OUR FUTURE BANKERS

Sen. Maria Cantwell

Rep. Dave Reichart

Sen. Patty Murray

Here they are, our State Representatives. “The Cop”, “The Mom in Tennis Shoes”, and “Whatever, I Need to Work Somewhere”. I’ve tried to locate the email addresses for these folks on-line to no avail. What they offer is a form on their respective pages to be filled out, along with a message, and sent into the ether with the hope that it will find the intended recipient. I don’t care type my message three times, so I will convey my thoughts here, then send them a link via their little forms.

Folks [Dave, Patty and Maria], I have some concerns. First, all of you are too nice to be effective.

Dave’s done a pretty good job of moving up the charts in the House, making it to the Ways and Means Committee. But honestly Dave, how many years of hob-knobbing do you plan to invest before you say something that matters? Are you under the impression that you have to hang around for 10+ years before anyone will listen? Sure, everyone likes a nice guy. But what the country needs right now, and especially us out here in the Northwest corner, is some backbone. I haven’t seen your name in the paper since Nov 4, 2008, and that bothers me.

Patty is working hard for the improvement of the treatment of our veterans. Nothing could be more noble. However, how much more chatting around this subject is necessary? You’re the self-proclaimed “Mom In Tennis Shoes”. I suggest you put on those shoes and move on…to anything else. The veterans issues are pretty well known, but your approach is too nice, and too timid. You have a kick-ass issue there. Get LOUD, and get the changes done. Heck, you’ve been there long enough to throw your weight around. Call Oprah for gosh sake. I bet you have a ton of stories that would quickly fill more than an hour. At least call Larry King. But get moving on this thing. Once the Iraq war is wound down, you won’t get the interest level as high again. In fact, you may have already missed the mark.

Maria, Maria, Maria. What are we to do with you? You’ve been there how many years? And you have all the punch of a loaf of white bread. Then, out of the blue, I read that you plan to vote, or have voted, in opposition to the Bush proposed, and Obama endorsed, bailout plan. Yes, there is great uncertainty there. But there is no uncertainty concerning the state of the economy. Then again Maria, are you unsure about what’s going on out here in the land of reality? Maybe you should call your Mom. Ask her how her neighbors are doing. Maybe she’ll tell you about her checker at QFC that’s been working doubles for the last six months because her husband was laid off, not to mention the five year arm that is in its last 6 months before that bomb goes off. Since the Feds have cranked up the heat on the quality of mortgage applicants, the checker doesn’t qualify to refi the house she bought 5 years ago. I really have no idea what it is that you do. But I am acutely aware that I have not heard your voice, or seen your name in type……for…..years.

Patty and Maria, [Dave's off the hook because he wasn't in the game yet] I wrote to you prior to the first vote for the first allocation of money for Bush’s war in Iraq. Check your archives. It should be around. I still have the responses you sent back. At that time I warned you that funding the war was wrong, and that it would uncategorically create financial havoc in our fragile economy. I wasn’t anti-war in the pacifist sense. I was anti-war because it was stupid and fiscally irresponsible. No WMD’s, not much Al Quaida, but we sure did a good job of shortening the life span of about 500,000 innocent people. Although the actual number may never be known. I believe that I touched on the fact that it’s only been 150 years since our own civil war, and it was unreasonable to expect the tribes of Iraq to reconcile their differences and become a democracy overnight……because we tell them to. Anyway, I have to get this off my chest: I told you so.

Now, for the matters at hand. ARE YOU DEAF AND DUMB??!!??!! You, our Washington contingent are sort of the exemplary wimps of our Federal Government. Where is the incredulity at what is occurring ON YOUR WATCH? You can’t send out a statement about your anger at the early bonuses for the Merrill-Lynch crooks? You have nothing to say about the AIG $500,000 retreat? You’re OK with the same guys running the show, both on Wall Stret, and DC, that have run us into the ground?

It was the funniest thing in the paper today. It is being considered that The Fed become the big watchdog over all financial institutions, where they now only watch over 800+ banks. This may sound crazy, but my guess is that most believed, whether it was the SEC, IRS, The Fed, or even Homeland Security, that someone was watching the store. GEEZE, it was only a few years ago that the country was about blown away by ENRON. Doesn’t anyone learn, or follow-up on stuff like this? Corporate tendancies that indicate that business is not being conducted normally? Was no one at all paying attention when WAMU reported…..FOR YEARS… that it was booking unpaid interest on its negative amortization loans as profit….year….after year……after year? And everyone shuddered for months that might fail. Anyone who knew that one aspect about that bank knew, then and there, they were done.

So now we have a bigger problem, and it’s just like 1991, only worse.  Can you remember back that far? Desert Storm and the S & L crises. Things were going pretty good. Not as crazy as 2007, but pretty good. Then a bunch of overextended, overspeculating savings and loans failed, ala Charles Keating and the like. That was not a good time to apply for a loan. Like now, with the Feds looking under every bank teller’s chair, the pendulum swung waaay too far over, suffocating legitimate businesses that had done nothing wrong, but their business lines of credit were chopped, right when they needed them most, with no more explanation that we are getting today.

Here’s the big question for all three of you: if the banks are not going to lend the taxpayers dollars you keep giving them, what’s the point? I implore all of you to get incredulous, get loud, get angry, but get that money moving out the doors of those bank recipients, or all will be for naught. Are there no conditions on those funds? The money is just handed to these knuckleheads with no accountability about how to use it? There is no time limit?

Here’s an idea: the goverment should just take over B of A. Use all of the money to refinance those that have not already lost their homes, get those credit lines going again with the hundreds of thousands of small businesses across this country. People would start to feel good again in a big hurry. Waht happens when people feel good? They spend money. As for the car companies? forget about them. As evidenced by their collective private jet junkett to DC to plead for cash, they don’t deserve anything. Their labor union needs to have a long conversation with itself. It will have the time to do that when most of them are unemployed. The workers are arrogant, and the products are uncompetitive… have been for years. Heck, I just watched “An Inconvenient Truth” for the first time about a month ago. It was uncanny how accurate Gore’s auto production charts were back then. It was dead on with what we are seeing today. How can the auto industry base its product on the price of gas today when it takes, according to them, up to five years to design and build something new? They say they can’t afford to design more efficient cars? Can they afford not to? Again, that union has to have a VERY serious conversation with itself. The concessions they have won over the years may cost them all of their jobs. Heck, I was talking with a lady the other day that was saying that her father, a retired autoworker, was worried that he wouldn’t get his free, brand new car every year. What the heck does a retired guy need with a new car every year? If they have health insurance they’re doing better than about half the country to begin with.

My big concern is that darned pendulum. It has swung too far. No bank is sure if they can write a loan for anyone. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac raised their fees?…….NOW? That’s just outright craziness. Another wrench in the gears. Again, they mismanaged themselves, so we get to pay for it. Seriously, folks. We need a Federal Bank, and we need it now. You say the government cannot be in the banking business? Well guess what? You already are. Either you accept the fact and learn to run it, or get ready to accept the blame when this thing really crashes on your head.

Seller Responsibility: Clean the House and Take Your Junk!

 What is it with Sellers that think it is OK to leave all kinds of garbage behind for their Buyers to deal with? We’ve seen it all, from engine blocks to garbage bags filled with used diapers. A favorite is old paint cans with colors that haven’t been used in the house in 20 years, or old broken hollow-core doors that have been replaced. Stacks of ancient, rotting, insect infested firewood are truly a treasure every home buyer covets.

Wake up! Nobody wants your junk! Pardon me if I offend anyone, but selling a house is NOT the same as vacating a rental without a damage deposit.

There is a nice little provision in a Northwest Multiple Listing Service Form that is part of nearly every Purchase and Sale Agreement: Form 22D, Paragraph 5 states:

Items Left By Seller. Any personal property, fixtures or other items remaining on the Property when possession is transferred to the Buyer shall thereupon become the property of the Buyer, and may be retained or disposed of as Buyer determines. However, Seller agrees to clean the interiors of any structures and remove all trash, debris and rubbish on the Property prior to Buyer taking possession.

I bring this up because we had an issue….again….last week when our Client, the Buyer, arrived at his house with the keys in anticipation of a clean house. What he found was a garage full of JUNK! and the both dumpsters were packed to the brim. We notified the Listing Agent of this little problem and were ignored. We advised them that unless the Seller was going to clean out the garage, we would hire a company to take care of it. Still no response. We hired a trash hauling company. The total bill, which we paid as required by the vendor, was almost $500. We faxed the invoice to the Listing Agent who promptly handed it to the Seller. The next morning Diana received a screaming earful from the Seller over the phone: “How dare you blah blah blah…..”

I sent an email to the Listing Agent. [This is a guy that always wears a suit, never gets his hands dirty, and found this garbage issue well beneath him.] His response was that “he has no control over what his Seller chooses to do”. I replied that that was not a good answer, along with a few other sternly stated facts. An hour later I received his phone call and he agreed that a reimbursement check would be sent out right away.

So Sellers, be mindful that you are legally bound to remove ALL trash from the property, even the trash that was there when you bought the place.

Agents, if your Seller is too pressed for time to take care of it, the right thing to do is to take care of it yourself, at your expense! You make enough, unless you are a Redfin agent or a member of some other low hanging fruit company, so take the initiative, demonstrate some professionalism, and take of it for your Seller.

Every Buyer has the right to expect a clean property upon their arrival. It is the reponsibility of all Sellers and their respective Listing Agents to make certain it is so.

The More I Learn, The Less I know…..

As if things weren’t strange enough, the subscription service that brought you Monday Morning Coffee for the last few years ceased operations in June. Since then I have been musing as to what to do for the many subscribers that have enjoyed those weekly snippets of wisdom. A dear long time friend and client jarred me back to responsibility last week asking, “what happened to Monday Morning Coffee? Did you drop us from your list?” No. I’ve just been thinking about what to say, if anything, as a replacement.
In keeping with the turmoil surrounding us in today’s real estate market, and just about everything else in our lives:

But Noooooo…..

Last week HUD announced to it’s thousands of mortgage brokers across the country that a full 3% fee would apply to all loans, all borrowers. Well, that’s about the end of that. Thanks, Uncle Sam. Instead of the carrot we were anticipating, we get beaten with the stick. Bear in mind that the same thousands of mortgage brokers paid up to $7,000 each to become FHA certified lenders, all in anticipation of FHA loans providing the needed path out of a deep hole. Now it would appear that they flushed that $7k down the toilet. No one is going to want these loans. They are now absurdly expensive.

The More I Learn, The Less I Know.

Although I’ve been at this real estate game for over 25 years, including the down markets surrounding Desert Storm, the Dot Com Bust, and 9/11, this has to be one of the weirdest periods I’ve seen yet. Suffice it to say that I learned a lot from those down markets in terms of strategy, tenacity, and faith. What I did not learn is how badly our financial systems have been in need of repair. With each of the aforementioned downturns, band-aids were applied. Small fixes that were just enough to restore confidence in what were dilapidated systems. Have you ever used “stop leak” in a failed radiator? It might get you to the repair shop, but no further. When the band-aides have been applied to our financial systems, we thought all was well, and drove right on by the repair shop.

Folks, we’re facing a bit of a perfect storm. People want to buy houses, and people want to sell houses. The only impediment to transacting business is obtaining decent loan terms.
The one entity over which the Federal Government asserts complete control is Housing and Urban Development ["HUD"], which in turn is the administrator for Federally insure home loans ["FHA"]. Since raising the FHA loan limits to a level almost relevant to to day’s prices, in the past 6 weeks HUD has vascillated wildly as to how to charge borrowers. For weeks it was stated that the insurance premium cost would be based on risk assessment of individual borrowers. Makes sense. The driver that has 3 DUI’s pays more for auto insurance than the driver that’s never had a ticket. The borrower that has never paid their bills on time should pay more for their loan than someone that has never been late.
Next on the hotsheet of not-so-good news: FNMA and FHLC, because of their own problems, just announced that they are now going to charge lenders 0.5% for loans that they buy. It has been 0.25% since, well, forever. Of course this cost will be passed on to borrowers in the form of 1.25% origination fees instead of 1%. Or the APR will simply be higher in order to preserve the 1 point fee and still pass on the added cost. That should be a big help……..to no one. Fewer loans, less volume, slower recovery.

Why is it that lenders, when the easy money stops rolling in, assert draconian fees and costs on those that are still doing business? IndyMac Bank, the California based lender that failed last month, is a case in point. Inexplicably, IndyMac announced early this year that it is their policy, on all of the second mortgages they had made, that they would NOT allow subordination of their loans for the sake of homeowners attempting to refinance their FIRST mortgages. For those with toxic first mortgages, this left them no way out. They either had to sell, or walk away. In either case, when told by their lender that their refi was dead because IndyMac had effectively blocked the process, how long do you think it took for these borrowers to decide whether or not they would continue to send payments to IndyMac? As soon as I heard this I said, “dead bank walking”. Sure enough, it’s dead.

I keep visualizing these really bads decisions being made by a very few sweaty little men in windowless rooms. All they look at is printouts ananlyzing cash flow, and then they hit the panic button. They have no faith, and they have no vision. They’re hanging on so tight the blood doesn’t get to their brains. Who put them in charge? When busines is slow at a Seven-Eleven do they turn off the lights and beer cooler to save money. No. They cut prices to entice MORE buyers, get the volume up to compensate for lower margins, and keep prices low until things improve. If they turn off the lights and the beer cooler, they may as well lock the doors. Why don’t lenders, especially that which is run by the Feds, get it?

I suggest that we all start writing to our Federal representatives. Does yours have a clue as to what is at stake?

Not to get too political:

6 years ago, before the congrssional vote was taken on whether to attack Iraq, I wrote to Patti Murray and Maria Cantwell. While it was admittedly self serving at the time, I asserted that war [unabated ego], combined with tax cuts [shameless vote buying], could bring ruin to our financial markets. When the government starts borrowing money, it depletes the pool of cash available for everything else, and drives up interest rates. Well, here we are. Money is tight, and getting tighter. Banks are failing. People are losing their homes. All for lack of liquidity because the goverment is spending more than it takes in. And people are worried that a Democrat will raise taxes, spend more? If traditional politics are to be believed, then Bill Clinton was the best Republican President we’ve ever had.

The current goverment cash burn rate is unsustainable. It won’t matter who is in charge when the bill comes due. Tax cuts were a great idea to stimulate growth, as long as the thin ice held out. How about those recent tax rebates? Not even a blip on the radar. We can’t buy our way out of this mess. We are going to have to work harder/smarter, spend less, and pay taxes commensurate with the expenses incurred. Honestly, would the Iraq war have lasted 6 years if taxes had been increased each year to pay for it?

The More I learn, The Less I know. So teach me something.

Want New? A Finished Home Is Your Best Bet!

Today, when it comes to new construction, there is only one way to buy: a finished home, not a pre-sale wherein a home might just be getting started, or is still a vacant lot. Why? you might ask. Consider the following:

1. Nothing is more costly to a homebuilder than an unsold finished house. He is paying interest every day that a house is under construction. The interest rate and fees that builders pay is substantially more than homeowners pay for a mortgage. The meter starts running the day the builder closes on the building lot. But the interest is not accruing on the finished project, only on those monies that the builder has taken from the lender in the form of “draws”. The first draw may take into account the building lot, architectural and engineering fees, building permit and mitigation fees payable to the jurisdictional authorities. The second draw usually would be for clearing, excavation and foundation. As draws are taken from the construction loan the builder is paying interest the growing balance. When the house is done, he is paying interest, sometimes as high as 9.5%, on the finished product until it is sold and closed.

2. Builders do not have the luxury of living in their homes like the average home seller. He HAS to sell, and in this market will price finished homes to get rid of them.

3. If a builder sells a finished home, and doesn’t have too much unsold inventory, his lender will let him start another home. If a builder sells a pre-sale, most lenders in this market are not impressed. The pre-sale will not count as a sale in the lender’s eyes until it is finished and the sale closed, which could take months. A pre-sale offers little relief to most builders that have finished inventory with the interest meter running.

4. Not good: your pre-sale starts out OK, but the builder’s other finished houses are still not selling. Your house is coming along nicely in the middle of 50 vacant lots. The builder’s lender forecloses on the entire plat. Your house construction stops cold. It may take months for the lender to decide who to turn the construction over to, or who to sell it to. Your earnest money deposit, your $30,000 non-refundable deposit, and all of your non-refundable upgrade deposits are gone. The builder had formed an LLC for protection just in case such an event should occur. Your options for recourse are few.

So think twice about picking the perfect house for the perfect lot. It rarely turns out that great. Besides, once most builders have your money, your house gets all of the “B” crews, while the “A” crews continue to work on the unsold spec homes.

Housing Predictions For King County and South Snohomish

Everywhere we go people ask us the same question, “how are things in real estate?” Depending on our energy level at that point in time, our answer might take 10 seconds, or 10 minutes. Sometimes people ask because they are truly interested from a personal standpoint. Sometimes it’s too find out if we are suffering as much as the media says we should be. Sometimes I think folks want to know what Kind of person I am i.e., will I simply throw out a lot of optimistic BS, or am I real and will actually think about how to honestly respond.

After much reflection on our position and experience in the current market, combined with discussions with other agents and brokers that I highly respect, I have come to the following conclusions:

1. There is a current oversupply of new homes. These homes will be discounted and sold by the builders over the next 6 to 10 months.

2. The same builders will generally not be allowed by their respective lenders to start new homes until their current completed standing inventory is sold off as stated in number “1″ above.

3. These same builders that used to get the green light from their lender(s) to start 10 homes at a time will be limited to 3 starts at a time for the foreseeable future. Successive home starts will be dictated by closed sales e.g., “you may start 3 now, but you have to finish and close one sale before you will be financed to start a 4th home.” It used to be that a builder could start a new home as soon as a buyer put down earnest money on an incomplete home (pre-sale). I don’t think it’s going to work like that any more, at least for some time.

4. Due to the foregoing, the supply of new homes will be consumed, and the rate of re-supply constricted, within 12 to 18 months.

5. Builders will have to work hard to keep their vacant lots looking like a happy place with fencing, landscaping, etc., and not looking like abandoned developments.

6. The change in new home supply will have a direct effect, albeit slightly delayed, on the resale home market. It will take 18 to 24 months for upward price pressures to reappear in the resale market, but it will come back……..just about the same time the mortgage industry will have healed from recent and current problems.

7. When asked the question, “how far will the market drop?”, my reply is November, 2006. Appreciation could be readily justified to that point, not beyond. Some folks maybe got a little more than they should have for their home in the first half of 2007, and some maybe paid a little more than they should have. But the difference is no more than will be readily absorbed and smoothed out over the next 5 years.

Thant’s my story and I’m sticking to it……at least for now.

Housing Pessimism: Get Over It….

I suppose it is not fair to ask today’s prospective home buyers what all the fuss is about. Given the daily onslaught of negative media coverage of housing and the economy, it is permissible to be concerned about whether or not to take the plunge. However, I don’t understand the hand-wringing, mind warping fear that has gripped many home shoppers to the extent that they can’t make a decision. Analysis paralysis is how I reference the condition wherein folks talk themselves out of making an offer as fast as they decided to buy. There is nothing wrong with being analytical about a home purchase, but the human factor cannot be dismissed.

A home is where babies are raised to be children, puppies become dogs, we celebrate Thanksgiving, birthdays, have barbecues with neighbors and friends, plant a garden, paint a room, start a hobby, read a book. All of these things can be done in an apartment or a rental home, but they are never the same as when they take place in your own home. There is not the same feeling of permanency, of family, when life takes place in a building owned by someone else. Yes, there is some stress and work involved. But I think you will find that most homeowners wouldn’t have it any other way.

It’s accepted that no one wants to be the buyer that bought at the top of the market. Conversely, often it is the fool that sets their sights on buying at the bottom.

Buyers have more choices today in the Puget Sound Region than they have had in 5 years. The whining, the crying, and moaning that went on for those 5 years while buyers had little to choose from stands in stark contrast to the attitudes of today’s buyers that seemingly can’t make up their mind about anything. Is it because they have too many choices? Perhaps. More likely it is because they lack focus. “What are the reasons for buying home now. What will change in the future that will impact my decision today?”

Interest rates may go up……or down.

Home prices may go down……..or up.

The days of buying and selling within 2 or 3 years are well behind us. If you’re not going to stay put for at least 5 years, don’t bother. That has been the traditional standard for over 50 years. Five years is enough to absorb the inevitable dip in value along the way and still achieve enough appreciation to cover the selling costs when it is time to move on.

So if you are worried about buying, get over it. Be smart, don’t overbuy, pay for a thorough inspection, know the costs of needed repairs, get a conservative loan, then move in and get on with your life’s business of growing memories.

WaMu: From Bad To Worse…….

A few quotes from today’s Seattle Times article:

“It’s always emphasized growth over all other aspects of its business.”

“they had to reach down to a new level of the marketplace. They had to seek out a lower quality of customer than they were used to dealing with.”

“Even though there was weakness in the market, they put their foot on the accelerator, because they were losing business to Countrywide and other lenders.”

I was impressed with the Sunday article about Washington Mutual by Rami Grunbaum, wherein a former WaMu executive, and insider, revealed his thoughts about the company’s current problems. It was interesting to read what I and many of my colleagues have suspected for some time. But today’s article by Drew DeSilver blows the doors wide open. Can you imagine anything more audaciously arrogant, from a banking perspective, then counting the growing principal on negative amortization loans as PROFIT?!?  Let me explain: rather than viewing the unpaid interest on neg am loan when borrowers chose to make just the minimum payment, not enough to cover the principal and interest on a 30 year amortization schedule, WaMu literally counted the money that was not received as profit! How weird is that! From a Bank!

This is all very sad for a venerable local institution. Maybe you are old enough to remember the ads that touted Washington Mutual as, “The friend of the family”. This is sort like finding out that the friend of the family is an addicted gambler.

Hallelujah!

After 3+ years of refuting, critiquing and criticising the writings of The Seattle Time’s Elizabeth Rhodes on real estate matters, the Times has finally heard our pleas and replaced her with a new, actual Real Estate Editor. Meet Cindy Zetts. In her first article for the Times in yesterday’s Real Estate section, Cindy quickly demonstrates that “SHE GETS IT!” She has experienced multiple real estate transactions and has taken the time to study, and thus understand, how real estate works.

I am both thrilled, and relieved, that Ms. Rhodes has been demoted in what appears to be a lateral move with the new title of “Business Reporter”. Great! Let her torture the business sector for a few years with her uninformed, poorly researched, and otherwise confusing and misleading articles.

Unless you are in the business, my zeal for this improvement may seem over-emphasized. Allow me to explain: The time that we have spent explaining Ms. Rhodes inaccuracies and wrong-headed view of real estate over the last 3+ years to confused clients and prospects has been frustrating, to say the least. Now we can fully focus on the tasks that matter, helping people navigate the real estate buying and selling processes without fighting the rip tides caused by Ms. Rhodes.

Although it is early in the game, if the first article by Ms. Zetts is any indication, Western Washington may finally have a columnist that will help them in their quest to understand real estate.

Left Out In The Cold?

The help that the Federal Government has pumped into the economy may take a awhile to help home-buyers and those seeking to refinance. The Sunday Seattle Times included an article by Jeff D. Opdyke and Jane J. Kim of The Wall Street Journal. Very good insights as to why we are not seeing conforming 30 year fixed rate mortgages drop to near 5% are offered. ARM’s are no bargain either because lenders are doing all they can to liquidate the ARM’s they already have on their books. This means that the ARM Jumbo you may be seeking will have a tough time being resold into a market already flooded with older ARM’s that lenders are trying to unload, thus your ARM will require a higher rate to attract buyers.

One bit of relief is the reduction in credit card and auto loan rates, as well as home equity lines of credit ["HELOC"].

Good advice is also offered regarding the importance of watching the mortgage market closely for signs of an opportunity. As the market is extremely volatile, be ready to act quickly should the product you desire suddenly drop in price.

The Mortgage Professor

Jack Guttentag, aka “The Mortgage Professor”, is  a syndicated columnist to the Seattle Times. He has often referenced his website: http://www.mtgprofessor.com/Default.htm. Today, I finally decided to pay a visit, as I am considering the alternatives available to me for refinancing my current Jumbo mortgage. There is a lot valuable information there. It is more important than ever to thoroughly research the loan process as lenders attempt to shore up cash flow based on fewer transactions. Learn about “UMB’s” and “MB’s” from the professor, then set your sights on what the best avenue is for you.

As Diana mentioned to me this morning, it is uncanny how acutely aware homeowners and home-buyers are aware of commissions paid to real estate agents, yet have little grasp of how mortgage lenders/brokers are compensated. This web site will open the eyes of would-be borrowers to the web of techniques utilized by unscrupulous lenders that seek to take advantage of borrowers, particularly when their backs are to the wall i.e., facing default on a purchase and sale agreement if they don’t close, or losing a home to foreclosure.

The lack of regulation and standardization is what created the mortgage lending crisis. It is solely up to consumers to decipher what they are getting for their money. This website will educate you to the pitfalls, give you the questions to ask your lender, and resources that you may not have considered. It takes a bit of effort to absorb, but is well worth the time invested………..for all of us. For if we, as a group, bring similar pressure to bear on the lending industry, we might just help straighten out the current crisis, as well as insure that it is not soon revisited.