscape using these plants. Please email me at lindismith at hotmail if you want me to put you in touch with some.

[lindismith]

Or the dollar dropping…?

(As an aside, my agent in Taiwan told me it’s dropping so fast that I need to re-quote everything from him every few days.)

Or how about those Saudis….?

Or maybe a run on a major bank….?

[lindismith]

ok, see it’s posts like these that freak me out.

Did he say WHEN the hurricane is hitting?

[lindismith]

ok, so definitely not what most of us thought: an extra 1/4 point cut. And e-trade and lehman are having a tough time….

so what’s next???? Who still has to report earnings???

[lindismith]

“You have too much free time it seems.”

comments like that are truly scary.

[lindismith]

I found this on CR’s blog.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=adciKLm4WGIo

Bank of America Sees `Meaningful Impact’ From Turmoil (Update2)

By Elizabeth Hester

Sept. 17 (Bloomberg) — Bank of America Corp., the second- biggest U.S. bank, said “unprecedented dislocations” in credit markets will have a “meaningful impact” on third-quarter results at its corporate and investment bank.

Trading and other areas of Bank of America’s capital markets and advisory services unit are “being adversely affected by all of these conditions,” Chief Financial Officer Joe Price told investors at a conference in San Francisco today. He cited stress on leveraged finance, subprime mortgages and in the commercial paper market as being especially severe.

“These are quite challenging financial times,” Price, 46, said. “I cannot remember when credit markets in particular have been as volatile and unpredictable as they have been for the last few months

Bank of America joins the growing list of banks and securities firms to warn that the fallout from rising defaults on subprime loans will hurt profit. Merrill Lynch & Co. said last week that “challenging” conditions in fixed-income markets required “fair value adjustments” to certain investments and financing commitments, and any losses will be reflected in third- quarter earnings.

Capital markets and advisory services provided $2.66 billion of Bank of America’s $20 billion of revenue in the second quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Price said that “in normal times” the unit generates about a third of profit in the company’s corporate and investment bank.

“These are not normal times,” he said.

Flat Profit

Analysts currently expect that Bank of America’s third- quarter profit will be flat compared with last year and earnings per share from continuing operations will rise 3 percent, according to the average estimates in a Bloomberg survey.

Bank of America dropped 44 cents, or less 1 percent, to $49.51 as of 4:16 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. The stock was mostly unchanged in after-hours trading.

The company said it expects to close on its purchase of ABN Amro Holding NV’s LaSalle Bank within in a month, after receiving approval from the Federal Reserve last week.

[lindismith]

thanks to all who came out yesterday! It was nice to meet you!

Here is what the UT had to say:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070917-9999-1m17paddle.html

[Author]

Posts